Jazz this week: Ralph Towner, MarchFourth, Oliver Lake, Bonerama, Michael Bublé, Oz Noy, Dave Weckl & Jimmy Haslip, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis is jam-packed with so many noteworthy shows that it defies easy summary, so in the interest of getting to the good stuff as soon as possible, let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, 
March 20
Guitarist Ralph Towner returns to play a solo concert at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus. (For more about Towner and some video samples of his work, see this post from before his last appearance here in 2017.)

Also on Wednesday, the eclectic mutant-marching-band MarchFourth returns for a performance at the Old Rock House; Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "Singers Open Mic" at Sophie's Artist Lounge; and pianist Reggie Thomas and the Jazz St. Louis Big Band celebrate the "Nat "King" Cole Centennial" with a free performance as part of the the "Whitaker Jazz Speaks" series at Jazz St. Louis.

Thursday, March 21
The 442s play original instrumental music at Joe's Cafe, and guitarist Billy Barnett will perform in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Friday, March 22
The Nu-Art Series and St. Louis University  present saxophonist Oliver Lake (pictured, top left) in concert at Xavier Hall on the SLU campus.

The former St. Louisan and co-founder of the Black Artists Group and the World Saxophone Quartet will be reciting some of his poetry as well as playing music, with some help from pianist Greg Mills, trumpeter and Nu-Art Series impresario George Sams, and dancers Antonio Douthis-Boyd and Kirven Douthis-Boyd.

For more about Lake and his artistic pursuits in music, poetry, and painting, see this post from last Saturday. 

Also on Friday, Bonerama (pictured, center left) presents their Led Zeppelin tribute show at The Bootleg at Atomic Cowboy; pop-jazz crooner Michael Bublé will perform at the Enterprise Center; and the Funky Butt Brass Band plays for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis.

Saturday, March 23
NYC-based band The Bailsmen will play vintage swing and Gypsy jazz at Focal Point, and a series of shows celebrating the release of the new book St. Louis Sound kicks off with "St. Louis Sound: Experience Jazz," featuring sets from Tonina, the Adam Maness Trio, and trumpeter Danny Campbell with guest vocalist Anita Jackson, at the Grandel Theatre.

Also on Saturday, pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True return to the Parkside Grille, and trumpeter Jim Manley leads a quartet at Evangeline's.

Sunday, March 24
Israeli-born jazz-fusion guitarist Oz Noy wraps up his current tour with drummer and St. Charles native Dave Weckl (pictured, bottom left) and bassist Jimmy Haslip with two shows at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Monday, March 25
Singer and impressionist Dean Christopher returns with his "Rat Pack and More" show to One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar; and Webster University's Student Jazz Combos perform at Webster's Community Music School.

Tuesday, March 26
Nashville-based ensemble The Cosmic Collective plays at Evangeline's.

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: Winter/spring 2019 jazz preview, part four

Today, it's part four of StLJN's winter/spring 2019 jazz preview, featuring videos of noteworthy jazz and creative music performers who will be coming to St. Louis in the first part of 2019. You can see part one of the series here, part two here, and part three here.

First up is a show that, chronologically speaking, should have been part of last week's post, but was left out due to a clerical error. That would be the upcoming appearance by trumpeter Jaimie Branch, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Ståle Liavik Solberg presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, February 9 at The Stage at KDHX.

Branch, a Chicago native who has gained international attention since moving to NYC a few years back, has her own working band, Fly or Die. But she's also played with a variety of other ensembles, including with Lonborg-Holm and Solberg (billed here as "The Party Knüllers") as seen in the first video up above, an excerpt from a show in June 2018 at Da Vinci Art Alliance in Philadelphia.

After the jump, we get back on schedule with Marilyn Maye, known as "the grand dame of cabaret," who will present her show "It's Better with a Big Band" on Wednesday, March 6 and Thursday, March 7 at Jazz St. Louis. The video is an excerpt from Maye's 90th birthday party (!) last April at Feinstein's/54Below in New York City, in which she sings "Guess Who I Saw Today" and "Fifty Percent."

Maye will be followed at Jazz St. Louis by another distinctive vocalist, Kurt Elling, who will check in for a five-night run at the Bistro starting Wednesday, March 13 and continuing through Sunday, March 17.

Elling can be seen in the second video after the jump singing the Julian Priester/Tommy Turrentine composition "Long As You're Living" at the International Jazz Day 2018 All-Star Global Concert in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Though he'll have his regular working band in St. Louis, here he's backed by a group including Branford Marsalis (tenor sax), Terri Lyne Carrington (drums), Antonio Farao (piano), and Ben Williams (bass).

That same week, New Music Circle will present flute player and composer Nicole Mitchell’s Liberation Narratives, featuring poet Haki Madhubuti, on Saturday, March 16 at Xavier Hall on the St. Louis University campus.

