Sunday Session: March 7, 2021

Eddie Henderson

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* Two-Thirds of New York City’s Arts and Culture Jobs Are Gone (Bloomberg.com)
* Rock, Race, and History: A Conversation with Vernon Reid (Line6.com)
* 25 essential jazz songs that trace the quintessential American artform through history (USA Today)
* How We’ll Be Able to Hear Live Music This Summer (Curbed.com)
* 'Sisters With Transistors': Pioneers Of Electronic Music (NPR)
* Charlie Parker, KC Jazz legend, to receive star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (KSHB)
* The sound of music in veterinary medicine (DVM360.com)
* Escalator Over the Hill, by Carla Bley (MusicAficionado.blog)
* Eddie Henderson: Bright Moments (Jazz Times)
* 50 Years Later, Why Marvin Gaye's Seminal Album 'What's Going On' Endures (WBUR)
* Ralph Peterson Jr. 1962–2021 (Jazz Times)
* Recording Andra Day as Billie Holiday Was an Exercise in ‘Surround’ Sound (Variety)
* The Greatness of Nina Simone: Listen to Our Podcast on the Legendary Singer (Rolling Stone)
* Without support, freelance musicians will continue falling into hardship (BigIssue.com)
* Tulane University jazz archive gets new name and expanded mission (Tulane.edu)
* Music Streaming: Is It a Level Playing Field? (CompetitionPolicyInternational.com)
* Jazz legend, after house partially collapses, gets help from philanthropist, neighbors (WHYY)
* The Jazz Pianist Using a Computer Program to Play with Other Musicians in Quarantine (The New Yorker)
* On João Gilberto (AquariumDrunkard.com)
* Jimmy “Duck” Holmes: “People think of blues as hard times and sadness, they don’t look at the soul behind it” (Down At The Crossroads)
* The Checkout: Saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins on the Quest for an Overwhelming Sound (WBGO)
* The patterns are already there: remembering Milford Graves (The Wire)
* To boo or not to boo: Catcalls are the musical audience’s tool of last resort (San Francisco Chronicle)
* Hasaan Ibn Ali: Lost Album Found, New Chapter Opened (Jazz Times)
* New Compilation Of Old Tunes Is 'An Alternate History Of The World's Music' (NPR)
* Saving Birdland—and Jazz History (The New Yorker)
* Backup Singer Dolette McDonald on Her Years With Talking Heads, the Police, and Don Henley (Rolling Stone)
* Soul Superhero - The massive life and tragic death of King Curtis (WaxPoetics.com)
* David Crosby on dinner with Joni, Phoebe Bridgers and the 50th anniversary of his haunted solo debut (Los Angeles Times)

Sunday Session: November 1, 2020

Sun Ra Arkestra

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* Artist Feature: Hasan Shahid and the Return of Al-Fatihah (JazzRightNow.com)
* Happy 80th Eddie Henderson! (London Jazz News)
* How the Shure SM57 became an industry standard microphone – from presidential duties to pop (MusicRadar.com)
* Joni Mitchell: 'I'm a fool for love. I make the same mistake over and over' (The Guardian)
* EXCLUSIVE: John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain and Shankar Mahadevan Discuss Music, Legacy and Beyond (RollingStoneIndia.com)
* On Performing Fluxus in 2020 (New Music Box)
* Jeff Hamilton, Drummer’s Drummer (Jazz Times)
* This Year’s Model Elvis Costello is back with his 31st (or so) studio album. But don’t look for any consolation from him. (Vulture.com)
* Sun Ra Arkestra :: Swirling (AquariumDrunkard.com)
* A No. 1 Song Written by a Solitary Songwriter Is Becoming a Thing of the Past (Billboard)
* Lost interviews hold new Bob Dylan insights (Chicago Sun-Times)
* “We’re Just a House Band on the Titanic”: A Conversation With Devo’s Gerald Casale (Tidal.com)
* Shabaka Hutchings Lets The Tape Roll (DownBeat)
* Angel Bat Dawid, Musician and Myth Scientist, Shares Her Story and Takes a Righteous Stand (WBGO)
* The Sun Ra Arkestra Is Swirling Through Space (Jazz Times)
* A Conversation with Peter Guralnick About His Latest Book, ‘Looking To Get Lost’ (American Songwriter)
* B.B. King Estate Announces Official Biopic, Clears Up Wendell Pierce Confusion (EXCLUSIVE) (Variety)
* The 30 greatest synth players of all time: keyboard wizards, programming gurus and sound design legends (MusicRadar.com)
* Makaya McCraven Refracts The World Around Him (DownBeat)
* What’s in a Name? (Jazz Times)
* New Charlie Parker Vinyl Box Set, ‘The Mercury & Clef 10-Inch LP Collection’ Set For Release (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* How do the best horror scores scare the crap out of us with just a few notes? (AV Club)
* 80 years ago today: the Benny Goodman-Count Basie Octet (Jazz on the Record)
* Historic Labels: An Enlightening Sonic Window to the Past (WQXR)

