Jazz this week: Music for the dog days

Yes, it's officially the dog days of August, a time of year most identified with pervasive slacking off.

And though it'll be a few more weeks before the fall presenting season begins, bringing a variety of touring jazz and creative music performers to town, in the meantime St. Louis' own homegrown musicians still are out there working hard, week in and week out.

Here are some of the more noteworthy shows happening around town over the next few days...

Wednesday, August 3
Speaking of the fall presenting season, in a portent of things to come, New Music Circle will hold a "58th Season Kickoff and Fundraiser" at the Tick Tock Tavern, just down the street from the old KDHX studios on Magnolia Ave. The free event will feature music from DJs Josh Weinstein and Jeremy Kannapell, raffles of CDs, LPs, and other music-related items, and a first look at NMC's 2016-17 season.

Elsewhere around town, singer Tony Viviano is presenting a "90th Birthday Tribute to Tony Bennett" at  Patrick's Westport Grill, with singer Dawn Turlington along to duet on some of the material Bennett has recorded recently with pop diva Lady Gaga; and singer Joe Mancuso will close out this year's Whitaker Music Festival series of free concerts at Missouri Botanical Garden.

Thursday, August 4
Guitarist Dave Black and Friends, featuring singer Feyza Eren, return to Nathalie's, and pianist Ptah Williams and guitarist Eric Slaughter will continue their Thursday night residency at The Dark Room.

Friday, August 5
The Funky Butt Brass Band will play a free outdoor concert at Schroeder Park in Manchester, while flutist Oliver Nelson, Jr., the son of famed saxophonist, arranger and St. Louis native of the same name, will present a rare performance in his dad's hometown, playing a free concert at 370 Lakeside Park in St. Peters. The younger Nelson received his doctorate in music from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign earlier this year.

Also on Friday, singer, guitarist and former St. Louisan Javier Mendoza, now living in Nashville and known professionally as Hobo Cane, will be back in town to play with Javier Mendoza’s Estereotipo (pictured), aka the Javier Mendoza Latin Jazz Project, for the first of two nights of performances at Jazz at the Bistro.

Saturday, August 6
Trumpeter Jim Manley, guitarist Randy Bahr and their "All-Star Band" return to Nathalie's;  percussionist Herman Semidey and Orquesta Son Montuno will play Latin jazz, salsa and more at Club Viva; and Animal Children perform at The Dark Room.

Sunday, August 7
Miss Jubilee will provide music for the weekly jazz brunch at Evangeline's, and the Friends of Scott Joplin will present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site.

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.)

Jazz this week: Garfield, Ligertwood & Friends, "A Jazz Heaven," and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music performances in and around town features the returns of several notable St. Louis expat musicians as well as shows paying tribute to both local and all-time jazz greats.

Let's go to the highlights...

Thursday, August 27
Tonight, guitarist Tom Byrne and singer Erika Johnson will perform at Evangeline's; and the Tavern of Fine Arts presents their monthly "Experimental Arts Open Improv Night" with live improvised music.

Friday, August 28
Keyboardist David Garfield and singer Alex Ligertwood (pictured, top left) return to join forces with guitarist Marvin Horne, saxophonist Jim Stevens, and friends for a performance at at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups.

Garfield, a Metro East native who's toured extensively with George Benson, and Ligertwood, a Scotsman who's sung with Brian Auger and Santana, have teamed up with Stevens and band for a couple of previous gigs here, and with the addition of Horne, another former St. Louisan, this show should offer plenty of funk and fireworks.

Also on Friday, singer, songwriter, guitarist and former St. Louisan Javier Mendoza (pictured, center left) returns from his new home in Nashville to front Estereotipo, the latest iteration of his Latin/jazz project, for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Elsewhere around town, singer Tony Viviano will perform in concert at the St. Peters Cultural Arts Centre, and guitarist Eric Slaughter and bassist Glen Smith return to Thurman Grill.

Saturday, August 29
Trumpeter Randy Holmes leads "A Tribute to Charlie Parker" at the Ozark Theatre; Wack-A-Doo performs at Thurman Grill; Tim Cunningham returns to Troy's Jazz Gallery; and Herman Semidey and Orquesta Son Montuno will play salsa and Latin music for dancing at Club Viva.

