Jazz this week: Lea DeLaria, Musica Slesa, KMOX Jazz & Wine Festival, Scott Alberici, and more

It looks like the weather in St. Louis will be going directly from "soaked" to "sizzling" this weekend, but fortunately, there's jazz and creative music all around town (including several free concerts) to provide diversion from the onset of another steamy summer in the Gateway City.

Here's a brief look at what's going on over the next few days:

Tonight, clarinetist Scott Alberici plays a free concert for the Whitaker Music Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden. With any luck, the rain that has plagued the event for the past couple of weeks will stay away tonight, but if the skies look threatening, you can check the Garden's Web site or tune into WSIE (FM 88.7) for an update.

On Thursday, pianist and singer Curt Landes performs a free show for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, and singer Erin Bode is doing a free concert outdoors at Bluebird Park in Ellisville.

Then on Friday, Latin/jazz group Musica Slesa (pictured at top left) returns to Jazz at the Bistro for the first evening of a two-night stand, while guitarist Matthew Von Doran will bring some jazz out to St. Charles county with a show in the performance space at Mozingo Music in O'Fallon. Also on Friday, the St. Louis Jazz Cafe has guitarist Gregg Haynes, while Brandt's will feature singer Kim Massie.

Saturday afternoon brings the KMOX Jazz and Wine Festival to the grounds of the historic Cabanne House in Forest Park (at the corner of Lindell and Union). This year's lineup featuring Erin Bode, Kim Massie, the Original Knights of Swing big band, and saxophonist Tim Cunningham. (Note that, contrary to what some folks searching online seem to be thinking, this is not a free event; tickets are $10 in advance, with a $3 surcharge for online purchases, or $15 at the gate.)

Also on Saturday, singer, actress, comic and Belleville, Illinois native Lea DeLaria (pictured at right) performs a free concert as part of Metro East Pride Festival in downtown Belleville; saxophonist Rod Tate is at the St. Louis Jazz Cafe; and the Joe Pastor Jazz Trinity plays at Brandt's.

As always, this summary only covers some of the notable performances happening over the next few days; for more listings of 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.)

KMOX 2009 Jazz and Wine Festival set for Saturday, June 20 in Forest Park

Radio station KMOX (1120 AM) has scheduled its 2009 Jazz and Wine Festival for Saturday, June 20. The event will run from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on the grounds of the historic Cabanne House in Forest Park (at the corner of Lindell and Union).

The station's Web page for the event promises "fine wine, delicious food & delightful music," and displays the logos of more than a dozen participating winemakers, but at present there's no information at all about who's performing - just the exhortation to "CHECK BACK SOON FOR MORE DETAILS". That said, singer Erin Bode's schedule for June, which went out to her email list today, shows her as playing the KMOX Jazz and Wine Festival on that date, with the performance time TBA.

Tickets for the KMOX Jazz and Wine Festival are $10 in advance, $15 at the gate, with a $3.00 fee per transaction for online ticket purchases.

KMOX Jazz and Wine Festival 2008 set for Saturday, September 27

St. Louis singers Jeanne Trevor (pictured), Kim Massie and Anita Rosamond will be among the featured entertainers for the third annual KMOX Jazz and Wine Festival to be held from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Saturday, September 27 at Faust Park, 15185 Olive St. Rd. in Chesterfield. The event also will offer the opportunity to sample and purchase wine from eight Missouri wineries, as well as a food court featuring cuisine from local restaurants such as Villa Farotto, Dierdorf & Hart’s, French Quarter Café, Michael J’s Deli, and Ed’s Foods.

Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door and can be purchased over the phone by calling 314-444-1862 or in person at the Chesterfield Chamber of Commerce, 101 Chesterfield Business Parkway, 63005; or the offices of West Newsmagazine, 355 Ozark Trail, Suite 1, 63011. For more information, check out this page at the KMOX (1120 AM) Web site.

Jazz this week: Average White Band, Konk Pack, Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum, KMOX Jazz and Wine Festival, John Jorgenson, and more

It's another busy week for jazz in St. Louis, with performances representing a variety of subgenres including mainstream, experimental improv, funk, and even some 1930s-style string band hot jazz in the spirit of legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt.

On Thursday night, 1970s funk heroes Average White Band will play at Jazz at the Bistro. This was a late addition to the Bistro's schedule this year, and obviously AWB are a bit different than the venue's usual straightahead jazz fare. Still, given that the group's last St. Louis appearance a couple of years ago was at the much larger (and now defunct) Mississippi Nights, I'd expect enough of a turnout from AWB fans to pack the place. And judging from video of recent incarnations of the group, and the assessment of a someone who saw that last St. Louis show, those fans expecting spirited renditions of funky hits such as "Pick Up The Pieces" and "Cut The Cake" likely will be quite pleased with what they hear.

