Jazz this week: Christian McBride's New Jawn, Lonnie Holley, holiday jazz, and more

The calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis is packed this week, with several touring artists performing around town, plus the start of a a very busy season of concerts with a holiday theme.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, November 28
Bassist Christian McBride brings his latest group New Jawn (pictured, top left) to Jazz St. Louis for the first of five nights continuing through Sunday.

The quartet is notable not just for the quality of the musicianship, but for the absence of piano, guitar, or any other chordal instrument, leaving additional space for tenor saxophonist Marcus Strickland and trumpeter Josh Evans while McBride and drummer Nasheet Waits provide the foundation. Find out more and see some videos of them playing live in this post from last Saturday.

Thursday, November 29
It'll be a three-bass hit when Bob DeBoo is joined by fellow bassists Bernard Terry and Ben Wheeler in a free concert of music composed by famous jazz bassists for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Also on Thursday, singer Feyza Eren and her quartet perform at Joe's Cafe; trumpeter Jim Manley plays at The Pat Connolly Tavern; and saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet returns to The Dark Room.

Friday, November 30
Saxophonist Kenny G brings his "Miracles Holiday and Hits Tour" to the Touhill Performing Arts Center. (For an overview of all the various holiday jazz shows this year in St. Louis, see this post from Monday.)

Also on Friday, Midwest Jazz-tette plays West Coast cool jazz at Evangeline's; singer Chuck Flowers will perform at 50/Fifty Kitchen; and pianist Adam Maness' trio continues in their new weekly gig at Sophie's Artist Lounge and Cocktail Club.

Saturday, December 1
New Music Circle presents singer, keyboardist, songwriter, and artist Lonnie Holley (pictured, bottom left) at Off Broadway

Holley transcended dire childhood poverty in the deep South to become an acclaimed visual artist, making collages and sculptures from found objects and winning international attention.

He added music to his portfolio of self-expressions in the early 2000s, writing his own distinctive material and sometimes improvising entire songs on the spot, and since has performed at major venues and festivals around the world. You can find out more about him and see some of Holley's performances on video in this post from two Saturdays ago.

Elsewhere around town, saxophonist Marion Meadows and keyboardists Alex Bugnon and Mark Harris II will play "Holiday Jazz" at the Sun Theatre; and guitarist Joe Park 's trio will celebrate the release of their debut album Out of Nowhere with a performance at Focal Point.

Sunday, December 2
The Friends of Scott Joplin present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site, and the St. Louis Jazz Club will celebrate the holidays with wine, cheese and music from the Funky Butt Brass Band at the Moolah Shrine Center.

Also on Sunday, singer and St. Louis native Lynne Fiddmont returns home for a holiday-themed performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Monday, December 3
The Webster University Jazz Singers, directed by Debby Lennon, will present their annual holiday concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

Tuesday, December 4
The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra will perform in their third annual "Half A Holiday Concert" at The Sheldon.

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: Jane Monheit, Kenny G, and more

As the winter break begins for local universities and we head toward the holidays, the amount of jazz and creative music activity here in St. Louis tends to drop rather precipitously for a couple of weeks and then pick up again in the new year.

That said, there are several noteworthy events happening this week, starting with singer Jane Monheit (pictured), who this evening will open a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. Monheit's got a considerable fan base here in St. Louis, and word is that the early shows are already sold out. So if you're interested in going, advance reservations would seem to be a must.

Tomorrow night, saxophonist Kenny G brings his holiday show at the Family Arena in St. Charles. While the popular performer certainly has plenty of detractors, he's got his share of fans, too. (In fact, the stats show info on Mr. G's St. Louis performance has been one of the most-searched-for items here on StLJN over the last month.) If you're one of those fans, it appears that as of this writing, some tickets remain on sale.

Elsewhere around town, the Funky Butt Brass Band will present their second annual "Holiday Brasstravaganza" on Saturday at the south side rock club Off Broadway, and Robbie's House of Jazz has blues from singer/guitarist and teenage phenom Marquise Knox on Friday and Latin jazz from pianist Phil Gomez and Clave Sol on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon, Robbie's will host a jazz brunch and CD release event for trumpeter Randy Holmes.

That same afternoon and just around the corner, Webster Records will present free in-store performances from singer/pianist Anita Rosamond, guitarist Steve Schenkel and vocalist Kiersten Rose, and trumpeter Jim Manley. All the musicians will donate a portion of sales of their CDs that day to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, and Webster Records will kick a donation based on CD sales as well.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band returns to BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups for their final performance of the year.

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 after posting.)

Kenny G to play December 16 at Family Arena

Some people love him, while others seem to love to hate him - either way, saxophonist Kenny G (pictured) often inspires some strong feelings.

If you're a fan, you'll be glad to know that the G-Man, born Kenny Gorelick, is coming to the St. Louis area to perform at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 16 at the Family Arena in St. Charles. Haters can consider this as an advance warning to either make plans to avoid the affected area during that time or, alternatively, to purchase a couple of dozen eggs and set them out to start rotting right now.

All kidding aside, while yr. humble StLJN editor is not a fan of Kenny G, I've never quite understood the level of vitriol directed at him by many jazz listeners and critics. Yes, his overdubbing of tepid sax licks on a 45-year-old Louis Armstrong record represents an egregious lapse in judgment and taste. But Pops' original "What A Wonderful World" isn't exactly a jazz classic on the order of "West End Blues," and, regardless, it also endures in its original form despite G's recording.

And yes, Pat Metheny's famous remarks about Kenny G made for some entertaining reading. But really, why waste a lot of time and effort thinking and/or complaining about someone whose music (or art, or writing) bores or annoys you? Better to just ignore them, and spend the equivalent resources looking for and listening to something you'll enjoy.

For those who enjoy Kenny G, tickets for his Family Arena performance will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Friday, July 30 via MetroTix and at the Family Arena box office.