Jazz this week: Jazz Attack, Greg Osby with Willie Akins, Wee Trio, Gutbucket, NIU Jazz Ensemble with Benny Golson, and more

It's the beginning of a couple of busy weeks for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with plenty of competition for the time, attention and dollars of music fans from a number of touring musicians as well as local acts. In particular, this weekend's lineup features several stellar saxophonists playing in a variety of musical contexts, from smooth jazz and R&B to post-bop to big band. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, the 2009 edition of the popular Jazz Attack smooth jazz tour, featuring saxophonist Richard Elliot, trumpeter Rick Braun and singer/guitarist Jonathan Butler, stops at the Ameristar Casino St. Charles' Bottleneck Blues Bar.

Also this evening, The Wee Trio, a Brooklyn, NY-based group that features St. Louis expat Dan Loomis on bass and has drawn comparisons to The Bad Plus and Medeski, Martin and Wood, will do a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, and the St. Louis Jazz Cafe features smooth jazz saxophonist Readus Miller .

In addition, saxophonist and St. Louis native Greg Osby (pictured), who's in town this week for an educational residency and performances for Jazz St. Louis, and JSL education director Phil Dunlap will present "Understanding The Blues," another class in JSL's "Jazz 101" series, at Jazz at the Bistro.

On Friday, Osby's "St. Louis Shoes," a multi-generational project featuring Osby, his band, special guest saxophonist Willie Akins, and student saxophonists recruited from local schools, opens a two-night run at the Bistro. Also on Friday, the NYC-based "punk/jazz" band Gutbucket plays at the Mad Art Gallery, and the St. Louis Jazz Cafe features Trio Tres Bien.

Then on Saturday night, Osby continues at the Bistro; the multi-woodwind playing Bosman Twins will perform at the Jazz Cafe; and singer Kim Massie will be at Brandt's.

Moving on to Sunday afternoon, the Northern Illinois University Jazz Ensemble, directed by saxophonist Ronald Carter and featuring as special guest the legendary saxophonist and composer Benny Golson, will perform in a benefit show at the Sheldon Concert Hall

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday the Jazz St. Louis CD Listening Club will have its April meeting, this month featuring singer Jeanne Trevor and JSL executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford in a discussion of the recording The Audience With Betty Carter. Later that evening, the "West Coast" jazz-inspired band Utter Chaos plays at The Gramophone.

As usual, these are just some of the noteworthy shows happening around St. Louis this week, so to see 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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Richard Elliot plays "Move On Up" and "When A Man Loves A Woman"

This week, our video showcase features a couple of clips from saxophonist Richard Elliot, who's coming to the St. Louis area with the Jazz Attack show on Thursday, April 9 to perform at the Ameristar Casino St. Charles' Bottleneck Blues Bar.

The 2009 Jazz Attack tour features Elliot, his frequent collaborator Rick Braun on trumpet, and singer/guitarist Jonathan Butler, and odds are that the saxophonist will be working in a number or two from his new CD Rock Steady, which was recorded with Elliot's touring band plus guest stars Braun, Gerald Albright, Philippe Saisse and Jeff Lorber.

Rock Steady is basically a program of soul- and funk-styled material, including covers of tunes associated with Aretha Franklin (the title track) and Curtis Mayfield. That's Mayfield's song "Move on Up," originally recorded by the Impressions, that Elliot is doing in the first video window up at the top of this post. This brand-new clip is the only Rock Steady-related video released so far, but in the interest of a well-rounded post, down below we've added a 2006 live version of Elliot laying into another soul classic, the Percy Sledge hit "When A Man Loves A Woman."

Jazz Attack tickets now on sale

The Pollstar item cited here last month can now be considered officially confirmed, as tickets are now on sale for the Jazz Attack show scheduled for Thursday, April 9 at the Ameristar Casino St. Charles' Bottleneck Blues Bar.

Tickets for the show, which will feature trumpeter Rick Braun, saxophonist Richard Elliot and singer/guitarist Jonathan Butler, are priced at $45 and $50 and are available at the casino box office, online at Ameristar.com or Tickets.com or via phone by calling 1-877-444-2637.

Pollstar: Jazz Attack to hit Ameristar's Bottleneck Blues Bar on Thursday, April 9

The online tour information Pollstar has added a listing indicating that the "Jazz Attack" smooth jazz package tour, headlined this year by saxophonist Richard Elliot, trumpeter Rick Braun, and singer/guitarist Jonathan Butler (pictured), will come to the St. Louis metro area for a concert on Thursday, April 9 at the Ameristar Casino St. Charles' Bottleneck Blues Bar.

Braun and Elliot were in St. Louis last summer on their "R&R" tour to perform at The Pageant, which also has hosted previous editions of the Jazz Attack show. This would be the first jazz show of 2009 for the Bottleneck Blues Bar, which brought in saxophonist Boney James last year.

There's no mention of the concert yet on the casino's Web site, so, as with all Pollstar listings, this should be considered tentative until it is officially confirmed by the venue. However, the show is showing up on the itinerary pages of both Braun and Elliot's individual sites, along with a gig the next night at Ameristar's Kansas City casino, so it seems likely to happen.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: The Casino Lights All-Stars' "Always There" plus Gerald Albright's "Georgia On My Mind"

This week's video spotlight offers sights and sounds from some of the musicians who will be performing in St. Louis this summer as part of DJ/impresario Rick Sanborn's two smooth jazz shows at the Pageant.

The first clip is from the "Casino Lights" DVD (recorded live in 1999 at the Montreux Jazz Festival), and presents a star-studded ensemble getting down on the familiar groove of Ronnie Laws' tune "Always There".

The front line includes tenor saxophonist Kirk Whalum, who's part of the "Guitars and Saxes" tour that hits town on Sunday, June 24, along with trumpeter Rick Braun, who's in the "Jazz Attack" show on Friday, July 20. As for the rest of the band in the clip, tenor man Boney James gets the first solo, followed by Kenny Garrett on alto sax and then Whalum, blowing over a rhythm section that includes George Duke on keyboards, Larry Carlton on guitar, Billy Kilson on drums and Mike Manson on bass.

The second video showcases Gerald Albright, who's the other sax in the "Guitars and Saxes" show, performing the standard "Georgia On My Mind". No indication as to where or when this was recorded, and there seem to be some sync problems between the audio and video, but Albright's extended solo is worth hearing even with these slight distractions.

Guitars and Saxes, Jazz Attack set for summer dates at the Pageant

The Pageant has just announced return dates this summer for two smooth jazz package shows.

On Sunday, June 24, the popular "Guitars and Saxes" show comes back to the venue with a lineup featuring saxophonists Gerald Albright and Kirk Whalum (pictured), guitarist Jeff Golub and guitarist/vocalist Tim Bowman. Then on Friday, July 20, it's another "Jazz Attack," with trumpeter Rick Braun, singer/guitarist Jonathan Butler, saxophonist Richard Elliot and guitarist Peter White.

Both concerts are being presented by smooth jazz radio personality and impresario Rick Sanborn under the "Smooth Summer Party" banner, and as with past events he's promoted, there are special prices for ticket buyers who want to attend both shows: $80 for reserved VIP seating, or $60 for reserved main floor/balcony seats.

Single tickets for either show individually will be $35 each for reserved main floor/balcony seating and $45 each for reserved VIP seating. Tickets go on sale at 5 p.m. this Friday, April 6 via The Pageant box office and at all Ticketmaster outlets.

(Edited after posting to add a tag.)