Jazz this week: Chris Botti; Eddie Henderson; Rogers, Owens & Ellis; Faith Prince and more

This week's jam-packed calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features performances from two top trumpeters, a cavalcade of cabaret, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 24
Singer Darius de Haas will present the first of two nights of performances of his cabaret show "A Bernstein Thing" at Jazz St. Louis.

Also on Wednesday, the "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features pianist Jim Hegarty's trio at The Stage at KDHX, along with the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor and band at The Dark Room.

Thursday, October 25
Singer Denise Thimes will be back from her new home in Chicago to headline the "Mildred Thimes Foundation 14th Annual Benefit Concert" at the Sheldon Concert Hall. This year's show will feature Thimes and friends interpreting material associated with singers Luther Vandross and Chaka Khan. .

Also on Thursday, Italian drummer Lecrezio de Seta will be joined by bassist/guitarist William Lenihan and keyboardist Jay Oliver for a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet returns to The Dark Room; and trumpeter Jim Manley and guitarist Randy Bahr will head to O'Fallon, MO for a gig at the Rendezvous Cafe & Wine Bar.

Friday, October 26
Trumpeter Chris Botti (pictured, top left) returns to St. Louis for the first time since 2015 to perform once again with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Hall.

Also on Friday, the revived Nu-Art Series gets underway with a concert featuring trumpeter Eddie Henderson (pictured, bottom left) with poet Lyah LeFlore, pianist Ptah Williams, and fellow trumpeter and Nu-Art impresario George Sams at Xavier Hall on the St. Louis University campus.

For more about Henderson, who turns 78 the day of his St. Louis show, plus some videos of recent performances, check out the post from last Saturday.

Elsewhere around town, bassist Reuben Rogers, drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. and saxophonist John Ellis, joined by St. Louis' own Peter Martin on piano, will wrap up a week-long educational residency for Jazz St. Louis with the first of two nights of performances at the Bistro; and the Gaslight Cabaret Festival resumes with Tony Award winning actress and singer Faith Prince performing for the first of two evenings at the Gaslight Theater/

Saturday, October 27
Singer Barb Jungr and singer, pianist and St. Louis native John McDaniel return with a one-night-only performance of their latest cabaret show, "1968 - Let The Sunshine In," at the Kranzberg Arts Center; and pianist Mo Egeston is back at The Dark Room.

Sunday, October 28
Though singer/songwriter Jimmy Webb's two performances for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival are sold out, Sunday offers several other noteworthy musical options, as pianist David Thomas Roberts will perform at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe, and the eight-piece, Seattle-based Afrobeat band Polyrhythmics will play at the Old Rock House

Also on Sunday, trumpeter Randy Holmes has his Hard Bop Heritage band back in action at the Ozark Theatre; and the Bosman Twins with guest vocalist Marsha Evans will provide the music for the "Royal Vagabonds Foundation Scholarship Benefit" at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Monday, October 29
The Usual Suspects play at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, and drummer Nick Savage leads a quartet in a concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster University campus.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Eddie Henderson

This week, StLJN's video spotlight is focused on trumpeter Eddie Henderson, who's returning to St. Louis to perform next Friday, October 26 at St. Louis University's Xavier Hall.

Presented in conjunction with SLU as the first production of the revived Nu-Art Series, the concert also will feature poet and author Leah LeFlore (daughter of the late trumpeter and Black Artists Group co-founder Floyd LeFlore), pianist Ptah Williams, and trumpeter George Sams, the founder and head of Nu-Art.

Henderson, who will celebrate his 78th birthday the day of his St. Louis show, recently has enjoyed renewed public attention, performing and recording with the "supergroup" The Cookers and earlier this year releasing a new quintet album, Be Cool, on the Smoke Sessions label.

