Jazz this week: Dianne Reeves, Greyboy Allstars, the Bistro's open house, Beegie Adair, Brett Stamps, Mae Wheeler's birthday and more

There's plenty of jazz-related activity going on this weekend in St. Louis, and time is short, so let's go right to the highlights:

Tonight, the recently reunited jam-funk purveyors Greyboy Allstars come to town to perform at the VooDoo Cafe and Lounge in Harrah's St. Louis casino. You can read my Critic's Pick on the show for this week's Riverfront Times here.

Also tonight, trombonist Brett Stamps will showcase material from his new CD in two sets at Jazz at the Bistro. And just a couple of blocks away, fans of several musicial genres will presumably be flocking to "Live From Grand Center," KETC's live broadcast of a concert from the Sheldon Concert Hall featuring a lineup of St. Louis musicians and singers including Denise Thimes, Kim Massie, Trebor Tichenor and the St. Louis Ragtimers, and more. (The program can be seen on Channel 9 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.)

Friday is the first of two nights of Jazz at the Bistro's annual Open House, a free event featuring music from Jazz St. Louis operations director Bob Bennett's combo Swing & Soul as well as the first public announcement of the Bistro's 2007-08 season schedule. Also on Friday, Nashville-based pianist Beegie Adair and her trio return to Finale Music and Dining for a two-night engagement. I haven't had a chance to hear her live yet, but Adair must be making some fans in St. Louis; this is her third or fourth gig at Finale in the last year or so.

Saturday brings the once-postponed and much-anticipated appearance of Grammy winning singer Dianne Reeves (pictured) at the Edison Theatre on the Washington University campus. The Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson previews Reeves' show (and next week's appearance at the Bistro by violinist Regina Carter) in an article here.

On Sunday, veteran vocalist Mae "Lady Jazz" Wheeler celebrates her birthday at Brandt's, and the St. Louis Jazz Club presents a show by Kansas City's New Red Onion Jazz Babies at the Moolah Shrine Center.

To see a more extensive listing of jazz events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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. No attachments, please.)

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Dianne Reeves sings "How High The Moon," plus the Greyboy Allstars live at the 2006 All Good Festival

This week's featured video clips offer a little taste of two acts that will be playing in St. Louis next week.

Up top is a clip of singer Dianne Reeves performing the standard "How High The Moon," accompanied by Billy Childs on piano, Billy Kilson on drums and Chris Severin on bass. Reeves will be in concert at Washington University's Edison Theatre next Saturday, May 19.

Down below you'll find a sampling of the funk-jazz stylings of the Greyboy Allstars, recorded in July, 2006 at the All Good Festival. The Allstars will be at the VooDoo Cafe and Lounge in Harrah's St. Louis casino next Thursday, May 17. In addition, their saxophonist Karl Denson will return to St. Louis with his trio to play Finale Music and Dining on Thursday, June 7.

Coming attractions include Jeff Coffin, Greyboy Allstars in May, John Pizzarelli in October

Jazz and the jam band scene have been cross-pollinating for some time now, and as the latter has diversified over the last decade, it's grown to include some groups whose jazz influences are, if not predominant, at least way up front in the stylistic mix.

Two such bands will perform in St. Louis next month, starting with saxophonist Jeff Coffin's Mu'Tet, who will play at the Lucas Schoolhouse on Wednesday, May 9. Based in Nashville, Coffin is best known as a member of Bela Fleck's Flecktones, but has also kept his own band going as a side project.

Then on Thursday, May 17, the Greyboy Allstars, recently reunited after six years off the road, come to St. Louis to play the VooDoo Cafe and Lounge at Harrah's Casino. Known for their funky grooves, the Allstars are fronted by saxophonist Karl Denson (pictured) and will be touring in support of their new CD What Happened to Television?

In other coming attractions news-that-somehow-escaped-earlier-attention, Pollstar is now showing a show at the Sheldon Concert Hall for guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli on Saturday, October 6 of this year.

Pizzarelli has made several St. Louis appearances in recent years, and, assuming this information is correct, on one level, it's hard to argue with him making another one - he's a talented musician and entertainer with a substantial local fan base and a real knack for working the media. On the other hand, booking him for what is presumably one of just a half-dozen slots in the Sheldon's 2007-08 jazz series when there are so many other major jazz musicians who haven't played St. Louis at all in recent years also indicates a certain lack of adventurousness.

Yes, Pizzarelli will put on a good show and likely will do box-office business, but, as I've said before and will no doubt say again, I'd like to see our town's not-for-profit presenters engage in more risk taking and less repetition. At some point, the continued recycling of the same relatively small group of performers stops being quality control and turns into artistic cowardice; I leave it to you, O readers, to draw your own conclusions as to the precise time and location of that point.

(Edited 4/4/07 to correct the date of the Greyboy Allstars show.)