Jazz this week: Laurence Hobgood, three young St. Louis jazz stars come home, COCA goes "Uptown," and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a visit from a fine veteran pianist, a homecoming gig for three St. Louis natives who have earned international recognition, a dance production with live music paying tribute to the Harlem Renaissance, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, April 5
Pianist Laurence Hobgood and his trio will perform for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Known to many jazz fans primarily for his long tenure working behind singer Kurt Elling, Hobgood (pictured, top left) stepped into the spotlight himself a few years ago, and has enjoyed success as a solo performer, bandleader, composer, and producer.

For more about his work as a solo artist, plus some videos of him playing in some different musical contexts, see this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Thursday, April 6
The Vernacular String Trio will promote the release of their new album Parlance with a performance at Foam; and the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University finishes the spring semester with a free concert featuring two Chicago-based musicians, saxophonist Rob Denty and drummer Tim Mulvenna, with St. Louis guitarist Vincent Varvel.

Friday, April 7
An ad hoc ensemble featuring three St. Louis natives now living in NYC - trumpeter Keyon Harrold, pianist Lawrence Fields, and drummer Kimberly Thompson (pictured) - plus saxophonist Adam Larson, who's originally from Normal, IL, will perform for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

These four rising jazz stars with Midwestern roots are back home this week for an educational residency with Jazz St. Louis, working with students in the organization's JazzU program and at local schools, and closing out their stay with a weekend of performances at the Bistro. 

Since this weekend is a one-off for this ensemble, it's difficult to preview in the usual way, but you can find out more about what Keyon Harrold has been up to since his last shows here (as a guest with pianist Robert Glasper in 2015), and see some videos from some recent performances of his in last Saturday's video showcase post.

Also on Friday, COCA presents the first of five performances this weekend of  "Uptown,"  a work about the Harlem Renaissance created by Alvin Ailey dancer/choreographer Matthew Rushing.

Described as "an episodic tour through 1920s Harlem bringing to life the rich artistic activity of the era," the production features students from COCA's dance programs accompanied by a live band including Phil Dunlap (piano), Andy Hainz (bass), Kaleb Kirby (drums), Adam Hucke (trumpet), Kwanae Johnson (tenor sax), Ben Reece (alto sax), and Cody Henry (trombone).

Elsewhere around town, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to Evangeline's; singer Joe Mancuso brings his Organ Trio to @Nesbys, and Miss Jubilee will perform for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom, with special guest, Cincinnati blues pianist Ricky Nye.

Saturday, April 8
Trumpeter Jim Manley's trio will perform for brunch at Evangeline's, and saxophonist Tim Cunningham will play an afternoon show at Mount Pleasant Winery in Augusta.

Monday, April 10
Dizzy Atmosphere plays swing and Gypsy jazz for diners at The Shaved Duck.

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 Laurence Hobgood

This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring pianist Laurence Hobgood, who's coming to St. Louis to perform with his trio on Wednesday, April 5 and Thursday, April 6 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Known widely for his more than 20 years as musical director for singer Kurt Elling, Hobgood split from Elling at the end of 2013 to concentrate on his own music. Since then, he's been involved in a variety of projects, playing solo, with his trio, and with larger ensembles, and sometimes even working with other vocalists, notably the British singer Barb Jungr, for whom he produced an album in 2016.

Hobgood's most recent trio recording was 2015's Honor Thy Fathers, which featured guest appearances from bassist John Patitucci and drummer Kendrick Scott. For his forthcoming album Tesseterra, set for release next month, he's using his regular accompanists, drummer Jared Schonig and bassist Matt Clohesy, augmented by the string quartet ETHEL to perform "iconic songs (by artists like Cole Porter; Sting; Hoagie Carmichael; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Joni Mitchell; Stevie Wonder, etc…) set in a cutting edge jazz-classical hybrid."

While it's certainly possible some adapted versions of those arrangements could turn up during Hobgood's St. Louis shows with only the trio, for the purpose of today's preview, you can see and hear him in several different musical settings that, together, should provide some more general insight into his musical personality.