Probably still best known for his work with Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band in the early 1970s, Henderson for years pursued dual careers in music and in medicine, working as a practicing psychiatrist in San Francisco when not touring.

Even so, he's managed to release 30 albums as a leader over the course of his career, ranging in style from fusion and funk to straight-ahead, while also accumulating performance and recording credits with Pharoah Sanders, Mike Nock, Norman Connors, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Charles Earland, Azteca, and more.

To give you an idea of Henderson's style and repertoire, we've collected videos of some relatively recent live performances, starting up above with a full set of Henderson leading a quintet in 2016 at the Jazz Kitchen in Indianapolis.

After the jump, you can see him playing the Kenny Barron composition "Phantoms," a frequent part of his live shows, with a quartet in March of last year in Zagreb, Croatia,

That's followed by two clips featuring Henderson as a guest performer with a band led by trumpeter Jesse Fischer, performing his own composition "Sunburst" and Hancock's "You'll Know When You Get There" in December 2013 at ShapeShifter Lab in Brooklyn, NY.

Next is a video from one of Henderson's previous appearances in St. Louis, at a concert in March 2012 presented by the Nu-Art Series at the now-closed Metropolitan Gallery downtown. Along with the trumpeter, the band includes Freddie Washington on tenor sax, Ptah Williams on piano, Bob DeBoo on bass, and Gary Sykes on drums.

The sixth and final video is an episode of the web series "The Pace Report" from 2012, which includes some performance footage as well as an interview with Henderson by host Brian Pace.

For more about Eddie Henderson, listen to the interview he did in March 2018 with 21CM.org; read DownBeat's feature on him from earlier this year, occasioned by the release of Be Cool; and check out his 2012 radio interview on the Tucson, AZ-based "The Jake Feinberg Show."

One last thing: Observant readers will note, for the first time in many years, the presence of titles and various other typographical bric-a-brac superimposed over the YouTube embeds in this post. Unfortunately, this is a result of YouTube permanently changing its embed code so that those items no longer can be hidden, claiming that they are "an integral part of the YouTube experience."

While yr. humble editor will continue to search for another way to remove the superfluous material (which, often as not, contains misspellings and errors), it looks like all sites that embed YouTube videos are stuck with the new formatting limitations for now.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Nu-Art Series to present performances by Eddie Henderson, Quincy Troupe, and more

The Nu-Art Series, founded and run by trumpeter and impresario George Sams, is returning with a concert featuring trumpeter Eddie Henderson (pictured) and pianist Ptah Williams at 8;00 p.m. Friday, October 26 at Xavier Hall on the campus of St. Louis University.

Poet Lyah LeFlore, the daughter of trumpeter and original Black Arts Group member Floyd LeFlore, also will perform, and Sams will be sitting in for a tune or two as well.

The Nu-Art Series previously presented concerts from 2010 to 2012 at the now-closed Metropolitan Gallery downtown, and in 2014 at the Scott Joplin State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe.

The October concert with Henderson and Williams is the first event of "Jazz-N-Tongues: The Art of Music and Poetry," a series of co-productions with St. Louis University.

The series will continue the following week when poet Quincy Troupe headlines an event also featuring Sams and his quartet at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, November 2 at Xavier Hall.

Sams tells StLJN that he's working on two more concerts for early 2019, one to feature multi-instrumentalist and St. Louis native J.D. Parran, the other presenting poet, playwright and author Ntozake Shange, with details to come.

Sunday Session: June 10, 2018

John Coltrane

Here's a roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's various inboxes or feeds over the past week:

