It's a very busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with several well-known touring musicians coming to town to perform over the next several days.Perhaps the most highly anticipated performances are those of pianist Brad Mehldau, who brings his trio with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard to Jazz at the Bistro tonight and Thursday as part of a short spring tour. Mehldau currently is riding a wave of critical acclaim for his two most recent recordings; you can read more about it and see some video of the trio in action in this post from last Saturday. Also, you can read my Critic's Pick on Mehldau for the Riverfront Times here.
Also on Thursday, the young Kansas City band Diverse, featuring trumpet player Hermon Mehari, returns to St. Louis to perform at Robbie's House of Jazz; and pianist Kara Baldus Vandiver plays the music of Bill Evans in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.
On Friday, another fine pianist, Cyrus Chestnut (pictured), checks into the Bistro for a two-night engagement with his trio and their special guest, trumpeter Jon Faddis. Chestnut's vivid, gospel-influenced style has made him a local favorite, and he, Faddis and the band are in town all week doing an educational residency for Jazz St. Louis. They're performing at area schools and working with the student musicians in JSL's various educational programs, and Faddis also is doing a free master class this afternoon.
On Saturday afternoon, trumpeter and St. Louis native Marlin Bonds, who's also enjoyed success as a producer for various hip-hop performers, comes home to play the music of Herbie Hancock in a concert for the Nu-Art Series at the Metropolitan Gallery. See this post for more on Bonds and the Nu-Art Series' spring schedule.
Then on Saturday evening, singer-guitarist John Pizzarelli, another frequent visitor to St. Louis, returns with his band the Swing Seven to play the music of Duke Ellington for the Sheldon Concert Hall's annual benefit gala. Some single tickets may remain for the show; check Metrotix for the latest.
On Sunday, the Webster University jazz faculty will do a matinee performance for the St. Louis Jazz Club at the Doubletree Hotel at Westport Plaza; and New Tricks, a quartet co-led by saxophonist Mike Lee and trumpeter Ted Chubb, will play an early evening show at the Bistro at Grand Center, with the Webster Groves High School jazz combos as opening acts.
Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday pianist Dave Becherer's trio plays at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups. On Tuesday morning, Swing Deville will play the first of two Coffee Concerts this week at the Sheldon. (The performance will be repeated at the same time on Wednesday.) On Tuesday evening, bassist Bob Deboo and his quartet will play Brandt's, and Robbie's will host their weekly jazz jam session.
For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, 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.)
(Edited after posting to add a link to the RFT item on Brad Mehldau.)
