Jazz this week: Jeremy Davenport, Steve Ross, Jeanette Harris & Althea René, and more

While this week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis is slightly curtailed by the Thanksgiving holiday, there nevertheless are several noteworthy gigs happening, including the annual return of a noted local expat now living in New Orleans; a visit from one of NYC's most storied cabaret performers; and a tour stop by two "Queens of Soul Jazz." Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, November 27
This week's free "Wednesday Night Jazz Crawl" in Grand Center features multi-instrumentalist Jacob Alspach and friends at The Stage at KDHX, the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Brady Lewis and BLStet at The Dark Room.

Also on Wednesday, singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black are back at Scarlett's Wine Bar; Miss Jubilee performs vintage swing, hot jazz and more at Schlafly Bottleworks; and trumpeter Jim Manley does his weekly gig at Sasha's Wine Bar.

Friday, November 29
Trumpeter, singer and U City native Jeremy Davenport (pictured, top left) returns to his hometown for the first of two nights of his annual post-Thanksgiving performances at Jazz St. Louis. Davenport, who leads the house band at the Ritz-Carlton in his adopted home in New Orleans, usually draws a sell-out crowd, so advance reservations are strongly advised.

Elsewhere around town, singer and pianist Steve Ross, nicknamed the "Crown Prince of Cabaret" and a noted interpreter of the music of Cole Porter, will perform songs by Porter and more for the first of two nights at Blue Strawberry.

Also on Friday, there are two shows by local acts promoting debut recordings, with Annie and the Fur Trappers playing traditional jazz at the Focal Point and singer and pianist Katarra Parson offering songs from her album Cocoa Voyage at The Dark Room.

Saturday, November 30
Saxophonist Jeanette Harris and flute player Althea René (pictured, bottom left) bring their "Queens of Soul Jazz" tour to the Sheldon Concert Hall.

The two teamed up earlier this year to release the singer "We Are One," but both have had successful solo careers leading up to the collaboration. For more about both women, and some live performance videos, check out this post from Saturday before last.

Also on Saturday, saxophonist Tim Cunningham is back at Troy's Listening Room; pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True return to the Parkside Grille; and The Gaslight Squares are playing at the Frisco Barroom.

Sunday, December 1
Dizzy Atmosphere plays Gypsy jazz and vintage swing for brunch at The Dark Room; the Jazz Troubadours play their monthly show at Evangeline's; and pianist and singer Jesse Gannon leads a trio at The Judson House.

Monday, December 2
The Folk School of KDHX hosts their weekly Traditional Jazz Jam Session.

Tuesday, December 3
The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra plays their fourth annual "1/2 a Christmas Concert" at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

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: Spotlight on Jeanette Harris & Althea René

This week, StLJN's video spotlight shines on saxophonist Jeanette Harris and flute player Althea René, who will be performing on a double bill on Saturday, November 30 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Billed as the "Queens of Soul Jazz," the two are touring together after teaming up to release the single "We Are One" in January of this year.

Harris, who's originally from Fresno, California, grew up playing both saxophone and piano and graduated from Berklee College of Music with a degree in music performance. She then built a local following in her hometown through live gigs and a series of self-released CDs. Harris gained further recognition as an opening act for Kirk Whalum, Najee, The Rippingtons, Babyface, Phil Perry and others, and working in the bands of singers Howard Hewett, Deniece Williams and Teena Marie, with her 2013 album Summer Rain helping her secure national attention as a solo artist.

René, a Detroit native, studied music at Howard University, but subsequently wound up working as a police officer in her hometown for 11 years while moonlighting as a musician. Her debut album Flute Talk was released in 2000, helping her transition to a full-time music career.

Since then she's released seven more studio albums, the most recent being 2019's Flawsome, as well as one in-concert recording, Live in Detroit, which came out last year. René's festival appearances include dates at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Austin Jazz Festival, Norman Brown All-Star Jazz Cruise, and others. She's also the author of a book, Becoming Chocolate Barbie: A Guide for Professional Women in the Music Business, published last year.