In the first clip up above, Hobgood is seen performing a solo version of the Duke Ellington standard "Do Nothing Til You Hear From Me," recorded in October 2015 at the Arts Club in Ellington's home town of Washington DC.

After the jump, you can see Hobgood in an episode of Mad Toast Live!, a "community music showcase" based in Madison, Wisconsin. The program, recorded in 2012, features him performing solo and with singer Sally deBroux, bassist Laurie Lang, and percussionist John Becker.

Next are two more clips featuring Hobgood with female vocalists. He backs Barb Jungr in a version of the title track from the album they did together, Bob Dylan's "Shelter From The Storm," that was recorded in March 2016 at Pizza Express in London, and then accompanies Atla DeChamplain on another Ellington tune, "Love You Madly."

Those are followed by some footage of the pianist leading a sextet in a gig during the 2012 Winter Jazz Fest at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC. The band includes Schonig on drums as well as saxophonists Joel Frahm and Todd Bashore, trumpeter Brandon Lee, and bassist Matthew Rybicki.

The final clip features an interview with Hobgood recorded in 2012 for Jazz Times magazine, in which he discusses how he got started in music.

For more about Laurence Hobgood, you can listen to him on a 2013 episode of NPR's "Piano Jazz" and in a 2015 interview on the UK's JazzFM.

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

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2017 jazz preview, part four

Today, it's the fourth installment of StLJN's winter/spring 2017 jazz preview, presenting videos of the jazz and creative music artists who will be coming to our town to perform over the next few months. The preview posts are in chronological order of their appearances here; you can see part one here, part two here, and part three here.

Leading off today is pianist Laurence Hobgood, who will play with his trio on Wednesday, April 5 and Thursday, April 6 at Jazz at the Bistro. Hobgood, known for for his long association with singer Kurt Elling, has concentrated more on his own music since leaving Elling's band in 2013, and he's seen here playing solo back in August, 2014 for the Chicago Jazz Festival's "PianoForte Sessions" in a hour-long session that also includes interview segments with host Barry Winograd.

Next up, Jazz St. Louis will bring together four young jazz stars with Midwestern roots, as trumpeter Keyon Harrold, pianist Lawrence Fields, saxophonist Adam Larson, and drummer Kimberly Thompson join forces for two nights of performances on Friday, April 7 and Saturday, April 8 at the Bistro.

These dates should inspire a healthy turnout of hometown fans, as Harrold, Fields and Thompson all are originally from St. Louis, and Larson is from just up the the road in Bloomington, IL. All four will be working with local music students for the preceding week, then wrapping up their residencies with the weekend shows.

Since this a band brought together specifically for the occasion, there's no video of all four of them together; instead, they are featured here individually, starting with the first clip after the jump, a full set of Keyon Harrold and his band recorded in April, 2016 at the Boiler Room New York.

Below that, you can see Fields performing with trumpeter Christian Scott's band, playing John Coltrane's composition "Equinox" at the 2016 Montreux Jazz Festival. Fields is featured with a nice long solo that starts at about 6:50 into the clip and continues for more than three minutes. In addition to Scott and Fields, the rest of the ensemble includes Elena Pinderhughes (flute), Braxton Cook (alto sax), Kris Funn (bass), and Corey Fonville (drums).

The fourth clip features Larson, accompanied by pianist Fabian Almazan, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Jimmy Macbride, playing his composition "The Dope Pope" at Birdland in NYC. That's followed by Thompson showing off her chops and use of textures and space in an extended solo recorded during the "Hit Like A Girl" drum festival in April of last year.

The final two videos feature the following week's attractions at the Bistro, harmonica player Gregoire Maret and guest vocalist Alicia Olatuja, who will be in town to perform at the club starting Wednesday, April 12 through Saturday, April 15. Maret is seen here playing "The Gospel" at the 2016 Montreux Jazz Festival, followed by Olatuja singing her original composition "In The Dark" at a gig in August 2015 at Dizzy's Club in NYC's Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Look for the fifth part of StLJN's winter/spring 2017 jazz preview next week. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Kurt Elling to perform Friday, June 6 at The Sheldon

Singer Kurt Elling is returning to St. Louis to perform a benefit concert at 8:00 p.m., Friday, June 6 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Proceeds from the event will go to support the Sheldon Art Galleries.

