Jazz this week: Kuzu, Galactic, Julian Lage & Dave King, Dikeman/ACA Quartet, Soul Message Band, SFJAZZ Collective, and more

It's a busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a half-dozen noteworthy shows from visiting performers offering funk, free jazz, re-imaginations of music from two iconic artists, and much more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, March 11
Improvising trio Kuzu (pictured, top left), featuring guitarist Tashi Dorji, drummer Tyler Damon and saxophonist Dave Rempis, will perform in a New Music Circle concert at Joe's Cafe.

You can find out more, and see and hear performances on video from all three of them, separately and together, in this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Also on Wednesday, cabaret grande dame Marilyn Maye continues with her second of three nights of performances with the Jazz St. Louis Big Band; and Jazz St. Louis' "Whitaker Jazz Speaks" series presents a free event with author William Studdart discussing his book The Jazz War: Radio Nazism, and the Struggle for the Airwaves in WW2 at the St. Louis County Library.

Thursday, March 12
New Orleans funk/jazz band Galactic (pictured, center left) returns to perform at Delmar Hall.

You can find out more about what they've been up to since their last appearance here, and see videos of some recent performances in this post from Saturday before last.

UPDATE - 10:00 a.m., 3/12/20: In an announcement made this morning on Twitter,  Galactic has canceled all tour dates, including tonight's show in St. Louis, until Saturday, March 28.

Also on Thursday, guitarist Julian Lage and drummer Dave King bring their "pop-up" tour to Gaslight Studio, and Dutch saxophonist John Dikeman headlines a bill of free improvisors at the Way Out Club.

Elsewhere around town, Chicago-based organ trio Soul Message Band will perform at The Dark Room, and two more Chicago-based musicians, saxophonist Rob Denty and drummer Tim Mulvenna, will team up with guitarist Vincent Varvel to play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

UPDATE - 7:45 a.m., 3/12/20: In a message published Wednesday night on Facebook, the Jazz at Holmes series announced that the remaining shows for the spring semester, including this week's Denty/Mulvenna/Varvel concert, have been cancelled, in keeping with Wash U's policy regarding current public health concerns over the coronavirus.

Friday, March 13
Keyboardist Dave Grelle's Playadors perform for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis, and singer Erin Bode will present at a concert at Focal Point.

Also on Friday, the Ambassadors of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom, and the Mineral Area College Carol Moore Memorial Jazz Festival, with trombonist Michael Dease as the featured guest, gets underway for the first of two nights at the Mineral Area College Theater in Park Hills, MO.

Saturday, March 14
The all-star SFJAZZ Collective (pictured, bottom left) will perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall, featuring new arrangements of music from Miles Davis' In A Silent Way and Sly and the Family Stone's Stand!.

You can find out more about about the Miles/Sly project and see some brief musical excerpts on video in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, bassist and singer Janet Evra leads her quartet at Evangeline's, and saxophonist Tim Cunningham returns to Troy's Listening Room.

Sunday, March 15
The Original Knights Of Swing will play a matinee at the Opera House of Pacific; the Coleman Hughes Project celebrates seven years as a band with a show at HollyLou Entertainment; and the JazzU Big Band student ensemble performs at Jazz St. Louis.

Tuesday, March 17
Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "Singers Open Mic" at Sophie's Artist Lounge, and pianist Kim Portnoy teams up with voice faculty members from Webster U and Webster alumna Erin Bode for  "The Poetry Project" at Union Avenue Christian Church.

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.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's StLJN's latest wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:

* Broadcaster, author and photographer Dennis Owsley will end his long-running St. Louis Public Radio program "Jazz Unlimited" with a final broadcast on Sunday, December 29.

Owsley, who moved with his wife to Arizona this fall to be closer to his grandchildren, had been sending in pre-recorded shows from there.  He said the decision to sign off after 36 years of broadcasting was entirely his own, with no pressure from station management. With the notable exception of the St. Louis Symphony's live broadcasts, "Jazz Unlimited" is one of the last music programs on the St. Louis Public Radio schedule, which increasingly has emphasized news and talk since the mid-2000s.) 

The author of two books on the history of jazz in St. Louis, Owsley (pictured) has won honors including several Riverfront Times "Best of St. Louis" awards for best jazz radio program and a "Jazz Hero" award in 2016 from the Jazz Journalists Association. The Post-Dispatch's Joe Holleman has more here.

* Drummer Nate Smith recently did a brief Q&A that was published on the Jazz St. Louis website. Smith and his band KINFOLK will perform through Sunday night at the Bistro.

* Smith also has recorded a solo performance for an episode of Gaslight Studios' web series "Gaslight Sessions," which was released online Monday.