"Liberation Narratives" also is the title of Mitchell's 2017 album featuring Madhubuti, but since there doesn't seem to be any live-performance video of the two of them available online, the next clip offers a look at Mitchell, her Black Earth Ensemble, and poet Jamila Woods doing a set in 2017 at "Centennial Brooks," a gathering in Chicago of scholars, writers, musicians, and fans paying tribute to Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African-American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize.

Next up, it's guitarist Ralph Towner, who will be doing a solo performance on Wednesday, March 20 at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus. Towner is featured in the fifth video playing his original composition "The Reluctant Bride."

Also on Wednesday, March 20, the eclectic ensemble MarchFourth will make their return to St. Louis with a show at the Old Rock House. You can see a representative example of their syncretic style, which draws on everything from marching bands to Afrobeat, jazz, rock and more, in the penultimate video, a mashup of The Doors' "Roadhouse Blues" and the JBs' "Doing It To Death" (misidentified as 'James Brown's "Funky Good Time"') recorded in 2017 at the Sioux Falls Jazz Fest in Iowa.

Today's final video feature singer Michael Bublé, who will be performing on Friday, March 22 at the Enterprise Center. While there's an argument to be made that Bublé at this juncture is more of a pop performer that a jazz singer, he still touches enough different stylistic bases to merit including a clip of him singing "Haven't Met You Yet," recorded in October 2018 on the Australian TV show Sunrise.

Look for part five of StLJN's winter/spring 2019 jazz preview next week in this space. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Ralph Towner returning to perform Wednesday, March 20 at Graham Chapel

Guitarist Ralph Towner is returning to St. Louis to perform in a solo concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 20 at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus.

Towner (pictured) has recorded more than two dozen albums as a solo artist on ECM records, going back to the early 1970s, and also is one of the co-founders of the long-running band Oregon.

A capable pianist as well as a guitarist, Towner  was an original member of the pioneering world-fusion group Paul Winter Consort and early in his career recorded with the likes of Weather Report, Larry Coryell, and Jan Garbarek, but these days may be best known for his solo shows playing acoustic guitar.

His most recent recordings, a solo album called My Foolish Heart on ECM, and Oregon's latest, Lantern, on the Italian label CAM Jazz, both were released in 2017. Towner last played in St. Louis in February 2017 at the 560 Music Center.

Tickets for Ralph Towner at Graham Chapel are $25 for general admission; $20 for seniors and Wash U faculty and staff; $10 for students with ID; and go on sale online at 10:00 a.m. Monday, November 19 via Vendini.com.

Washington University to honor Pat Martino at free symposium this Thursday, December 2

The Jazz at Holmes series and the Washington University Department of Music will present guitarist Pat Martino (pictured) in a public symposium honoring his work from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. this Thursday, December 2, at Graham Chapel on the Wash U campus.

Martino will be in St. Louis to perform Wednesday, December 1 through Saturday, December 4 at Jazz at the Bistro. He will be joined at Thursday's symposium by music professors William Lenihan of Wash U and Steve Schenkel of Webster University, who are both working jazz guitarists, and Patrick Burke, director of undergraduate studies and professor of musicology for Wash U.

The symposium is free and open to the public, with no tickets or advance reservations required. For more about Pat Martino, see this post.

Mike Stern to present free master class this Friday, November 19 at Graham Chapel

This just in from the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University: Guitarist Mike Stern (pictured) will give a free master class at 4:00 p.m. this Friday, November 19 at Graham Chapel on the Wash U. campus.

The event is sponsored by Jazz at Holmes and the Wash U. Department of Music, and it is free and open to the general public, with no ticket or advance registration needed.

Stern will perform Wednesday through Saturday of this week at Jazz at the Bistro, and was featured here on StLJN in this past Saturday's Video Showcase. The Post-Dispatch this weekend also had a story by Calvin Wilson previewing this week's gigs by Stern and fellow guitarist John McLaughlin, who's playing Friday at the Sheldon. You can read that article online here.

Nicole Johänntgen to play free concert tonight at Graham Chapel

This just in, via a late-night email from the Jazz at Holmes listserv: Saxophonist Nicole Johänntgen (pictured) will perform a free concert at 8:00 p.m. tonight, Tuesday, September 28 at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus.

The German-born, Zurich-based Johänntgen is scheduled to play for the Jazz at Holmes series at Wash U next Thursday, October 7; tonight's show is being billed as a "preview concert" that will feature her performing original music backed by a quintet of guitar, piano, bass, drums and percussion. For more on Nicole Johänntgen, check out her MySpace and YouTube pages. Both the Graham Chapel concert and Jazz at Holmes show are free and open to the public.