* The 21 Best Concert Films of All Time (Paste)
* REVIEW: Art Ensemble of Chicago at Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona (London Jazz News)
* Kurt Elling: Living the Questions (Jazz Times)
* 'Still A Lot Of Love': Arturo O'Farrill On Cuba-U.S. Artistic Relations (NPR)
* This legendary Utah saxophonist just turned 99 and you can hear him play tonight (Deseret News)
* Truesdell’s Gil Evans Project Recasts Classics at Jazz Standard (DownBeat)
* The chords of the universe (Aeon.co)
* Discover Weakly (TheBaffler.com)
* “Sun Ra Radio” Premieres Online (Jazz Times)
* Vision Festival Offers Bracing Sounds and a Space for Creativity (DownBeat)
* Q&A with Ambrose Akinmusire: Geographies of Influence (Jazziz)
* The club night making classical music dance to a new beat (The Telegraph)
* 20 essential fusion records that have never been more influential (TheVinylFactory.com)
* Bobby Bradford: Musician, Educator, Survivor (AllAboutJazz.com)
* What Was the Point of Elevator Music? (AtlasObscura.com)
* There’s an “Inverse Piano” in Your Head (Scientific American)
* What was the loudest rock band ever? And how loud was that? This infographic explains everything (AJournalOfMusicalThings.com)
* Shemekia Copeland: A Humble 'Queen Of The Blues' (WGLT)
* Motéma Music Fosters Intense Creativity (DownBeat)
* Byrds Co-Founders Plan 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo' 50th Anniversary Tour (Rolling Stone)
* Coltrane’s ‘Lost’ Studio Album Found (DownBeat)
* Hear Woody Shaw and Dexter Gordon On Tour, and On Fire, In Newly Discovered Recordings (WBGO)
* Jalal Mansur Nuriddin: Bidding Farewell To The Schoolyard Bard (NPR)
* Ticketfly Confirms Hack Exposed Personal Information of 27 Million Accounts (Gizmodo)
* Jazz in the Age of Trump: A Roundtable Discussion (Jazziz)
* Spotify Offers Managers, Artists Advances to License Music Directly to Its Streaming Service: Exclusive (Billboard)
* Happy Birthday Prince: A Look At His Legacy, Progressiveness And Royal Badness (Vibe)
* Eddie Henderson’s Cool Collective (DownBeat)
* On 10 Years of the New New-Music Scene, and 30 Years of My Own (Vulture.com)
* Jazz Meets Hip Hop: Soweto Kinch's Singular Path (SFJAZZ.org)
* BBC to Close Iconic Maida Vale Studios (Pro Sound News)
* The Aural Magic of Stanford's Laptop Orchestra (Wired)
* Why repeating words sound like music to your brain (TheVerge.com)
* ‘We Out Here’ Documentary on London Jazz Scene Now Streaming (DownBeat)
* Lorraine Gordon, Guardian Of Legendary Jazz Club, Dies At 95 (NPR)

Miles on Monday: Wayne Shorter speaks out, Amandla turns 26, and more

This week for "Miles on Monday," some recent news items related to the legendary trumpeter:

* In a new interview with Billboard magazine, saxophonist Wayne Shorter (pictured) discusses topics including his relationship with Davis as a member of the trumpeter's "second great quintet."

* With the 89th anniversary of Davis' birth coming up next Tuesday, saxophonist Gary Bartz and drummer Al Foster - both ex-sidemen of Davis' - will join trumpeter Eddie Henderson for a series of tribute gigs this weekend at the NYC club Smoke.

* Visual artists opening a new exhibit in London, citing the influence of Davis' album of the same name, have titled their show "In a Silent Way."

* Today is the 26th anniversary of the release of Davis' album Amandla, his third and final recording with bassist/composer Marcus Miller serving as producer. (The others were Tutu in 1986 and the soundtrack to the film Siesta, issued in 1987.) Amandla also features some keyboard work from the late George Duke and a very young Joey DeFrancesco, who had just turned 18 years old when the record came out.

You can listen to all the tracks from the album by clicking on the embedded YouTube playlist below.

Sunday Session: February 22, 2015

Billy Strayhorn

For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Duke Ellington’s Ode to the First Moon Landing (Air & Space)
* Steve Reich On Tape Loops, Repetition & Phasing (Synthtopia.com)
* Critic's Notebook - Jazz singers bring new life to old standards (Los Angeles Times)
* Narrowing the 90 Miles - How U.S.-Cuba relations may play out for musicians (Wall Street Journal)
* Apple Doesn't Want to Compete -- It Wants to Own the Record Business (Billboard)
* How the Music Industry Is Alienating Its Most Passionate Customers (Digital Music News)
* Captain Beefheart’s Failed Bid for Mainstream Success (Wondering Sound)
* Wizards of Sound - Retouching acoustics, from the restaurant to the concert hall (The New Yorker)
* As the Village Vanguard Turns 80, It Remains New York’s Most Cherished Jazz Club (New York Observer)
* Can New Orleans Save Its Brass Bands? (The Daily Beast)
* Don Was: Moving Blue Note Forward One Day at a Time (DownBeat)
* Jazz Saxophonist Branford Marsalis: Jay-Z Doesn't Know What He's Talking About (San Antonio Current)
* Too Late Blues: Nica Goes to Hollywood - The story of Cassavetes, Mingus and "the Baroness" of jazz (Jazz Times)
* The Doctor Is In: Eddie Henderson On Life As 'The Funk Surgeon' (NPR)
* Composer Billy Strayhorn in the limelight at last (The Scotsman)
* 7 Things You Didn't Realize Are Happening Every Time You Stream a Song on Spotify (Mic.com)
* Starbucks Will Stop Selling CDs In Their Stores Next Month (Forbes)
* A Half Century of Creative Musicianship with the AACM (WTTW)