Sunday, August 30
Wendy L. Gordon (pictured, lower left) will present the sixth annual show in her "Jazz Heaven" series at the Florissant Civic Center Theatre, this time offering a "Tribute to St. Louis Legends" with help from a cast including Linda Kennedy, Jeanne Trevor, Joe Mancuso, Uvee Hayes, J Samuel Davis and more.

Monday, August 31
"Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective will return to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Tuesday, September 1
The First Tuesday Composers Club will spotlight new works for saxophone quartet at The Dark Room.

Wednesday, September 2
Erin Bode will sing standards for the first of two nights to kick off the fall presenting season at Jazz at the Bistro.

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.)

Jazz this week: Michael Dease with WGHS Jazz Bands, Javier Mendoza's Latin Jazz Experiment, Montez Coleman, Mary Dyson, Joe Mancuso, and more

The first part of January typically is time off for a lot of touring musicians who'd just as soon stay home as deal with bad weather, audiences suffering from empty pockets or the post-holiday blahs, and so on.

So even though the weather in St. Louis actually has been pretty nice for this time of year, it's no surprise that most of this week's jazz and creative music highlights are once again local in origin.

Tonight, the jazz/funk/R&B combo Good 4 The Soul returns to BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups for an early evening show.

Tomorrow night, singer/songwriter Javier Mendoza once again will activate his Latin Jazz Experiment for the first of two evenings at Jazz at the Bistro. The performances will showcase Mendoza's original songs with an expanded version of his band featuring additional guitar from Dave Black, horn arrangements from saxophonist Jim Stevens and trumpeter Rob Endicott, and extra percussion (usually from R. Scott Bryan).

Also on Friday, trombonist Michael Dease will be in town to perform as guest soloist with the Webster Groves High School jazz bands in their annual concert at The Pageant. Dease is a Juilliard graduate who's played with numerous big bands, including those led by Illinois Jacquet, Dizzy Gillespie, Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, Jimmy Heath and Charles Tolliver, as well as with small groups led by Claudio Roditi, Sharel Cassity, and Wycliffe Gordon. Metrobones, the ensemble led by Dave Dickey that features more than a dozen student trombonists from local high schools and colleges, will round out the bill.

And if that weren't enough for one night, Friday also will find drummer Montez Coleman's trio with guitarist Eric Slaughter and bassist Chris Thomas at Cigar Inn; bassist Willem von Hombracht with singer Hannah McDonald and pianist Mike Carosello at Robbie's House of Jazz; and the St. Louis Big Band at the Casa Loma Ballroom

On Saturday, the eclectic south side venue Rue Lafayette reopens after a short winter break with a brunchtime performance from swing band the Sidemen.

On Saturday night, singer Mary Dyson and and keyboardist Brock Walker team up for a performance at Robbie's; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will play swing, jump blues and more at the Venice Cafe.

Update: 10:30 a.m., 1/12/13: Mary Dyson has announced by email and on Facebook that tonight's performance at Robbie's House of Jazz is cancelled. 4:15 p.m.: Guitarist Eric Slaughter and Tom Byrne have been booked for a duo performance in Dyson's place.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday, the jazz fusion band Steizuello will be at at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups.

Then on Tuesday, singer Joe Mancuso will do a "Notes From Home" concert at The Sheldon, performing standards from the Great American Songbook with an expanded band including special guest trumpeter Randy Holmes and saxophonist Willie Akins.

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.)

Jazz St. Louis announces winter/spring bookings for Jazz at the Bistro

Jazz St. Louis has announced additional bookings for this winter and spring at Jazz at the Bistro.

Singer-songwriter Javier Mendoza’s Latin Jazz Experiment will be the first local/regional act to play the Bistro in 2013, returning on Friday, January 11 and Saturday, January 12.

Two weeks later, multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris and singer/trumpeter Dawn Weber will team up for performances on Friday, January 25 and Saturday, January 26.

Next up, The Wee Trio, formed in NYC but featuring former St. Louisan Dan Loomis on bass, will return to the Bistro to record a live CD on Friday, February 8 and Saturday, February 9.

And speaking of recordings, the Willie Akins/Montez Coleman Group will have a CD release party for their upcoming album The St. Louis Connection on Saturday, February 23.

Also returning to the Bistro will be the Funky Butt Brass Band, with a one-nighter announced for Friday, March 22.

Lastly, as in years past, the Bistro will be the site of the opening show for the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, with clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen (pictured) and drummer Matt Wilson paired for a performance on Thursday, April 18. (The GSLJF previously had announced concerts at the Touhill Performing Arts Center featuring the Monterey Jazz Festival 55th anniversary tour on Friday, April 19 and the Doc Severinsen Big Band on Saturday, April 20.)