* The Grand Center district in midtown will be the site of a new concert venue with a capacity of 1,200 that's scheduled to open in 2021. The club, to be called The Sovereign, will book national touring acts, local and regional bands in a variety of genres, as well as corporate events, private parties and weddings.

The venture is the product of a team-up between Tim Weber, managing partner of Old Rock House and former general manager and talent buyer at Mississippi Nights, and Steve Smith, the CEO of Lawrence Group, an architectural and development firm involved in a number of real estate projects in the neighborhood. The P-D's Kevin Johnson has more, including some quotes from Weber, here.

* Saxophonist David Sanborn has posted to Facebook an album of photos from his recent shows at the Blue Note Tokyo.

Jazz this week: Regina Carter & Xavier Davis, Nevermore Jazz Ball, Mwenso & the Shakes, Greg Ward & Rogue Parade, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music includes the biggest local event of the year for swing dancers, plus the return of an internationally acclaimed, poll-winning instrumentalist; a tribute to the Harlem Renaissance; a visit from a provocative Chicago saxophonist; and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, November 6
Violinist Regina Carter and pianist Xavier Davis (pictured, top left) will perform for the first of five nights at Jazz St. Louis.

Considered by many to be the top jazz violinist currently working, and the winner (again) on her instrument in this year's DownBeat Critic's Poll, Carter has performed here several times with different ensembles in recent years. This week, she'll be in a intimate duo setting with Davis, who's been the pianist in her working group for the last couple of years. For more about Carter and some recent video samples of her playing, take a look at this post from Saturday before last.

Also in Grand Center, the free, weekly "Wednesday Night Jazz Crawl" features multi-instrumentalist T.J. Muller at The Stage at KDHX, the jam session hosted by bassist Bob DeBoo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Danny Campbell's Helios at the The Dark Room.

Thursday, November 7
The weekend-long swing dancing festival Nevermore Jazz Ball gets underway with a "Welcome Dance" featuring music by Miss Jubilee at 2720 Cherokee

Also on Thursday, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert from Vehachi, with guitarist Vincent Varvel, saxophonist Joel Vanderheyden and percussionist Joe Pastor; keyboardist Ryan Marquez brings his trio to Evangeline's, and singer Meghan Kirk performs her cabaret show "Speaking Of Dreams" at Blue Strawberry.

Friday, November 8
The Nevermore Jazz Ball continues with a dance featuring pianist Paul Asaro’s Chicago Rhythm at the Casa Loma Ballroom, plus an after-hours show by the Chicago Cellar Boys at the Link Auditorium.

Elsewhere around town, Mark Deutsch brings his invented instrument, the Bazantar, to The Judson House, and Annie and the Fur Trappers play traditional jazz and swing at the Frisco Barroom.

Saturday, November 9
The Nevermore Jazz Ball has a triple-header of events on Saturday, starting with the free Cherokee Street Jazz Crawl, which offers live music from late morning to early evening at various venues along Cherokee Street (roughly, from the 2700 block west to the 3000 block).

Then, the Saturday evening dance will feature bassist Michael Gamble’s Rhythm Serenaders Orchestra at the Casa Loma Ballroom, followed by another after-hours event with Jonathan Stout’s Campus Six at the Link Auditorium.

Also on Saturday, Mwenso and the Shakes (pictured, center left) present their show "Harlem 100" at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

The multi-media performance from the NYC-based ensemble celebrates the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance, evoking memories of icons including Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, and Billie Holiday. You can see some videos of Mwenso and the Shakes in this post from last Saturday, and they also were featured on this week's episode of NPR's World Cafe.

For those needing an additional incentive, The Sheldon and Metrotix are offering a $10 discount to online buyers on tickets for Mwenso and the Shakes. To get the discount, go here and when prompted, enter the code "10OFF" (without the quotation marks).

Sunday, 
November 10
Chicago saxophonist Greg Ward (pictured, bottom left) and Rogue Parade, which also includes bassist Matt Ulery, drummer Quinn Kirchner, and guitarists Matt Gold and Dave Miller, will perform at Gaslight Studios.

Their debut album Stomping Off From Greenwood, released in January of this year, was called "a blend of fearlessness, merriment, pathos, and perhaps a measure or two of irony" by Jazz Times.

Also on Sunday evening, the Nevermore Jazz Ball wraps up with one last event featuring Michael Gamble’s Rhythm Serenaders at 2720 Cherokee.

Monday, November 11
Dizzy Atmosphere plays for diners at The Shaved Duck, and Webster University's Student Jazz Combos will perform at Webster's Community Music School.

Tuesday, November 12
Keyboardist and singer Jesse Gannon returns to BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

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.)