Jazz this week: Bruce Barth, Erin Bode, Victor Goines, Lynne Fiddmont, and more

With some relatively mild weather in the forecast and a nice variety of performances happening over the next several days, the weekend leading up to Valentine's Day should be a good time for jazz lovers in St. Louis. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, February 8
Pianist Bruce Barth returns for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro, leading a trio with bassist Dave Baron and St. Louis' own Montez Coleman on drums.

Barth (pictured, top left) is a jazz veteran who first gained wide attention nearly thirty years ago working with saxophonist Stanley Turrentine. Since then, in addition to a solo career yielding more than a dozen albums as a leader - the most recent being 2014's Daybreak - he's racked up a long list of credits accompanying well-known musicians and singers such as Terence Blanchard, Tony Bennett, Terell Stafford, Karrin Allyson, and many more.

Longtime local jazz fans will remember Barth as a fairly frequent visitor to St. Louis and the Bistro in the early 2000s, when he cut a couple of albums for the locally based label MAXJAZZ. More recently, he took part in the memorial concert in 2014 at the Bistro honoring Richard McDonnell, the late founder of MAXJAZZ, but it's been a few years since he's actually headlined here with his own band. St. Louis is the fourth of six cities that Barth, Baron and Coleman will visit on this winter mini-tour, so they should be firing on all cylinders when they get here.

Elsewhere around town, the new weekly jam session hosted by pianist Curt Landes, bassist Glen Smith and drummer Chuck Kennedy continues at @Nesby's in South County.

Thursday, February 9
In honor of Black History Month, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University will present a free concert program called "A Celebration of the Blues: From Oxford, Mississippi to Chicago" featuring Memphis-based "avant soul" singer Candice Ivory, pianist Charles Creath, guitarist Dennis Brock, bassist Paul Steinbeck, and series curator William Lenihan on guitar and/or bass.

Also on Thursday, the Jazz Troubadours perform at the Venice Cafe, and pianist Adam Maness and his trio continue their new weekly Thursday night residency at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, February 10
Singer Erin Bode will perform for the first of three Valentine's-themed nights at Jazz at the Bistro, with shows on Friday, Saturday and next Tuesday. Bode's most recent release Here and Now came out last summer, and features her interpretations of songs from writers including Irving Berlin and Frank Loesser, Rickie Lee Jones, and Gerry Rafferty. While some of that material should fit neatly into a Valentine's show, Bode likely will be reaching into her catalog of original songs as well.

Also on Friday, saxophonist Tim Cunningham will play the first of two nights this weekend at Troy's Jazz Gallery, and saxophonist Freddie Washington will lead a trio with with drummer Jon-Marc Dale and bassist Simon Evans at Cigar Inn

Saturday, February 11
If you're up for a bit of a drive, you can catch saxophonist and clarinetist Victor Goines (of Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra fame) and his quintet performing at the Cedarhurst Center for the Arts in Mt. Vernon, IL, about an hour east of St. Louis.

A bit closer to home, singer Tony Viviano will be presenting a Valentine's Day show at Patrick's Westport Grill, and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will be playing hot jazz, blues and swing at Venice Cafe.

Sunday, 
February 12
Singer and St. Louis native Lynne Fiddmont (pictured, bottom left) will be back home from the West Coast for a matinee performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall, showcasing material from her forthcoming album Power of Love.

Also on Sunday, the Ambassadors of Swing will play at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company.

Monday, February 13
Pianist Carolbeth True and her band Two Times True plus guest vocalist Erika Johnson will perform while jazz photos by St. Louis author, historian and DJ Dennis Owsley are projected overhead in Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium.

Also on Monday, Dizzy Atmosphere will serenade diners at the Shaved Duck, and Chicago-based saxophonist Shawn Maxwell and his band New Tomorrow will play at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

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.)

Memorial concert honoring MAXJAZZ's Richard McDonnell set for Sunday, May 25 at Jazz at the Bistro

A memorial concert honoring the late Richard "Rich" McDonnell and featuring artists from his MAXJAZZ label will take place starting at 1:00 p.m., Sunday, May 25 at Jazz at the Bistro.

The event will culminate in a headlining set at 7:00 p.m. featuring trumpeter Terell Stafford (pictured, above left), pianist Bruce Barth, saxophonist Tim Warfield, and singer Carla Cook, all of whom have recorded for MAXJAZZ, backed by St. Louis' Montez Coleman on drums and Bob DeBoo on bass.

Before that, though, the afternoon will feature a performance from Brilliant Corners, which is co-led by saxophonist Paul DeMarinis and guitarist Dave Black and was the first band to record on the MAXJAZZ label, as well as music from Good 4 the Soul, Jesse Gannon, Cheryl Brown, Funky Butt Brass Band, Jazz St. Louis' own Gene Dobbs Bradford and Phil Dunlap, and additional acts TBA. Look for a full schedule of bands on the Jazz St. Louis website the week of the event.

While the concert is free and open to the public with seating on a general admission basis, Jazz St. Louis is suggesting a donation of $25 at the door in honor of McDonnell, who died on February 8 of this year. An investment banker before he retired and founded MAXJAZZ, McDonnell (pictured, below left) also was a board member of Jazz St. Louis.

Jazz this week: Bruce Barth Quintet, Sometime Then and Again, and more

After a couple of very busy weeks, it looks like there's a bit of a post-Mardi Gras lull with regard to jazz and creative music in St. Louis, at least in terms of the number of shows this weekend.

Still, in addition to the various ongoing weekly gigs by local musicians (which you can find listed on the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar), there are a few other noteworthy events happening over the next few days, starting with three nights of performances by the Bruce Barth Quintet.