Elling (pictured) last visited St. Louis in February 2013 to perform at Jazz at the Bistro, a venue he's played numerous times. However, this will be his debut at The Sheldon, and his first trip to St. Louis since parting ways with his longtime musical director and pianist Laurence Hobgood. His most recent recording, made with Hobgood still at the piano bench, is 2012's 1619 Broadway: The Brill Building Project.

Patron tickets for Kurt Elling at The Sheldon are on sale now for $500, $250 and $125, and include preferred seating, a post-concert dessert reception, complimentary parking and a tax deduction. To purchase patron tickets or for more information, call The Sheldon's development department at 314-533-9900. Concert-only tickets will be $45 orchestra, $40 balcony, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, April 26 via MetroTix, The Sheldon’s website, and at the Fox Theatre box office.

Jazz this week: The Bad Plus plays Stravinsky, Marty Ehrlich's Rites Quartet, the Brubeck Brothers, Laurence Hobgood & Ernie Watts, and more

The good news is that it's another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, including some very attractive free events.

The bad news is that, absent time travel, cloning or some other fictional technology that doesn't exist, it's probably impossible for one person to hear it all. Nevertheless, to help you decide which shows are worth checking out, here are StLJN's picks for the week.

Tonight, Dizzy Atmosphere plays swing and Gypsy jazz at The Shaved Duck, and trumpeter Jim Manley performs at Sasha's Wine Bar.

On Thursday night, Jazz St. Louis presents "Stravinsky: Real & Imagined" with The Bad Plus at Viragh Center for the Arts, on the campus of Chaminade College Prep, 425 S. Lindbergh Blvd. In addition to The Bad Plus' performance of their version of Igor Stravinsky's "The Rites of Spring," which they've named "On Sacred Ground," the free concert also will feature members of the St. Louis Symphony performing several other works composed by Stravinsky.

Also on Thursday, the Eric Slaughter/Tom Byrne Quartet will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and "Jazz Unlimited" host Dennis Owsley will serve as moderator for a live interview and discussion with multi-instrumentalist, composer and former St. Louisan Marty Ehrlich at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar Blvd. The free event is sponsored by New Music Circle.

Ehrlich, who's now based in NYC, has returned to his old hometown to perform with his Rites Quartet in a concert on Friday at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand, also presented by New Music Circle. For more about Ehrlich, and some video samples of him performing with different groups including the Rites Quartet, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, pianist Laurence Hobgood's quintet with special guest tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts (pictured) opens a two-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro. Although the two headliners don't work together regularly, Hobgood, who's the longtime pianist and musical director for singer Kurt Elling, teamed up with the vastly underrated Watts for a one-off date last year at the Bistro, and it went so well they decided to double down this season.

Elsewhere around town on Friday, pianist Ptah Williams plays a free early evening set as part the monthly "First Friday" program at the Kemper Art Museum at Washington University; Lindy Hop St. Louis presents their monthly West End Stomp swing dance at the Mahler Ballroom, with Miss Jubilee as October's featured performer; and saxophonist Tim Cunningham returns to The Precinct, formerly known as Jim Edmonds 15 Steakhouse, at 1900 Locust downtown.

UPDATE: 11:00 a.m., 10/4/13 - Lindy Hop St. Louis has announced via Facebook that tonight's "West End Stomp" is cancelled, due to a booking conflict at the venue. 

On Saturday, pianist Carolbeth True and friends will play a free early afternoon set as part of the Rock Hill Fall Festival, and singers Mary Dyson and Diane Vaughn will join forces for a late afternoon show at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

Then on Saturday evening, the Brubeck Brothers Quartet, led by Dave Brubeck's sons Chris, a bassist and trombonist, and Dan, a drummer, will perform what's billed as a "Tribute to Dave Brubeck" at Sheldon Concert Hall. The remaining tickets for this show have been discounted to $25 for online buyers; for information on how to get the discount, see this post.

