Jazz this week: Funky Butt Brass Band, Erika Johnson sings the Stones, Jazz at Holmes summer series begins, and more

As often happens around major holidays, there's not much happening this week in the way of touring jazz and creative musicians visiting St. Louis, so it's up to our hometown performers to take up the slack.

Here are a few shows you may want to check out...

Wednesday, July 4
The Funky Butt Brass Band playing a free concert for the Missouri Botanical Garden's Whitaker Music Festival,

There's no Grand Center Jazz Crawl this week, as all the participating venues will be closed for Independence Day, and other local establishments that usually feature live music on Wednesdays may be following suit. Best to call ahead if you're planning on going out.

Thursday, July 5
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University kicks off their "Jazz in July" series with a free concert from trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's band; and bassist Chano Cruz leads a trio at The Dark Room.

Friday, July 6
Singer Erika Johnson (pictured) returns to Jazz St. Louis for the first of two nights performing music made famous by the Rolling Stones; and Dizzy Atmosphere will play a free concert before the Old Orchard Gazebo Music & Movie Series screens Alfred Hitchcock's film Charade, starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.

Saturday, July 7
The Coleman Hughes Project plays a free afternoon concert at Heman Park in U City; and saxophonist Dave Stone's trio is back at Thurman's in Shaw.

Sunday, July 8
The Bonbon Plot plays for brunch at The Dark Room, and trumpeter/banjoist TJ Muller's Arcadia Dance Orchestra will present a matinee at the Ozark Theatre/Webster Groves Concert Hall.

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: The Motet, St. Louis Art Fair, Wendy Gordon's "Cafe Society" and more

As yr. StLJN editor is still recovering from a hand injury, this post is both a bit late and necessarily on the terse side. The good news is that, barring any unforeseen complications, I should be sufficiently recovered that things will be back to more-or-less normal around here in a week or two.

For now, better late than never, let's go to this week's live jazz and creative music highlights in and around St. Louis...

Friday, September 9
The St. Louis Art Fair begins its annual three-day run, with one of the entertainment stages devoted to local jazz acts booked with help from Jazz St. Louis; see the website fora complete schedule.

Also tonight, the Denver-based funk-jazz band The Motet (pictured, top left) returns for a performance at The Ready Room; the Coleman Hughes Project begins a two-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro; trumpeter Randy Holmes and his quintet offer a tribute to the music of Horace Silver at the Ozark Theatre; and guitarist Tom Byrne plays at Thurman's in Shaw, the new name for the recently renovated South Side spot formerly known as Thurman Grill and Provisions.

Saturday, September 10
LouFest, the two-day rock festival held this weekend in Forest Park, will feature the Preservation Hall Jazz Band as its token jazz act, performing on Saturday afternoon. (Also of potential interest: blues guitarist Buddy Guy's set on Sunday afternoon.)

Elsewhere on Saturday afternoon, the Twin Cities-based jump blues and swing band Davina and the Vagabonds will be in town for a matinee at the Blues City Deli.

On Saturday evening, the Midwest Jazz-tette will perform at Evangeline's; the Wire Pilots play at 1900 Park Creative Space; and the Funky Butt Brass Band will do their monthly show at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

Sunday, September 11
The St. Louis Record & CD Collector Show will present their Fall 2016 event at the American Czech Hall.

Also on Sunday, Wendy Gordon (pictured, bottom left) and a diverse lineup of local singers and musicians will present "Cafe Society: Where Entertainers Met," the latest installment in Gordon's annual "Jazz Heaven" series, at the Florissant Civic Center Theater.

Monday, September 12
Webster University's jazz faculty will present "A Tribute to Verve Records" at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

Tuesday, September 13
The St. Louis Legacy Ensemble, percussionist Joe Pastor's project that puts student jazz musicians and professionals side-by-side on stage, will perform as part of the "Notes From Home" series at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

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.)