For the weekend, the Bistro goes in a completely different stylistic direction with shows on Friday and Saturday by St. Louis veteran pianist, singer and saxophonist Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum. A local fixture since the Gaslight Square era, Whalum plays frequently around town and is well known for his classy renditions of jazz standards and numbers from the Great American Songbook. However, the chance to hear him work in the Bistro's "listening room" format is both a welcome acknowledgement of his continued appeal and artistic vitality and a good opportunity for fans used to hearing him in noisier settings to catch all the nuances of Whalum's performance.

There's plenty happening beyond the Bistro, too, starting with experimental pianist Thollem McDonas, who must like St. Louis; he was just here in June and this week he's back in town once again, doing another intimate concert performance at Jackson Pianos , 3131 Cherokee, on Friday night and returning for another performace at the St. Louis Brewery and Tap Room downtown on Saturday.

Friday night also brings a show by the improv trio Konk Pack, who will kick off New Music Circle's 2007-08 season with a performance in an "alternative space" downtown at the Kerr Foundation Building, 21 O’Fallon Street (on the riverfront just north of Laclede's Landing.)

On Saturday, this year's edition of the KMOX Jazz and Wine Festival takes place at Faust Park in Chesterfield, with a lineup of popular performers including Kim Massie, Denise Thimes, the Bosman Twins and Anita Rosamond. I'm told that last year's event attracted several thousand people, and, weather permitting, this year's should be well-attended, too, which somehow seems a bit ironic considering that Saturday night is also the final time KMOX will air Don Wolff's long-running jazz radio broadcast.

Closing out the weekend, guitarist John Jorgenson (pictured) and his quintet will perform Sunday night at Trinity Presbyterian Church in University City as part of the church's "Reverberations" concert series. From the samples I've seen and heard, Jorgenson is definitely a highly proficient picker, and fans of both Gypsy jazz and great guitar playing in general will want to check him out.

Other noteworthy shows this week: Saxophonist Paul DeMarinis will do a free concert Thursday night at Washington University as part of the Jazz at Holmes series. Also, Cookie's Jazz and More has Trio Tres Bien with singer Danita Mumphard on Friday, and an event for alumni of Webster University's jazz studies program on Saturday. Last but not least, on Sunday, Brandt's has singer Mae Wheeler and Friends for another late-afternoon/early evening performance.

Update - 9/27/07, 4 p.m.: There's one more pick to add for the weekend: Bassist Ric Vice emailed with late news that the Kim Portnoy Trio will be playing a concert at 7:30 p.m. this Sunday at Eliot Chapel, 100 N. Taylor in Kirkwood. The show will feature a number of pianist/composer Portnoy's originals, and a portion of the proceeds from CDs sold at the show goes to benefit Habitat for Humanity.
As always, these highlights are but a sampling of what's out there, so for more St. Louis area jazz-related events, 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.)

KMOX sets lineup for Jazz and Wine Festival

KMOX radio has set the lineup of musicians for the station's second Jazz and Wine Festival, to be held from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, September 29 at Faust Park in Chesterfield. Singers Denise Thimes, Anita Rosamond and Kim Massie and multi-woodwind-playing brothers The Bosman Twins will provide music for the event. You can see more details at KMOX's Web site.

KMOX cancels Edwardsville festival

Looks like I wrote a bit too soon about the KMOX Jazz and Wine Festival getting two encores this year. According to a recorded message on the radio station's events line, KMOX has cancelled the Good Spirits Jazz and Wine Festival that had been set for next Saturday, June 23 in Edwardsville due to "lack of ticket sales".

No further details were available from anyone at the station, but I have heard from a credible independent source that KMOX will go ahead as planned with the Jazz and Wine Festival event in September at Chesterfield's Faust Park. StLJN will have more details when they become available.

KMOX Jazz and Wine Festival gets two encores

Hoping to repeat the success of its' inaugural "Jazz and Wine Festival" held last September at Faust Park in Chesterfield, radio station KMOX has two similar events coming up - one this month, and one in the fall.

The first will take place from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, June 23 in Edwardsville, IL at the bandstand in City Park next to the public library. Performers will include vocalists Anita Rosamond (pictured), Denise Thimes, and Kim Massie as well as Groovethang, a local sextet best known for their Steely Dan tribute show. You can read more about the event in this preview story from the Edwardsville Intelligencer.

KMOX marketing director Jackie Paulus also has confirmed to StLJN that a second Jazz and Wine Festival will be held from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, September 29 at Faust Park in Chesterfield, where the event last fall drew a crowd that Paulus estimated at 2,000. Details, including the musical lineup and the particiapting wineries, are yet to be confirmed, so stay tuned to StLJN for further updates.

UPDATE - 2:30p.m., 6/15/07: The Edwardsville event scheduled for June 23 has been cancelled. See this post for more.