The announcement from Jazz St. Louis did not include prices, but tickets for all of the performances at the Bistro will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. this Saturday, December 1 via Metrotix. To purchase tickets for the GSLJF shows at the Touhill, call their ticket office at 314-516-4949 or visit the Touhill website.

Jazz this week: Sara Gazarek, Alan Evans Trio, Javier Mendoza, and more

Though we're getting close to the end of the academic year as well as the nominal seasons of several of our local not-for-profit presenters, there's still a good amount of live jazz and creative music on tap over the next few days in St. Louis. This week's touring attractions include one of the best young female jazz singers working today, and the local debut of a new organ-driven jazz/funk trio from one of the genre's most well-regarded drummers. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, the Webster Groves High School Jazz Band, one of the outstanding student groups in the area, gives their final concert of the spring semester at WGHS, 100 Selma Ave. Afterwards, it's just a few blocks to the Highway 61 Roadhouse, where guitarist Tom Byrne will be leading the weekly jam session.

On Friday, singer, songwriter and guitarist Javier Mendoza returns to Jazz at the Bistro for the first of two nights of performances with his "Latin Jazz Experiment," in which his usual band is augmented by guitarist Dave Black, percussionist R. Scott Bryan, trumpeter Rob Endicott and saxophonist Jim Stevens. Unfortunately, since I haven't caught one of their live gigs yet, I can't tell you much about what they sound like, for there still are no recordings or videos extant of this group save for a couple of QuickTime audio clips on Mendoza's website that I could not get to play. I'm told that if you're a fan of Mendoza's pop/rock work, you'll likely enjoy this as well, but caveat lector, as I can't personally vouch for the amount of jazz content in the show.

Also on Friday, trombonist and vocalist Doug Burns fronts a quartet at Robbie's House of Jazz; saxophonist Tim Cunningham continues his ongoing weekly gig at Jazz On Broadway in Alton; and pianist T. Chandler and Friends will play at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

On Saturday, trumpeter and vibes player Joe Bozzi and his band will play their monthly matinee at Frontenac Grill.

Then on Saturday evening, singer Sara Gazarek (pictured) returns to town for the first time since 2009 to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Though she has not received as much hype as some of her peers, Gazarek is one of the best young female jazz singers working right now. She's both technically accomplished and swinging, and quite adept at selecting (and sometimes writing) songs that suit her performing persona.

She has a new album, Blossom & Bee, due out next month on Palmetto Records, and so it seems likely that the audience at the Sheldon will get a chance to hear some of that material this weekend. For more about Gazarek and some videos of her singing, check out this video post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday evening, drummer Alan Evans, best known as a member of the funk/jazz trio Soulive, brings his new eponymous trio to the Old Rock House. The group has just released their debut album Drop Hop, and you can hear a podcast in which Evans talks about the group and the recording here.

On Sunday, the spring edition of the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show takes place at the American Czech Center, 4690 Lansdowne Ave; bassist Willem von Hombracht, singer Joe Mancuso and company will lead their weekly jam at Johnny Gitto's, 6997 Chippewa; and Dizzy Atmosphere plays at the St. Louis Brewery & Tap Room, 2100 Locust downtown. Also on Sunday evening, the group Shades of Jade from Kansas City will perform at the Grandel Square Theatre.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band will be back in action for their monthly gig at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups; and the East St. Louis High School jazz combos will perform at the Sheldon in the first of two shows there this month to raise money for the school's scholarship fund for band students.

Then on Tuesday, the Sheldon will play host to two more jazz performances. In the morning, the final "Coffee Concert" of the 2011-12 season will feature trumpeter Bob Ceccarini and pianist Pat Joyce (with the same program repeated on Wednesday morning). That evening, saxophonist/educator Stan Coleman leads the University City Big Band in a "Notes From Home" concert.

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.)

(Edited 5/3/12 to fix a typo and add some tags. Edited again to add mentions of the Shades of Jade and ESL HS shows.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Veteran freelance scribe Terry Perkins talked with singer/songwriter/guitarist Javier Mendoza for a St. Louis Beacon story previewing Mendoza's shows this weekend at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Meanwhile, St. Louis American editor Chris King interviewed bassist Stanley Clarke about his gig next weekend at the Bistro.