Jazz this week: Herbie Hancock, Vijay Iyer, Galactic, Eddie Henderson, and more

With what looks to be some nice early spring weather plus a diverse selection of jazz and creative music on local stages, it's a good week in St. Louis to get out to a club or concert hall and hear some live sounds. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, the New Orleans funk/jazz/hip-hop ensemble Galactic returns to the Pageant for what's becoming an annual visit around this time of year. Their special guests on this tour include singer Cory Glover of Living Color and trombonist Corey Henry of the Rebirth Brass Band, with jam-rock band Orgone opening.

Also tonight, pianist Vijay Iyer is back in St. Louis with his trio to begin a four-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro. Iyer's new album Accelerando is out this week, and for more about that, plus some recent video clips of him and his trio in action, check out this video showcase post from a couple of weeks ago. Also worth reading: Pamela Espelund of the blog Bebopified has a report here on Iyer's recent residency at Minneapolis' Walker Art Center; and NPR's A Blog Supreme just ran an interesting item analyzing Iyer's covers - or as he likes to call them, "re-versions" - of works originally composed by others.

On Friday, saxophonist, composer and former St. Louisan Oliver Lake will be back home for the opening reception for an exhibit of his artwork being presented by the Nu-Art Series at the Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust St downtown. Although it's not billed as a performance, Lake will read some of his poetry and play some solo sax at the event, which is free and open to the public.

Also on Friday, drummer Montez Coleman, who's spent a lot of time on the road in recent years with trumpeter Roy Hargrove and others, is back home for a spell and will lead a quartet at Robbie's House of Jazz; and saxophonist Austin Cebulski's quartet, with drummer Jerry Mazzuca, guitarist Mason Baron and bassist Ryan Chamberlain, will play the Cigar Inn.

On Saturday afternoon, trumpeter Eddie Henderson will be in town, teaming up with saxophonist Freddie Washington for a matinee concert presented by the Nu-Art Series at the Metropolitan Gallery. The two men, billed as "Doctors That Play" in recognition of Henderson's medical degree and Washington's Ph.d, will be accompanied by bassist Bob Deboo, drummer Gary Sykes and pianist Ptah Williams.

The biggest show of the week, however, happens on Sunday night, when the legendary pianist and composer Herbie Hancock (pictured) will be here to play at the Touhill Performing Arts Center under the auspices of Jazz St. Louis. This is Hancock's first visit to St. Louis in nearly seven years, and according to this review of his show last week in Washington DC, fans can expect a setlist that emphasizes his funk material from the 1970s and beyond. For much more about Hancock, and videos featuring extended live versions of some of his most famous compositions, check out this post from last Saturday.

Also on Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club will presents St. Louis Classic Stompers in a matinee performance at the Doubletree Hotel in Westport; and the Bosman Twins will perform in a free early evening concert at Second Baptist Church as part of the St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers series.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday Webster University will present a special concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on campus honoring local jazz DJ, photographer and historian Dennis Owsley. "Musical Reflections on Saint Louis Jazz History" will feature a program of tunes "either composed by or closely associated with St. Louis musical greats including Scott Joplin, Frank Trumbauer, Jimmy Blanton, Clark Terry, Miles Davis, Grant Green, Oliver Nelson, Julius Hemphill, and David Sanborn." Performers will include Paul DeMarinis (saxophones), Randy Holmes (trumpet), Steve Schenkel (guitar), Kim Portnoy and Carolbeth True (piano), Ric Vice (bass) and Kevin Gianino (drums).

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.)

Nu-Art Series announces Oliver Lake exhibit, Eddie Henderson concert

The Nu-Art Series has announced two events this month as part of their ongoing efforts to spotlight connections between jazz and visual arts.

