It's a busy week for jazz and creative music, as the fall presenting season jumps off with three local festivals featuring jazz, a visit from a major headliner playing in intimate surroundings, and more.
Let's go to the highlights...
Wednesday, September 5
Miss Jubilee plays vintage jazz, swing and more at the
Schlafly Bottleworks; trumpeter
Jim Manley performs at
Sasha's Wine Bar; and guitarist
Joe Park leads a trio at
Yaquis on Cherokee.
Thursday, September 6
Trumpeter
Danny Campbell leads a quartet in a free concert to open the fall
Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; keyboardist
Ryan Marquez' trio splits a bill with pianist Kait Dunston's
TrioKAIT at
50/Fifty Kitchen; and saxophonist
Vince Sala's trio returns to
The Pat Connolly Tavern.
Friday, September 7
The annual
St. Louis Art Fair's jazz stage will feature free live performances throughout the weekend, kicking off on Friday night in downtown Clayton with sets from saxophonist Kwanae Johnson's quartet, Hip Grease,& and drummer Montez Coleman's band.
Elsewhere around town, saxophonist
Tim Cunningham returns after a brief hiatus to
Troy's Jazz Gallery, where he'll now be playing on the first Friday of each month; and
Farshid Etniko performs jazz influenced by world rhythms at
Focal Point.
Saturday, September 8
The annual
Alton Jazz & Wine Festival
at the
Alton Amphitheater will feature a headlining performance from trumpeter
Terell Stafford (pictured) and his quintet, plus music from Miss Jubliee, Jim Manley, and Jazz St. Louis All-Stars.
General admission to the event is free, and there's also a VIP ticket offering additional benefits for those willing to pay.
Update: 5:30 p.m., 9/6/16: Due to a forecast for heavy rain on Saturday, the Alton Jazz and Wine Festival has been
moved indoors to Argosy Casino's music hall.
Elsewhere around town, the
St. Louis Art Fair continues with free performances from The Bonbon Plot, Farshid Etniko, Utter Chaos, Ptah Williams, Anita Jackson and more; and the
Arcadia Dance Orchestra plays at Focal Point.
Also on Saturday, the annual
LouFest is scheduled to begin
* in Forest Park, for the first time
including a jazz stage that on day one will feature performances from Anita Jackson, Ben Reece's Unity Quartet, Jesse Gannon, Ptah Williams Trio, and Kevin Bowers' NOVA. Main stage headliners at the two-day event will include Robert Plant, Modest Mouse, Kacey Musgraves, Gary Clark Jr. and St. Louis' own Michael McDonald.
*As of this writing on Tuesday night, there have been reports by at least one local media outlet that unpaid bills might derail this year's event, followed by a statement from organizers that everything is fine and that the festival will go on as planned. If that situation changes, there will be an update to this post as well as on StLJN's social media accounts.
Update - 2:54 a.m., 9/5/18: About two hours after this post went live, local NBC affiliate KSDK reported that LouFest has been cancelled, with organizers citing "several financial hurdles" as well as contact issues with artists, existing debt, and a forecast of bad weather.
Update, 6:00 p.m., 9/5/18: A number of the bands and musicians who had been scheduled to perform on LouFest's jazz stage will be taking part in a free event called "The Sound of St. Louis" Sunday afternoon and evening at the Grandel Theatre and The Dark Room in Grand Center.
Sunday, September 9
The
St. Louis Record Collector & CD Show presents their fall event at the
American Czech Educational Center.
On the festival front, the
St. Louis Art Fair wraps up with music from The People's Key, Kasimu Taylor, Jazz St. Louis All-Stars, and Samba Bom; and trumpeter
Keyon Harrold headlines the jazz stage for the final day of
LouFest, which also is scheduled to include sets from the Bob Deboo Trio, Owen Ragland Quintet, Mo Egeston All-Stars, and Tonina Saputo.
Also on Sunday,
BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups has a double-header, with a matinee performance from
Genesis Jazz Project and an evening show from
Chris Dave & The Drumhedz (pictured, top left).
Known for his work with pianist and fellow Houstonian Robert Glasper, bassist and singer Me'shell Ndegeocello, R&B vocalists D'Angelo and Maxwell, and many others, Dave as a bandleader makes music that brings together jazz, hip-hop, funk, and more, as heard on
the Drumhedz' debut recording released late last year on Blue Note. Given Dave's status within the music industry, the chance to see him in an intimate venue like BB's makes this the "sleeper" show of the week.
Tuesday, September 11
Speaking of intimate venues, pianist
Chick Corea (pictured, bottom left) will be in St. Louis with his Vigilette Trio (bassist Carlitos Del Puerto and drummer Marcus Gilmore) on Tuesday for the first of two nights at
Jazz St. Louis.
Given that Corea frequently headlines at good-sized theaters and concert halls, the opportunity to see him up close at the 220-seat Bistro is something serious fans won't want to miss. As of this writing, Wednesday's 7:30 show is sold out, but tickets remain for both sets on Tuesday and the 9:30 set on Wednesday; see the Jazz St. Louis website for the latest on ticket availability.
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.)
