Jazz this week: Lea DeLaria,"Music for Piano, Percussion & Drums," and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features visits from a couple of local natives turned expats - one quite famous, the other up-and-coming - plus an assortment of performances in a variety of jazz styles from hometown performers. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, January 23
Singer Emily Wallace presents a one-night-only performance at Jazz St. Louis, backed by pianist Adam Maness' trio.

Also on Wednesday, the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features guitarist Jacob Weisman and friends at The Stage at KDHX, the weekly jam session hosted by bassist Bob DeBoo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Thursday, January 24
Saxophonist Stephen Martin is back home from Kansas City to lead a quartet at The Dark Room, and singer Joe Mancuso will welcome singer Jan Shapiro and pianist Dave Venn as the guests for his gig this week at 50/Fifty Kitchen.

Friday, January 25
Belleville native Lea DeLaria (pictured, top left) may be best known as an actor and one of the stars of the Netflix series Orange Is The New Black, but she also has extensive credits in cabaret, musical theater and stand-up comedy. All those skills likely will be on display when DeLaria takes the stage for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis as part of the series JSL is co-presenting this year with Cabaret Project of St. Louis.

Also on Friday, singer Tony Viviano presents a tribute to the music of Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin for the first of two nights at Table Three; soul/jazz quintet Hip Grease returns to The Dark Room; trumpeter Jim Manley performs at One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar; and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, January 26
Pianist Greg Mills and percussionist Glen "Papa" Wright will present a free concert of "Music for Piano, Percussion & Drums" at St. Louis University's Xavier Hall; and The Gaslight Squares play vintage jazz at The Frisco Barroom, a recently opened spot in the Old Orchard neighborhood of Webster Groves.

Sunday, January 27
The Folk School of KDHX will host their monthly traditional jazz jam session, and DJ Pockets will present his monthly "1950s/60s Jazz Record Spin" at The Royale.

Monday, January 28
Bassist Willem von Hombracht leads a trio in a concert at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium, and singer/impressionist Dean Christopher brings his "Rat Pack & More" show back to One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar.

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.)

BAG II announce spring concerts

The Black Arts Guild aka BAG II has announced a series of free performances this spring at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site. From their news release:

As promised BAG II (Black Arts Guild) has confirmed its lineup and proudly presents the spring season April 6 – June 20th with a dynamic lineup of creative artists – mark your calendars now!

Friday, April 6th: The Group* featuring Thomasina Clarke- the spontaNubian/vocals
Friday, April 20th: Poetry Month Celebration – host Shirley LeFlore
Saturday, May 12th: The Group featuring poet Michael Castro
Saturday, May 26th: The Group featuring Ariel Kenyatta, tenor saxophone
Friday, June 1st: The Group and an exhibit of visual art featuring paintings and collages
Saturday, June 30th: The Group and Open Mike – Express Yourself Night!

* The Group features Zimbabwe Nkenya/Bass & Mbira; Jerome “Jay Dubz” Williams/ Saxophones, and Glen “Papa” Wright/ drums.

All events are from 6:00 – 8:00 PM at the Scott Joplin House Rosebud Cafe, 2658 Delmar Blvd , St. Louis and admission is free.

Zimbabwe Nkenya is back in the St. Louis area following a 20-year career in New York and the southwest where he became known as New Mexico ’s foremost jazz bassist. Glenn ‘Papa’ Wright tours throughout the country as an artist-in-residence presenting percussion and multi-media performance work for school and community audiences. J-Dubbs is one of the St. Louis area’s premiere saxophonists, long known for his ability to produce the big sound and tone, with a blues edge and beyond...

...Shirley Leflore is considered to be the queen mother of performance poetry in St. Louis. From her work with BAG in the 1960’s and 70’s Shirley went on to present her work at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, on tour in Europe, and as a successful performance artist on the New York scene. Shirley is putting together a line-up of stellar poets that will truly honor and celebrate National Poetry Month. Included will be a reunion reading by Blue-Mashibini, a duo active in St. Louis in the early 1980’s, reunited and in the process of putting together a collection of their work for print.

For more information call Scott Joplin House at 314-340-5790; Thomasina Clarke at 314-535-8824; or email: bag_blackartistsgroup@yahoo.com

BAG II returns to Scott Joplin House for concert on March 23

Bassist/composer/mbira player Zimbabwe Nkenya emails with news that B.A.G. II (Black Arts Guild) will be presenting another concert at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site, 2658 Delmar, at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 23.

The event will showcase music from Nkenya, percussionist Glen “Papa” Wright and saxophonist Jerome "J-Dubbs" Williams, and it's free and open to the public. For more information, you can call 314-340-5790 or send email to bag_blackartistsgroup (at) yahoo (dot) com.