While Harris and Rene did make a music video for "We Are One," there doesn't seem to be any video online of the two performing live together. So instead, today's collection of clips features them individually, starting up above with Harris performing her version of Stevie Wonder's "All I Do" in a recording made at a gig last year.

After the jump, you can see her take on the 1979 dance floor smash "Ain't No Stopping Us Now," followed by a live version of the title track from her album Summer Rain.

Next up, there are videos of two tracks from René's Live in Detroit album, "Deja Vu" and "In the Moment." The final video is a full set of her music recorded in June 2019 at an outdoor festival in Winston-Salem, NC.

For more about Jeanette Harris, read her Q&A with SmoothJazz.com and listen to her being interviewed on the podcast "Talking Smooth Jazz" in 2016. For more about Althea René, check out the review of Flawsome from TheJazzWord.com and listen to her being interviewed earlier this year on the podcast "Smooth Jazz Global."

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Jazz this week: Russell Gunn's "Blackhawk Revisited," Cécile McLorin Salvant, and more

There's some interesting jazz and creative music on local stages this week in St. Louis, including only the second local performance ever by a highly acclaimed young singer, and a re-examination of music from an oft-overlooked period of Miles Davis' career, courtesy of a trumpeter raised in Davis' hometown.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, November 15
Trumpeter Russell Gunn, who grew up in East St. Louis and now lives in Atlanta, will be back home with his "Blackhawk Revisited" project for the first of four nights, continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

"Blackhawk Revisited" is dedicated to exploring the music of Miles Davis in the early 1960s, post-Kind of Blue and before the formation of his "Second Great Quintet." To lend authenticity and elder wisdom to the proceedings, Gunn (pictured, top left) has enlisted 88-year-old drummer Jimmy Cobb, who played with Davis during those years (and is the last participant from Kind of Blue still living) . You can find out more about the project, and see some videos of them in action, plus an interview with Cobb, in this post from last Saturday.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, this week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features guitarist Eric Slaughter and bassist Glen Smith at Squatters Cafe, the new name for the front half of The Stage at KDHX, plus the weekly jam session hosted by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor and band at The Dark Room.

Thursday, November 16
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert featuring the "Arc of Light Ensemble," which includes guitarist and series curator William Lenihan, saxophonist Paul DeMarinis, trumpeter Randy Holmes, trombonist Wayne Coniglio, pianist Ptah Williams, bassist Paul Steinbeck, and drummer Montez Coleman.

Also on Thursday, the UMSL Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Lab Band, and choral group Vocal Point will give a free concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, trumpeter Jim Manley plays The Pat Connolly Tavern, and percussionist Joe Pastor returns to The Dark Room

Friday, November 17
Drummer Steve Davis' "Super Band" featuring singer Feyza Eren returns to the Webster Groves Concert Hall, while just down the street, The 442s will be back to perform at Cyrano's.

Elsewhere around town, the Sentimental Journey Big Band will play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom, and Miss Jubilee returns to the Moonshine Blues Bar in St. Charles.

Saturday, November 18
Singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, one of the most talked-about jazz vocalists to emerge in the last decade, returns for a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

With one Grammy Award for "Best Jazz Vocal Album" already in her trophy case at age 28, Salvant (pictured, bottom left) has a distinctive sound that is both rooted in the tradition and quite contemporary. You can find out more about her and see some videos of recent performances in this post from a couple of weeks ago.

Also on Saturday, saxophonist Jeanette Harris will play smooth jazz and R&B in two shows at .ZACK; Thaxton Speakeasy will celebrate ten years in business with an event aptly named "A Decade of Decadence," featuring music from Annie & the Fur Trappers; and saxophonist Dave Stone and his trio are performing at Thurman's in Shaw.

Sunday, November 19
It's a Sunday made for matinees, as the St. Louis Jazz Club presents the Funky Butt Brass Band at the DoubleTree Hotel in Westport, while the Midwest Jazz-tette will bring their West Coast sound to the Webster Groves Concert Hall.

If you're looking to make it a full day of music, you can catch either one of those gigs and probably still make it to the debut performance of the Arcadia Dance Orchestra, a new 11-piece vintage jazz group fronted by cornetist and singer TJ Muller, at The Stage at KDHX.

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.)