* Radio host, author and photographer Dennis Owsley has a new post this week on St. Louis magazine's Look/Listen blog looking at big bands in the St. Louis area.

* Gutiarist Charlie Hunter, who was in town last week to play the Bistro, also stopped by the studios of KPLR (Channel 11) for a brief interview and performance segment, which has been archived online here.

* Washington University's Gerald Early will serve as moderator and host for a discussion with Ellis Marsalis (pictured) when the veteran New Orleans pianist (and father of Wynton, Branford, Jason and Delfeayo Marsalis) appears next month in Columbia, MO to perform for the We Always Swing concert series.

The discussion, with Q&A session and reception afterward, will take place at 7:00 p.m. Saturday, February 12 in the Monsanto Auditorium of the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center on the Mizzou campus. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited; call 573-449-3001 to reserve a spot. Marsalis and his trio, including son Jason on drums, will perform at 8:00 p.m. the next evening, Sunday, February 13, at the Windsor Ballroom of the Holiday Inn Select in Columbia. Tickets are $20-$35, and can be bought through Ticketmaster or by calling the We Always Swing offices.

* The jazz bands from Webster Groves Middle and High Schools have rescheduled their "Cool Nights, Hot Jazz" concert at The Pageant for Thursday, February 3. The performance, which is a fundraiser for the jazz program in Webster Groves schools, originally was scheduled for last week but was postponed due to snow.

Jazz this week: Jazz at Holmes resumes, Javier Mendoza, "Jazz Under The Stars," and more

Though this weekend's offerings of jazz and creative music in St. Louis are less numerous than last week's, there are at least a few noteworthy events happening around town. So, let's take a look and see what's coming up...

Tonight, Brandt's has an early set from saxophonist Christopher McBride, and singer Erin Bode and her band are playing Porter's in Collinsville.

On Thursday, saxophonist and clarinetist Mike Buerk and his 13-piece big band will open this semester's Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University with a performance of music of the Swing Era.

Also on Thursday, the Young Friends organizations of Jazz St. Louis and the St. Louis Science Center are cosponsoring an event called "Jazz Under The Stars" at the Planetarium in Forest Park, featuring music from guitarist Eric Slaughter's trio; and alto saxophonist Kendrick Smith's quartet plays at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Friday and Saturday, singer/songwriter Javier Mendoza (pictured) returns to Jazz at the Bistro. Though Mendoza's usual sound is more along the lines of Latin-flavored pop/rock, for these shows he reportedly has rearranged his songs and augmented his band with the fine guitarist Dave Black to add a jazz aspect to his music.

Also on Friday, guitarist Matthew Von Doran and his trio play at Broadway Bean Coffee, and Robbie's will feature a band called Elements, about whom I can tell you absolutely nothing.
(The club's website has no information about them, and Google serves up a number of groups with similar names, none based in St. Louis. Maybe they're brand new?)

On Saturday, Robbie's will feature their house band, led by co-owner/trombonist Robert Edwards, and on Tuesday, they'll host their usual weekly jazz jam session.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, 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.)

(Edited 1/27/11 to add the Matthew Von Doran gig.)

Jazz this week: "Jazz Cavalcade" with Kirk Whalum, Chicago Afrobeat Project, Javier Mendoza, Cornet Chop Suey, and more

From African and Latin rhythms to traditional jazz and swing to a free concert featuring a well-known smooth jazz saxophonist, here's a look at what's going on over the next few days with jazz and creative music in St. Louis.

The polyrhythmic portion of the weekend gets underway on Friday night, when the Chicago Afrobeat Project performs at The Gramophone. The CAB can include from seven to 14 musicians, and draws on influences such as juju, highlife, American funk, and afro-Cuban music as well as the experimental jazz and rock of the Chicago music scene.

Also on Friday, Latin/pop/rock singer-songwriter Javier Mendoza will start a two-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro, trying his hand at some Latin jazz with an assist from special guest guitarist Dave Black (pictured). Since this is something of a first-time experiment, I don't think anyone quite knows what to expect, but given Mendoza's apparently substantial fan base, it could be a good draw for the Bistro - and if not, well, at least they're trying something a little different, something yr. humble editor generally encourages.

Also on Saturday, there's a benefit at the White Flag Projects art gallery for electronic musician Joe Raglani, who recently had a van-full of equipment stolen while on tour. See this post for details.

On Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents a concert of traditional jazz and swing from Cornet Chop Suey at Bel-Air Bowl in Belleville. And elsewhere around town, Brandt's has singer Kim Massie on Friday, and the St. Louis Jazz Cafe will feature the Neal Connors Quartet on Thursday, singer Diane Vaughn on Friday, and saxophonist Rod Tate and guitarist Gregg Haynes, aka 2Smooth, on Saturday.

Looking beyond the weekend, the next event in the Twilight Tuesdays series of free concerts at the Missouri History Museum will be "Jazz Cavalcade" featuring saxophonist Kirk Whalum. The Twilight Tuesdays shows generally feature local acts, so the presence of an internationally known, Grammy nominated headliner like Whalum is especially noteworthy.

Of course, the fact that the Memphis native is the nephew of our town's Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum likely played a role in getting him here, and the show will still have a strong local flavor, as he'll be accompanied by what should be a first-rate band of St. Louis musicians, including his uncle "Peanuts" plus Jeff Anderson, Reggie Thomas, Marty Morrison, Eric Slaughter and Danny Campbell. The Twilight Tuesdays shows usually draw a crowd, and as long as the weather is agreeable, look for a big turnout for the Whalums and company.

Also on Tuesday, after things wind down at the History Museum, you've still got time to get over to The Gramophone to hear the band Utter Chaos in another of the club's no-cover-charge shows co-sponsored with Jazz St. Louis.

For more jazz-related 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. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

Jazz at the Bistro announces summer schedule

Jazz St. Louis has announced the summer 2009 lineup of shows at Jazz at the Bistro. For regulars at the Bistro, it's a mostly familiar group of artists, with one notable exception: guitarist and singer Javier Mendoza, who will perform at the Bistro on Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30, filling the dates vacated when trumpeter Terence Blanchard's gig at the club was rescheduled to the first week in June.

Mendoza usually is categorized as a Latin/pop/rock performer, but, according to JSL operations director Bob Bennett, he's been wanting to do something more in a Latin jazz vein for a while and is putting together a special presentation for his dates at the Bistro. Bennett said guitarist Dave Black will be part of Mendoza's band for the gig (which certainly adds some jazz credibility to the proceedings) and that JSL's hope was that doing something "a little bit different" with Mendoza might "get some new people into the club."

Similar pragmatic concerns were at the forefront in booking the rest of the summer lineup, as Bennett says musicians were selected primarily based on who had drawn the biggest crowds during the 2008-09 season, and would be likely to draw well again during the summer. Here's the complete summer schedule for the Bistro, including Blanchard's previously announced gig:

Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30: Javier Mendoza
Wednesday, June 3 - Saturday, June 6: Terence Blanchard (new rescheduled dates)
Friday, June 12 & Saturday, June 13: Adaron “Pops” Jackson
Friday, June 19 & Saturday, June 20: Musica Slesa
Friday, June 26 & Saturday, June 27: Funky Butt Brass Band
Friday, July 10 & Saturday, July 11: Reggie Thomas' OGD with Willie Akins
Friday, July 17 & Saturday, July 18: Jim Manley (pictured)
Friday, July 24 and Saturday, July 25: Good 4 the Soul

A few thoughts about this lineup: While Mendoza's Latin jazz venture is an unknown quantity, all the rest of these musicians and groups are of proven quality, so there's not much to quibble with from that standpoint. There's a pretty good range of stylistic diversity represented, too.

However, as I have in the past, I wonder once again if Jazz St. Louis is going back to the same wells too often - or, if you prefer, putting too many eggs in too few baskets. When one group and its spin-offs and individual members end up playing four or five weekends a year at the Bistro, as happened during 2008-09, it seems like overkill - especially given that there's certainly no shortage of very good musicians who'd like the chance to play there.

One can certainly understand the impulse to go with proven commodities, especially in these recessionary times, but promoting a diverse roster of acts not only makes sense in terms of JSL's artistic mission, over time it should establish a greater number of groups as the sort of proven attractions that presenters need. That said, credit where it's due: overall I think Jazz St. Louis has done a reasonably good job, especially during the last couple of season, of working different groups and musical styles into the mix at the Bistro. Here's hoping that trend continues when the 2009-10 season schedule is announced.

Single ticket prices for Jazz at the Bistro's summer series will be $20 for OGD with Willie Akins and for Good 4 The Soul, and $15 for the other shows. Tickets will go on sale at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, May 12 and will be available at all MetroTix outlets, online at metrotix.com, or by phone at 314-534-1111.