Jazz this week: Bobby Broom & Deep Blue Organ Trio, Bonerama, Kirk Whalum, SPOKE, Old Webster Jazz & Blues Festival, St. Louis Jazz Club picnic & more

It's shaping up to be a busy weekend for live jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with several touring musicians and bands in town, plus some noteworthy free events that should appeal to those looking for some budget-friendly entertainment. Let's go to the highlights...

On Thursday night, Chicago guitarist Bobby Broom, best known as a longtime sideman to saxophonist Sonny Rollins, and his Deep Blue Organ Trio will be in town for a one-nighter at Robbie's House of Jazz.

Also on Thursday, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University opens its season with a free concert from saxophonist Freddie Washington; and the Bosman Twins, guitarist Daryl Darden and poet Cheryl D.S. Walker will perform a free concert at Schlafly Branch Library in the Central West End.

On Friday, the New Orleans-based band Bonerama will be back in town, this time at The Gramophone. Also on Friday, singer Jeanne Trevor will do a free outdoor concert sponsored by Ferguson CityWalk at the Plaza at 501 in Ferguson; saxophonist Jerry Greene and singer Sarah Jane Ulrich team up for an evening of double-entendre songs at Robbie's; and guitarist Mason Baran leads a quartet with vibraphonist Peter Schlamb, bassist Ben Wheeler and drummer Joe Winstein-Hibbs at the Cigar Inn.

Then on Saturday, it's the annual Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival, a free, all-day outdoor event in the old business district of Webster Groves that features two stages and ten bands, including the St. Louis Ragtimers, Dave Black, Jim Stevens, and the Webster University jazz faculty.

Also on Saturday, the Broadway Oyster Bar presents the seventh annual edition of Funkfest, an all-day event featuring eight bands including the Funky Butt Brass Band, Lamar Harris, Teddy Presberg, and others.

On Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club will host their annual picnic at the Concord Farmers Club. The event is free and open to the public and will feature live music from Utter Chaos and Banjos & Brass.

Also on Sunday, saxophonist Kirk Whalum will be playing at the Sheldon Concert Hall as part of a fundraiser for the Gamma Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and that evening, bassist and St. Louis native Dan Loomis brings his post-bop quartet SPOKE (pictured) back home for a free concert at Parkway United Church of Christ.

Looking beyond the week, on Monday drummer Joe Pastor's trio returns to BB's Jazz Blues and Soups, and on Tuesday, fusion group Steizuello plays a "Notes From Home" concert at the Sheldon.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

Bobby Broom and Deep Blue Organ Trio playing Thursday, September 13 at Robbie's House of Jazz

Guitarist Bobby Broom and the Deep Blue Organ trio are coming to St. Louis to perform at 8:30 p.m. next Thursday, September 13 at Robbie's House of Jazz.

Broom (pictured), a New York native who now lives in Chicago, may be best known to jazz fans as a member of saxophonist Sonny Rollins' band from 1982 to 1987 and again from 2005 to 2010. His performing and recording credits also include work with Art Blakey, Max Roach, Stanley Turrentine, Kenny Garrett, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Charles Earland, Dr. John, Kenny Burrell, Eric Alexander, Ron Carter, Ramsey Lewis, and more.

The Deep Blue Organ Trio, which began in 1999, also includes organist Chris Foreman, who plays frequently at Chicago's Green Mill, and drummer Greg Rockingham. Their most recent album Wonderful, released in 2011, features songs made famous by Stevie Wonder. In July of this year, the group did a two-week residency at the famed Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy.

No word yet on the ticket price, but if previous shows by touring performers at Robbie's are any indication, it likely will be in the range of $10 to $20. We'll update this post if/when more information becomes available.