Also on Saturday, singer Feyza Eren returns to the Wine Press; the Sidemen play swing at Schlafly Bottleworks; and bassist Bob Deboo begins a new weekly gig at the Kranzberg Arts Center, in which he'll lead a rhythm section that's joined by a different special guest each month. This month's guest is saxophonist Dave Stone.

On Sunday, the Friends of Scott Joplin present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at Dressel's, 419 N Euclid Ave in the Central West End.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday trumpeter and former Webster University faculty member Mike Parkinson, who's now director of the school of music at Middle Tennessee State University, will be back in town for a visit, teaming up with guitarist Steve Schenkel, bassist Willem von Hombracht and drummer Kevin Gianino to play at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

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: Fall 2013 jazz preview, part 2

Today, it's part two of StLJN's Fall 2013 jazz preview, with videos spotlighting the various jazz and creative music performers who will be coming to town over the next few months. In part one, posted a week ago, we covered most of the month of September; today's segment takes up where that one left off, on Thursday, September 26.

That's when drummer and University City native Ronnie Burrage will return home for the first of three local dates that week, at Robbie's House of Jazz. The next two nights, on Friday, September 27 and Saturday, September 28, Band Burrage - which also includes saxophonist Rick Tate, singer Shenel Johns, bassist Nimrod Speaks, and St. Louis' own Eric Slaughter on guitar - will play at the Kranzberg Arts Center. In the clip up above, you can see an excerpt from a gig of theirs recorded just last month at the University Club in Philadelphia.

Down below, there's a video featuring pianist Antonio Figura, who also will be in St. Louis on Thursday, September 26, playing a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. Though the clip is a promo for a Figura gig at La Palma Club in Rome, rather than a full performance, it seems to be the best/only footage online of him playing live in a trio setting. For his performance here, Figura will be supported by drummer Steve Davis and William Lenihan, director of Wash U's jazz program, on bass.

Below that, it's singer and pianist Diana Krall, who will be making her first St. Louis appearance since 2007 on Friday, September 27 at the Fox Theatre. In this video, shot at the 2013 Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, you can see Krall and her band tacking a Bix Biederbecke number that she recorded for her most recent album, the 1920s-flavored Glad Rag Doll.

If Krall's carefully modulated cool isn't your sort of thing, there's something dramatically different on tap the following evening, as experimental duo Aluechatistas come to town on Saturday, September 28 to play the five-year anniversary celebration for KDHX's "Wrong Division" at Schlafly St. Louis Brewery & Tap Room. Guitarist Shane Perlowin and Ryan Oslance mix up free jazz, math rock, noise, and plenty of other musical ideas, as you can see in today's fourth video, a full set recorded in May of this year in Tallahassee, FL.

Below that, you can see excerpts from The Bad Plus' "On Sacred Ground: Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring," which the acclaimed trio will perform in a free concert sponsored by Jazz St. Louis on Thursday, October 3 at the Viragh Center for the Arts at Chaminade College Prep.

In addition to The Bad Plus' take on Stravinsky's most famous composition, the program also will feature a contingent of players from the St. Louis Symphony playing some of the composer's other works. (If you're interested in hearing The Bad Plus' entire performance of The Rite of Spring, you can hear the audio of their 2012 concert at NYC's Lincoln Center here.

Today's sixth clip features another St. Louis expat, multi-instrumentalist Marty Ehrlich, who's coming home for the first time in several years to play with his Rites Quintet in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Friday, October 4 at the Kranzberg Arts Center. In this video, the group - Ehrlich on reeds, James Zollar on trumpet, Hank Roberts on cello, and Michael Sarin on drums - plays the title song from their 2012 album Frog Leg Logic.

The same evening Ehrlich and company are at the Kranzberg, pianist Laurence Hobgood's trio will be joined by saxophonist Ernie Watts for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro. Hobgood and Watts first played together under the auspices of the pianist's primary employer, singer Kurt Elling, for the 2010 album Dedicated To You - Kurt Elling Sings Music of Coltrane and Hartman and subsequent tour. They then joined forces again for a one-off gig (without Elling) last year at the Bistro, which went well enough that they're coming back to play a full weekend on Friday, October 4 and Saturday, October 5.

