Jazz this week: Greg Osby, a tribute to John Norment, Erin Bode and more

There's only time for a short post this week, but there are a few performances definitely worth noting, starting with saxophonist Greg Osby (pictured), a St. Louis native who returns home this weekend to play Friday and Saturday night at Jazz at the Bistro. A prolific composer and bandleader, Osby is always challenging himself and his audience with new material and different ensemble configurations. The quartet is one of his more frequent performing formats, but according to this interview Osby did with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson, he'll have a new piano player and some new compositions to show off this weekend.

Osby is also a Net-savvy individual who's been known to engage fans at length on various message boards and whose Web site contains lots of free music for download in MP3 format. If you're not already familiar with this fine musician, go here to sample some of his work, and then get down to the Bistro to check him out in person.

Also worth noting this weekend is the appearance of singer Erin Bode at Finale Music and Dining for a comparatively rare two-night engagement on Friday and Saturday. No doubt Bode's considerable local fan base will want to avail themselves of the chance to hear her in a showcase club setting, so if you're interested in going, advance reservations are definitely in order.

On Sunday afternoon, the Bistro will host a jazz brunch featuring the Jerome "Scrooge" Harris Quartet in a tribute to the late St. Louis saxophonist John Norment. Proceeds from the event go to benefit Harris' not-for-profit educational institute for young musicians, and they'll also be selling a new CD featuring Harris' renditions of some of Norment's music. For more details, see this post.

Other noteworthy gigs this weekend include perennial local favorite Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum at Brandt's this evening; the Vegas-style jazz of Wild Cool & Swingin' at Cookie's Jazz and More on Saturday; and singer Mae Wheeler at Brandt's for a late afternoon/early evening gig on Sunday.

That's about it for this week, but remember, you always can find a more extensive listing of local jazz-related events by visiting 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.)

CD, benefit brunch on Sunday, July 8 will pay tribute to John Norment

Before his death in 2005, saxophonist and composer John Norment was an important part of the St. Louis jazz scene, held in high esteem by audiences, critics and fellow musicians alike.

Now drummer Jerome "Scrooge" Harris, who worked regularly with Norment, is paying tribute to him with a CD of Norment's compositions entitled Just For John, which will be released at a benefit jazz brunch to be held at 2 p.m., Sunday, July 8 at Jazz at the Bistro. The event will feature a performance from Harris and his quartet, which includes John Hyatt on piano, Jeffrey Anderson on saxophones and Willem von Hambracht on bass, plus guest vocalist Anita Jackson.

Proceeds from the brunch and the CD will benefit the Institute for the Advancement of Jazz Study and Performance and Community Women Against Hardship, Inc. (CWAH), a volunteer organization dedicated to providing programs and basic services to improve the quality of life for women and children struggling with poverty issues. CWAH supports the Institute as one of its youth development programs.

Tickets are $65 per person for reserved seating for the show and brunch, plus a copy of the CD, or $40 for open seating for the show and brunch. To charge tickets to Visa or Mastercard, call 314-289-7523.

After July 8, copies of the CD can be purchased directly from CWAH, and Harris is also looking into making it available at Vintage Vinyl, Streetside Records, Webster Records and Euclid Records.

John Norment remembered

John Norment 
(photo by Roscoe Crenshaw/St. Louis American)

I'm sorry to have to report that St. Louis jazz saxophonist and composer John Norment has passed away at the age of 63. He died Tuesday, December 6 after a battle with cancer, and funeral services were held on Tuesday, December 13 before he was buried at Laurel Hill Memorial Gardens.

The Post-Dispatch ran a brief death notice, including a so-far-unused guestbook for memories at Legacy.com, while the American had a very nice article on the funeral by Roscoe Crenshaw that included quotes from a number of musicians who knew John. A small sampling:

Saxophonist and composer Oliver Lake, who flew in from New York, explained, “John was one of my first teachers. He helped me to get started on the instrument. We were neighbors. I definitely wanted to get here and see him off. He’ll be missed.”...Drummer Jerome “Scrooge” Harris called Norment “a friend for 40 years. Excellent writer, composer and performer. Loved him dearly - like a brother.” Another buddy, trumpeter Floyd LeFlore, remarked, “The saxophone was an extension of his soul. He played for God and you and you and you, ‘cause music was his life.”

As mentioned earlier, though I was not a close friend or frequent musical associate, I did have the opportunity to work with John Norment a few times during the Nineties as both a musician (in the short-lived group Open End) and as a producer of several live events that included John or one of his groups. My thoughts about his musicianship are still best summed up by a brief item I wrote (unbylined) about him for the Riverfront Times on the occasional of his being named "Best Jazz Artist" in the 2003 "Best of St. Louis" issue:

Some jazz musicians stay inside, expertly navigating the changes while inventing fresh new melodies on the spot. Others go outside, discarding the boundaries of harmony and stretching music into pure sound with a restless yearning to grab the whole world and channel it through a horn. One of the things that makes saxophonist-composer John Norment distinctive is his ability to do both -- to play both inside and outside, sometimes even in the same solo, and yet have it all make perfect sense. A skinny man of average height with a frizzy mop of gray hair, Norment looks and talks like a mild-mannered individual -- until he picks up his horn and reveals himself to be part deep thinker, part slapstick comedian and all master musician. Equally adept on alto, tenor and soprano saxophones, Norment has a unique musical mind teeming with intriguing ideas, as well as the experience and technique to realize those ideas in a most satisfying manner.

In addition to being an excellent musician, John was a fine person and always interesting and fun to be around. It's a shame he had to leave this plane of existence after a relatively short time, but he left many great memories of his music and his humanity. As Oliver Lake said so simply, he will be missed.