* A new exhibit featuring paintings by saxophonist Oliver Lake (pictured, above left) and collages by S. Scott Davis III, who's a cousin of bassist Charles Mingus, will open with a reception at 5:30 p.m. Friday, March 16 at Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust St. The exhibit, which is titled "East Meets West," will continue through April 20.

Lake will be in attendance at the opening, and though the event isn't billed as a performance, Nu-Art Series director George Sams says that the saxophonist also will read some of his poetry and play some music as part of the festivities. The reception is free and open to the public.

* Trumpeter Eddie Henderson (pictured, below left), known for his work with Herbie Hancock and many others, will perform in concert at 3:00 p.m., Saturday March 17 at Metropolitan Gallery.

Henderson, who's also a licensed psychiatrist, will team up with St. Louis saxophonist Freddie Washington, who holds a Ph.D, for a show that Sams has dubbed "Doctors That Play." They'll be assisted in their operations by three more St. Louis musicians: bassist Bob Deboo, drummer Gary Sykes and pianist Ptah Williams. Tickets for the Eddie Henderson concert will be $25 at the door.

Jazz this week: Eddie Henderson, The Wee Trio, Bernard Harris, and more

From a musical theater production honoring one of the music's most revered legends to an up-and-coming trio stretching the boundaries of the genre, there's a diverse lineup of jazz events happening over the next few days in St. Louis. Here are some of the most noteworthy shows coming up this weekend:

Tonight, the Unity Theatre Ensemble's production Lady Day at the Boston Bistro (An Evening With Billie Holiday) opens at the Ivory Theatre, with Mardra Thomas as Holiday and her husband, pianist Reggie Thomas, as arranger and accompanist. The show will be performed Thursdays through Sundays ending October 25.

On Friday, The Wee Trio begins a two-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. The critically acclaimed young group, which has drawn comparisons to The Bad Plus, includes former St. Louisan Dan Loomis on bass, James Westfall on vibraphone and Jared Schonig on drums. You can see some video samples of them in action by going to this post

Also on Friday, bassist Bernard Harris will perform a concert of "inspirational smooth jazz" at the Hilton Regency Conference Center, 400 Regency Park Drive in O'Fallon, IL. For more on Harris, see this post.

On Saturday evening, trumpeter Eddie Henderson (pictured) performs in a show sponsored by the Nu-Art Series at Luna Bar, 13 Maryland Plaza in the Central West End. Though he's perhaps still best known for his work with Herbie Hancock and the series of electrified jazz-fusion albums he released after leaving the pianist's group in the 1970s, in recent years Henderson has worked more in the acoustic hard-bop idiom and also has taken part in a number of tributes to Miles Davis, including an extended tour in 2005 and 2006 with drummer Jimmy Cobb. He'll be backed on his St. Louis gig by a local rhythm section of pianist Ptah Williams, bassist Jamal Nichols and drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw.

Also on Saturday, the smooth jazz group Three Central will do a free concert for the Vaughn Cultural Center at the Urban League, 3701 Grandel Square in the Grand Center area.

On Sunday, the Bosman Twins kick off this year's St. Louis Jazz and Blues Vespers series with a free concert at the Second Baptist Church of St. Louis, 9030 Clayton Rd. (at McKnight). And on Monday evening, the Sessions Big Band is back at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

For more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, check out the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, available for viewing on the left sidebar or by clicking here.

(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 10/17/09 to fix a typo.)

Nu-Art Series to present Eddie Henderson on Saturday, October 17 at Luna Bar

This just in: The Nu-Art Series will present trumpeter Eddie Henderson (pictured) in a performance on Saturday, October 17 at Luna Bar, 13 Maryland Plaza in the Central West End.

Henderson, a licensed psychiatrist as well as a musician, is known for his work with Herbie Hancock, Pharoah Sanders, Art Blakey and others. Influenced early in his career by Miles Davis (who was a family friend) and Clifford Brown, Henderson first came to wide public attention as part of Hancock's pre-Headhunters sextet Mwandishi.

He also made several fusion recordings of his own in the 1970s, but in recent years, Henderson has returned to playing acoustic music, with an emphasis on hard bop. He's also taken part in several tributes to Davis, and even recorded a CD titled So What? back in 2002. For more about Henderson, check out this feature story written by AllAboutJazz.com's R.J. DeLuke.

Nu-Art's George Sams said that Henderson will be backed on his date here by a St. Louis rhythm section including pianist Ptah Williams and drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw. He's scheduled to do two sets between 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., and tickets will be $25 at the door.