Since there's no real video documentation of the Hobgood-Watts combination as such, the clip you'll see in the seventh position is from one of Elling's gigs, and features a medley of "What's New," "Lush Life," and "Autumn Serenade", recorded in 2010 at the Umbria jazz festival.

Today's final video features the Brubeck Brothers band, led by the famed pianist's sons Dan Brubeck, a drummer, and Chris Brubeck, a bassist and trombonist, in a performance recorded last year at the Moscow Conservatory. Joined by guitarist Mike DeMicco and pianist Chuck Lamb (co-founder of the semi-fabled 1970s Midwest fusion band Dry Jack), the Brubecks will be in St. Louis on Saturday, October 5 to perform a tribute to their dad at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Look for part three of StLJN's Fall 2013 jazz preview next week.

Jazz this week: Laurence Hobgood & Ernie Watts, Brad Mehldau & Joshua Redman, Frank Stemper & Altgeld Chamber Players, Erika Johnson, and more

This week's schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis features a variety of sounds, including what amounts to a mini-festival of piano players at Jazz at the Bistro, with the two out-of-town participants bringing along top tenor saxophonists. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, pianist Laurence Hobgood leads a quartet at Jazz at the Bistro for one night only, featuring tenor sax great Ernie Watts as special guest. Hobgood is best known for his long association with Kurt Elling, but he's taking advantage of some downtime in the singer's schedule to get out and do some touring on his own. His band also features drummer Jared Schonig, who was here earlier this year with the Wee Trio, and bassist Matthew Rybicki. For more about what to expect, check out this interview from the start of their tour, published by the Chicago edition of Examiner.com, and this story from last week in the Post-Dispatch.

Also tonight, guitarist Vince Varvel leads a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

On Friday, pianist Dave Venn checks into the Bistro for a rare one-nighter there. A longtime veteran of the local scene, Venn is an accomplished player who began back in the Gaslight Square era and is known particularly for a long association with the Chase Park Plaza hotel. He'll be accompanied by bassist David Troncoso and guitarist and former St. Louisan Rob Block.

Also on Friday, the Funky Butt Brass Band is at the Broadway Oyster Bar; vibraphonist Peter Schlamb leads a quartet at Robbie's House of jazz; drummer Paul Shaw's trio plays at the Cigar Inn; and saxophonist Tim Cunningham returns to Jazz on Broadway.

On Saturday afternoon, the Nu-Art Series will present Erika Johnson singing the music of Betty Carter in a concert at the Metropolitan Gallery. Johnson will be backed by guitarist Eric Slaughter, drummer Montez Coleman and bassist Bob Deboo.

Then on Saturday night, the Bistro completes its weekend trifecta of pianists with Brad Mehldau and saxophonist Joshua Redman (pictured). Longtime friends who worked together in Redman's band early in their respective careers, the two are doing a brief tour together this spring before going back to their respective "day jobs" as bandleaders. In an unusual bit of scheduling, they'll be back at the Bistro on Sunday night for two more sets. For more, check out this feature story by the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson.

Also on Saturday night, New Music Circle presents a program of music by composer Frank Stemper, as performed by the Altgeld Chamber Players at the Kranzberg Arts Center; and drummer Marty Morrison will lead a quartet at Robbie's.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Webster University Jazz Combos will perform at Winifred Moore Auditorium the Community Music School on the Webster campus, and pianist Dave Becherer leads a trio at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups.

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.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's the latest wrap-up of assorted links and short local news items of interest:

* Saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person has updated supporters who contributed via Kickstarter to his upcoming big band recording Thoughts On God.

Person reports that the 12-piece band assembled for the project (pictured) recorded the music on March 20 and 21, adding, "Next I will take pictures, then do some editing, mixing, mastering and then everything goes to Discmakers for the final pressing. The goal is to get this CD finished and out to the public by late June or the first week of July at the latest."

