Jazz this week: Chesterfield Jazz Festival, "Ballad of Atlantis," Denise Thimes, and more

For the first official week of summer, the calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features some noteworthy free outdoor concerts; shows paying tribute to a jazz guitar giant and some old-school soul/funk favorites; and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, June 21
Though there's no live music at Jazz at the Bistro until the weekend, the weekly Grand Center Jazz Crawl proceeds as usual, with live music at four different venues within the district.

Also on Wednesday, guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran will play the Venice Cafe, and singer Feyza Eren will be among the performers taking part in an observance of "Make Music Day St. Louis" at Evangeline's.

Thursday, June 22
Saxophonist Ben Reece’s Unity Quartet will perform at The Dark Room; the Gateway City Big Band plays a free outdoor concert at the Chesterfield Amphitheater; and singer Erin Bode returns to Cyrano's.

Friday, June 23
The Jazz Edge Big Band will offer a "Tribute to Wes Montgomery" featuring guest guitarists Eric Slaughter, Rick Haydon and Gregg Haynes at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Over on the other of Grand, multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris (pictured, center left) will be presenting "Ballad of Atlantis: The Music of The Isley Brothers" for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Saturday, June 24
The free, outdoor Chesterfield Wine and Jazz Festival will feature performances from the Wooten Brothers (pictured,top left), Bach to the Future with violinist Tracy Silverman, singer Anita Jackson, Soul Cafe, and singer Kim Fuller-Barnes at the Chesterfield Amphitheater.

For more about the Wooten Brothers - bassist Victor Wooten and drummer Roy "Futureman" Wooten, of Bela Fleck's Flecktones, plus their siblings Regi on guitar and Joseph on keyboards - plus some video of them in action, see this post from last Saturday.

Sunday, June 25
The St. Louis Record and CD Collector's Show will present their summer event at the American Czech Educational Center; the Folk School of KDHX hosts their monthly traditional jazz jam session; and singer Denise Thimes (pictured, bottom left) will perform in a free outdoor concert at Ivory Perry Park.

Monday, June 26
Singer and impressionist Dean Christopher returns with his "Rat Pack and More" show to One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar

Tuesday, June 27
Saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective return to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, and saxophonist and singer Cary Colman's trio 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.)

Ivory Perry Park to present free summer concert series

Once again this summer, Union Avenue Christian Church and the city of St. Louis will present a series of free concerts at Ivory Perry Park, 800 Belt (at Cabanne) in west St. Louis.

While past series have offered jazz headliners including Hamiet Bluiett and Denise Thimes, this year's musical menu is less jazz-centric. The reggae group TrenchTown Rock will open the 2001 series with a performance at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 26, followed by pop/R&B singer Charles Glenn on Sunday, July 24.

Keyboard player Tony Simmons (pictured) will conclude the series with a performance on Sunday, August 28. All three concerts are free and open to the public.

Hamiet Bluiett to open free concert series at Ivory Perry Park on June 24

It's not often one can see a truly world-class musician in concert for free, but that will be the case next month when baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett (pictured) opens a summer series of free outdoor concerts at Ivory Perry Park with a performance at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 24.

As a co-founder of the World Saxophone Quartet, solo artist and sideman, Bluiett is generally acknowledged as one of the most influential and important baritone sax players in jazz history, along with Gerry Mulligan, Harry Carney, Serge Chaloff and perhaps one or two others.

The concert series is sponsored by Union Avenue Christian Church, and will continue with a performance on July 22 by singer Anita Jackson. The series wraps up on August 26 with a jazz version of Porgy and Bess, performed by a group led by Aaron "Strayhorn" Parker and including Raymond Eldridge, Jr., Jerome "Scrooge" Harris, Clifton McBride, Mike Nelson and Dennis Block.

Ivory Perry Park is located at 800 Belt (at Cabanne) in west St. Louis.

(Edited after posting.)