It's one of the busiest weeks of the year for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with enough activity and musical variety to test both the stamina and the financial resources of even the most devoted music lovers.
There's so much going on that the week defies easy summary, so instead, let's go to the highlights....
Wednesday, October 19
Saxophonist
Donny McCaslin (pictured, top left) makes his St. Louis debut as a bandleader in the first of four nights at
Jazz at the Bistro.
It's been a big year for McCaslin, who's gone from working with the late David Bowie on his final recording
Blackstar to releasing his own new album, Beyond Now. For more about McCaslin and his new recording, see
the interview he did with Calvin Wilson of the Post-Dispatch and
StLJN's video post from a couple of Saturdays ago.
Also on Wednesday, funk/jazz keyboardist
Brian Culbertson, who's touring in support of his own new album
Funk!, returns to St. Louis for the first time in four years for a performance at
The Pageant. For more about that, see
Culbertson's conversation with the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.
Thursday, October 20
The reunited British jazz/fusion band
Brand X will play at the
Wildey Theatre, featuring three key members from the band's original run - guitarist John Goodsall, bassist Percy Jones, and drummer Kenwood Dennard - plus keyboardist Chris Clark and percussionist Scott Weinberger. This show will be only the second of the group's reunion tour, so even if there are a few rough spots, the energy should be high.
Also on Thursday, trumpeter
George Sams and friends will play a free show of improvised music for the
Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and the funky saxophones-and-drums trio
Moon Hooch returns for a gig at the
Old Rock House.
Friday, October 21
The
St. Louis GypsyJazz Festival opens for the first of three days and nights of perfomances, jam sessions and workshops at
Evangeline's. The lineup of musicians this year includes violinist/mandolinist
Jason Anick, singer
Miles Griffith, and guitarist
Dario Napoli, plus St. Louis-based groups Franglais,
Phatz Django, and Fleur De Lou. For more about the festival and video samples of the visiting performers, see
this post from last Saturday.
Also on Friday, the
Gaslight Cabaret Festival resumes with singer
Storm Large returning for an encore performance at the
Gaslight Theater.
Saturday, October 22
Saxophonist
James Carter (pictured, bottom left) and his organ trio will provide the music for the annual "ArtSounds" benefit at the
Sheldon Concert Hall.
Carter, a free-spirited yet technically accomplished improviser who can play soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxes with near-equal facility, is always worth hearing, and if you need an extra incentive, The Sheldon yesterday announced a "buy one, get one free" offer for concert-only tickets bought in pairs. To purchase online and take advantage of the offer, go
here and enter the promo code CARTER16.
Also on Saturday,
New Music Circle present flute player and composer
Sylvaine Hélary's Spring Roll Quartet at the
The Stage at KDHX.
The group, which includes Hélary, Antonin Rayon (piano, synthesizer), Hugues Mayot (saxophones, clarinets), and Sylvain Lemêtre (vibraphone, percussion), offers "thematically dense surrealist arrangements with percussive counterpoint" which incorporate "a span of styles in an almost collage-like manner."
Sunday, October 23
"Days to Say Goodbye - A Celebration of the Life of David Troncoso" will provide an opportunity to remember and reminisce for, family, friends and fans of the veteran St. Louis bassist, who died this past July at age 70. The event, which features music from guitarist Dave Black, pianist Dave Venn, singer Tony Viviano, the Park Avenue Duo, Troncoso's own Latin Jazz Group and more, takes place at the
Anheuser Busch Brewery Biergarten.
Also on Sunday afternoon, the
US Navy Band Commodores, the Navy's top jazz big band, plays a free concert at the
560 Music Center. The group features two area natives - Petty Officer 1st Class David M. Perkel of St. Louis on lead trombone, and Chief Petty Officer Timothy D. Stanley, who grew up in Belleville, on trumpet.
Monday, October 24
To mark the event's silver anniversary, the
Webster University TKT Scholarship Fund 25th Anniversary Concert will take place off-campus this year at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The concert features Webster jazz faculty and students performing to raise money for music scholarships at Webster in memory of Terry Jackson, Kirk Cappello, and Tony Saputo, three Webster alumni who were among the members of singer Reba McEntire’s road band killed in a 1991 airplane crash.
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.)