* The presenters of the U City Jazz Festival have been officially approved by the relvant state and federal authorities as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization under the name of Jazz Midwest. Brothers Michael and Rob Silverman, the organizers of the event and, respectively, keyboardist and drummer for Bach to the Future and the Classical Jazz Quartet, currently are planning the second edition of their fest, and say they plan to present additional jazz events in the future as well.

* The Sheldon Concert Hall has added a photo album of last night's concert by Bela Fleck & Flecktones to their Facebook page.

* Also on Facebook, Jazz St. Louis has posted a photo album documenting multi-instrumentalist Nicholas Payton's visit to Lindbergh High School. Payton continues at Jazz at the Bistro through Saturday night.

* Jazz St. Louis also has set Monday, June 4 and Monday, June 11 as the audtion dates for their 2012-13 JazzU program. Application materials must be postmarked by Friday, May 4. For more information on the JazzU program or to download an application, go to http://jazzstl.org/education-outreach/jazzu/.

* Pianist Laurence Hobgood, who will play the Bistro next Thursday with a quartet including saxophonist Ernie Watts, was interviewed by Calvin Wilson of the Post-Dispatch.

* The next episode of HEC-TV's I Love Jazz will premiere Thursday, April 5, and will focus on The Cunninghams, the Las Vegas based jazz duo featuring percussionist, singer and St. Louis native Don Cunningham and his wife, singer and pianist Alicia Cunningham. Check your cable or satellite service program guide for the telecast schedule, or watch online at HEC's site.

* Record Store Day 2012 is scheduled for Saturday April 21, and local music retailers including Vintage Vinyl and Euclid Records will be celebrating in a big way with live bands, special limited-edition promotional releases, food and drink, and special guest DJs spinning in-store.

And speaking of guest DJ's, through some inexplicable concatenation of circumstances - my money's on either "someone lost a bet" or "egregious but momentary lapse of judgement" - yr. humble StLJN editor has been invited back to spin at Vintage Vinyl again for RSD 2012. I'll be presenting stacks of hot wax and/or the platters that matter for an hour starting at 5:00 p.m.; more details to follow.

(Edited 4/3/12 to add a missing word.)

Ernie Watts joining Laurence Hobgood for Bistro gig on Thursday, April 5

This just in: Veteran saxophonist Ernie Watts (pictured) will join pianist Laurence Hobgood for the latter's previously announced performance on Thursday, April 5 at Jazz at the Bistro. Watts has played with Hobgood in singer Kurt Elling's band, and also is known for his work as a solo artist and with Charlie Haden's Quartet West, the Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa, and many others.

Performing with Hobgood and Watts will be bassist Matthew Rybicki, whose credits include work with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and drummer Jared Schonig, who's also played with Elling and is a member of the Wee Trio with bassist and St. Louis native Dan Loomis.

Tickets for the Laurence Hobgood Quartet at Jazz at the Bistro are $25 for the general public, $10 for students with ID, and are on sale now via Metrotix.

Laurence Hobgood to perform Thursday, April 5 at Jazz at the Bistro

The Chicago-based pianist Laurence Hobgood (pictured), best known as the long-time accompanist to singer Kurt Elling, is coming to St. Louis with his own quartet to perform at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Thursday, April 5 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Hobgood has served as musical director for Elling since 1995 and "has played on, composed/arranged for and co-produced all of Elling’s CDs, each Grammy-nominated." Their 2009 release Dedicated To You: Kurt Elling Sings The Music Of Coltrane and Hartman won the 2010 Grammy Award for "Best Vocal Jazz Record."

Hobgood’s quartet will include bassist Matthew Rybicki; drummer Jared Schonig, who was just here this past weekend with The Wee Trio; and a saxophonist yet to be announced. Their appearance comes as part of a piano-centric weekend at the Bistro that also will include sets by veteran St. Louis pianist Dave Venn on Friday and the duo of pianist Brad Mehldau and saxophonist Joshua Redman on Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets for the Laurence Hobgood Quartet at Jazz at the Bistro are $25 for the general public, $10 for students with ID, and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. next Tuesday, February 7 via Metrotix.