Jazz this week: A tribute to Joe Sample & George Duke, free outdoor concerts, and more

While things may be relatively quiet for the next week in terms of touring artists visiting St. Louis, the calendar of live jazz and creative music does feature a variety of sounds from hometown performers to suit almost any taste, including several free outdoor concerts.

Here's a look at what's coming up...

Wednesday, 
June 27
Acoustik Element plays a free concert for the Missouri Botanical Garden's Whitaker Music Festival, and the Ambassadors of Swing are back at Tin Roof for another "Shake & Shout Wednesday."

Elsewhere around town, this week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features bassist Glen Smith and guitarist Dave Black at The Stage at KDHX along with the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's band at The Dark Room.

Thursday, June 28
Guitarist and violinist Christopher Voelker of Dizzy Atmosphere leads a trio at The Pat Connolly Tavern, and singer Joe Mancuso will do what's now a regular Thursday night gig at 50/Fifty Kitchen.

Also on Thursday, saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet is back at The Dark Room, and this month's edition of Nathan Cook's "Bruxism" series will features experimental music from William Morris, Tony Patti, and Deux Plex at the Schlafly Tap Room.

Friday, June 29
Funk/jazz quartet Good 4 The Soul teams up with keyboardist Reggie Thomas (pictured) plus other special guests to offer a one-night-only tribute to "The Sounds of Joe Sample & George Duke" at Jazz St. Louis.

Saturday, June 30
Catch some vintage jazz sounds for free at an outdoor concert with Tommy Halloran's Guerrilla Swing at Eckert's in Belleville or Miss Jubilee at Kirkwood Park.

Also on Saturday, the Funky Butt Brass Band headlines a bill of funk and Louisiana-influenced bands at the Old Rock House 's day-long "Summer Gras" event.

Sunday, July 1
The Friends of Scott Joplin present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe.

Monday, July 2
Trumpeter Jim Manley plays his weekly gig at Momo's Greek Restaurant.

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.)

Jazz this week: John Scofield & Joe Lovano, Julian Vaughn, Eddie Gomez Trio, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the reunion tour of two major jazz stars; a rare visit from a famed bassist; a couple of tributes to Duke Ellington; and plenty of other sounds ranging from vintage to experimental. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, April 25
Guitarist John Scofield and saxophonist Joe Lovano (pictured, top left) bring their quartet to Jazz at the Bistro for the first of four nights, continuing through Saturday.

Though their musical relationship goes back to the early 1990s, Scofield and Lovano both are so busy with their own projects that they've only been able to tour together occasionally, with their most recent reunion before this one coming in 2015. You can see some videos of performances from that tour and read more about them in this post from last Saturday.

Thursday, April 26
Pianist Ptah Williams, who usually plays on Fridays at The Dark Room, also will be there on Thursday this week, performing the music of George Gershwin and recording a promotional video for a prospective tour featuring Gershwin's songs.

Also on Thursday, the Bruxism experimental music series continues with a three-act bill of Popular Housing, Azaleas and Ron S. at the Schlafly Tap Room; and the Adam Maness Trio is back at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, April 27
Bassist Julian Vaughn, a Kansas City native who works mostly in smooth jazz and R&B styles, will perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall, with St. Louis' Tim Cunningham opening.

Also on Friday, trumpeter Randy Holmes convenes a quintet and a ten-piece band for his  "2nd Annual Duke Ellington Birthday Tribute" at the Ozark Theatre (which seems to have abandoned, at least for the time being, its attempt to re-brand as the "Webster Groves Concert Hall").

Elsewhere around town, the Hard Bop Messengers spread the gospel of Blakey, Silver et al at Evangeline's; saxophonist Harvey Lockhart returns to The Dark Room; and saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet is substituting this week for Dave Stone on his long-running gig at Mangia Italiano.

Saturday, April 28
The People's Key will play a mid-day matinee at the Sheldon Concert Hall; and drummer Kyle Honeycutt leads a trio at Thurman's in Shaw.

Sunday, April 29
Bassist Eddie Gomez (pictured, bottom left) will lead a trio with pianist and drummer Rodrigo Villanueva at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Now 73 years old, Gomez still may be best known for spending more than a decade near the start of his career with the late pianist Bill Evans' trio. Over the ensuing years, he's also released more than dozen albums as a leader and has performed and recorded with many other notable jazz musicians, including Chick Corea, JoAnne Brackeen, Jeremy Steig, Steps Ahead, and many more.

Given that it's a chance to see a musician of Gomez' stature in an intimate venue (and the fact that, as best as can be determined, he's never played here before as a bandleader), this definitely is StLJN's pick for the "sleeper" show of the week.

Also on Sunday, pianist Christopher Parrish leads an octet for "Duke Ellington’s 119th Birthday Celebration" at Focal Point, and the students in Jazz St. Louis' JazzU Big Band will perform at Jazz at the Bistro.

Monday, April 30
Kosi, an NYC-based singer who cites Abbey Lincoln and Nina Simone as influences, will perform at Evangeline's; "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective return to BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups and guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran is back at Yaquis on Cherokee.

Tuesday, May 1
Drummer Montez Coleman and saxophonist Eric Slaughter host "The Tuesday Night Hit" jam session at The Dark Room/

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.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's this week's wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Greg Osby recently took part in a "Before and After" listening session for Jazz Times magazine, published in their June issue and now available online. Osby last week also sat in with the Dave Matthews Band as they began their summer tour with a show in Camden, NJ.

* Trumpeter Keyon Harrold co-wrote, produced, and is featured along with hip-hop emcee Common and singers Gregory Porter and Andrea Pizziconi on "Running (Refugee Song)," a new single aimed at raising funds and awareness of the plight of more than 60 million displaced persons around the world.

* Saxophonist Harvey Lockhart has been named "Arts Educator of the Year" as part of the annual St. Louis Arts Awards presented by the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis. Lockhart is being lauded for his work as director of bands and performing arts with the Riverview Gardens school district, and for forming and directing the North County Big Band, a jazz group based at the Sheldon Concert Hall that includes students from several area high schools.

* A photo set from last Saturday's Chesterfield Jazz Festival has been posted to Facebook.

* Also now online: a Flickr gallery of pics from last Thursday's edition of the Bruxism experimental music series at the Schlafly Tap Room.

* Guitarist Horace Bray, a St. Louis native and alumni of Jazz St. Louis' JazzU program who recently released his debut album, was profiled by Aarik Daneilsen of the Columbia Daily Tribune.

* The Grand Center district, home to jazz venues including Jazz at the Bistro, the Sheldon Concert Hall, The Dark Room, and the Kranzberg Arts Center, was featured in a special edition of KETC's program Living St. Louis.

* Local NBC affiliate KSDK reported this week that the late blues pianist Johnnie Johnson (pictured), whose work with Chuck Berry helped define the sound of early rock & roll, will receive a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal for his service in World War II with the Montford Point Marines, an all-African-American unit that integrated the Marine Corps.