Barth (pictured) and his group, which also features the well-regarded trumpeter Terell Stafford, have been in town since Monday for an educational residency under the auspices of Jazz St. Louis. Tonight, they'll play at The Gramophone as part of a Young Friends of Jazz St. Louis benefit for JSL's educational programs, an event that also will include an opening set from the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble. Then on Friday and Saturday, Barth and band will be at Jazz at the Bistro, where they'll play the customary two shows each night. For more on this versatile pianist and some video samples of his playing, see this post from last Saturday.

Also this evening, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University will present a free concert by Sometime Then and Again, a quartet featuring a couple of well-known local musicians, guitarist William Lenihan and saxophonist Dave Stone. Though Lenihan and Stone are both known quantities, this particular configuration seems to be a comparatively recent development, and Wash U. hasn't provided a lot of information about what sort of music they'll be playing. Given Stone and Lenihan's respective ranges of experience, it could be anything from completely composed music to totally free improv, but, considering the known level of talent there, the gig seems worth checking out regardless.

On Friday, you can catch some Latin jazz at Brandt's courtesy of Clave De Sol, featuring Farshid Etniko on guitar plus the pianist Phil Gomez, an interesting and accomplished player I've always liked for his ability to consistently do the unexpected. And on Sunday night, the crowd-pleasing soul/jazz/funk band Good 4 the Soul plays the early shift at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups.

UPDATE, 2:30 p.m. 2/26/09 - Two more events worth mentioning, gleaned from late night/early morning emails: My esteemed colleague Terry Perkins dropped a note to say that trumpeter and East St. Louis expat Russell Gunn will be in the backup band for pop/R&B singer Ne-Yo's concert at the Fox Theatre on Sunday. I don't know how much solo space there is for Gunn in the show - probably not that much, I'd suspect - but he's doing the entire tour with Ne-Yo and presumably making some nice money in the process.

Also, the SIU-Edwardsville jazz program will present its annual concert Tuesday night at The Sheldon, featuring the University's big band and vocal jazz ensembles as well as appearances from faculty members and alumni including Rick Haydon, Reggie Thomas, Jason Swagler, Miles Vandiver, Andy Tichenor, Brett and Kim Stamps, Bennett Wood and Zeb Briskovich. The program will include two compositions from Brett Stamps, "Cajun Cookin’" and "Let’s Samba," as well as Thomas' arrangements for the vocal jazz ensemble on "Revelation" (done in the style of Take 6), Lambert, Hendricks and Ross' "Centerpiece" and "Smilin’ Faces."

Of course, as mentioned above, these are just a few select highlights of the weekend's musical offerings. For more jazz-related events this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar. As usually happens at the beginning of a month, there will be a series of updates to the Calendar over the next several days as band and club information trickles and/or straggles in, so stay tuned.

(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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Bruce Barth

Today our spotlight shines on pianist Bruce Barth, who's in town next week to do an educational residency for Jazz St. Louis, culminating in gigs on Friday, February 27 and Saturday, January 28 at Jazz at the Bistro.

During the residency, Barth and his group will give school performances and work directly with young musicians in JSL's JazzU program and the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars student ensemble. Barth's band and the All-Stars also will be featured in a Young Friends of Jazz St. Louis benefit for JSL's educational programs that will be held Thursday, February 26 at The Gramophone.

Many St. Louis listeners already are familiar with Barth from his recording work as both leader and sideman for the locally based MAXJAZZ label and his previous performances at the Bistro, and today's video clips show off the pianist's versatility in dealing with three different musical settings.

In the first video, Barth is performing in a trio, backed by bassist Doug Weiss and St. Louis' own Montez Coleman on drums. The song is "Wilsonian Alto," and it was recorded in November, 2004 at the Cafe del Teatre in Lleida, Spain during the Lleida Jazz Festival.

Down below, you can see and hear Barth playing a solo medley of "Afternoon in Lleida" - perhaps a reference to the gig excerpted above? - and the Beatles' "Blackbird."

Finally, though there don't seem to be any clips of Barth's own quintet available online, in the last window you can see him playing with the five-piece band of trumpeter Terell Stafford, a close musical associate who will be part of Barth's group for their St. Louis gig. The tune, "Berda's Bounce," was recorded during a concert in February 2008 in Minneapolis.





(Edited 2/25/09 correct the dates of Barth's St. Louis gigs.)

Jazz St. Louis confirms NYC trip details, schedules Young Friends fundraiser

A couple of brief news items this week from Jazz St. Louis:

* JSL director of development Melissa Jones has more details on the upcoming JSL-sponsored trip to New York City. Specifically, the itinerary is now confirmed: On Friday, May 29, the group will hear music at Birdland and the Village Vanguard, and on Saturday, May 30, there's a tour of Jazz at Lincoln Center, a group dinner at Blue Smoke, and sets at the Jazz Standard and Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola. For all the particulars, including prices and specifics of the tour package, see this post from Melissa's blog.

* The Young Friends of Jazz St. Louis are throwing a fundraiser on Thursday, February 26 at The Gramophone to benefit the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars. The event will be hosted by Gilberto Pinela and Ivy Hartman of Channel 46's Best of the STL, with music from the All-Stars, who are the select ensemble of student musicians involved in Jazz St. Louis' educational programs, and pianist Bruce Barth's quintet. Barth's group, which features Terell Stafford on trumpet, will be in town that week doing an educational residency for JSL and performing at Jazz at the Bistro.

The Young Friends event runs from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., and tickets are $40 for the VIP pre-party (includes complimentary drinks and "lite appetizers"), $30 for general access (includes two free drink tickets), or $25 in advance for Young Friends members. You can get more information or make reservations by calling the Jazz St. Louis offices at 314-289-4030.

(Edited after posting.)