Jazz this week: Ghost Note, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Joey Alexander, Lettuce, Cornet Chop Suey, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features a nice mix of headlining performers, offering styles from funk to big band to vintage jazz to mainstream and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 10
Ghost Note, the instrumental funk band founded by Snarky Puppy percussionists Robert “Sput” Searight and Nate Werth (pictured, top left), will perform at the Old Rock House.

Incorporating influences from Afrobeat, hip-hop, and more, they're touring in support of their second album Swagism, which was released in April of this year.

Also on Wednesday, Jazz St. Louis' "Whitaker Jazz Speaks" series of free lecture/discussions with music continues with Marc Myers, who writes about jazz for the Wall Street Journal and other publications, expounding on "1950: The Year Jazz Changed on Two Coasts."

Myers' presentation will be paired with performances of music associated with Dave Brubeck, the Modern Jazz Quartet, and Gerry Mulligan, plus Miles Davis’s complete Birth of the Cool.

Thursday, October 11
Saxophonist Paul DeMarinis leads a trio in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, and the Jim Widner Big Band will play a one-nighter at Jazz St. Louis. 

Also on Thursday, singer Joe Mancuso continues his weekly gig featuring different special guests at  50/Fifty Kitchen, and guitarist Dave Black performs at The Pat Connolly Tavern.

Friday, October 12
Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (pictured, bottom left) to provide the music for the annual fundraiser at the Sheldon Concert Hall. (Some concert-only tickets still may be available; contact the Sheldon's box office for the latest information.)

This year marks the 30th anniversary of JaLCO's founding, and they've released two recordings in 2018 - one documenting various guest star performances with the orchestra over the years, and the other capturing an evening backing singer/actor Ruben Blades. While those guest stars won't be at the Sheldon, the band's deep catalog of original and historic arrangements, developed over the last three decades, should offer the gala-goers ample possibilities for enjoyable listening.

Also on Friday, Grammy-nominated, teenage piano phenom Joey Alexander returns for the first of two nights of performances at Jazz St. Louis; funk/jazz band Lettuce is in town to play at the Atomic Cowboy Pavilion; and singer Anita Jackson will do the late show at The Dark Room

Saturday, October 13
Singer Wendy Gordon and friends, including singer Renee Smith and singer/bassist Eugene Johnson will present a matinee performance of "Different Shades Of The Blues" at the Ozark Theatre.

Later that night, keyboardist Mo Egeston will be at The Dark Room leading his trio, which will be joined this week by guest vocalist Chrissy Renick.

Sunday, October 14
Singer and bassist Janet Evra plays for brunch at The Dark Room, while Miss Jubilee will entertain at Evangeline's.

Also on Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents Cornet Chop Suey playing traditional jazz and swing in a matinee concert at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel St. Louis - Westport

Tuesday, October 16
Trumpeter Jim Manley and guitarist Rick Haydon play at Evangeline's.

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: Adam Larson, Lettuce, Youngblood Brass Band, March Fourth!, The New Mastersounds, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in and around St. Louis features a couple of different acts purveying instrumental funk, a saxophone phenom working in the modern jazz mainstream, a mutant marching band, and, as the saying goes, much, much more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 14
Up-and-coming saxophonist Adam Larson will play the first of two nights with his quartet at Jazz at the Bistro. Originally from Normal, IL, Larson (pictured, top left) graduated from Manhattan School of Music and now is based in NYC. He's recorded three albums as leader, the latest of which, Selective Amnesia, is scheduled for release next month.

Also on Wednesday, Franglais, featuring singer Eve Seltzer, will play Gypsy jazz at Nathalie's

Thursday, October 15
Singer Denise Thimes will present the 10th annual fundraiser for the Mildred Thimes Foundation, which raises money for research to fight pancreatic cancer, at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Standup comic and radio personality Monique Marvez will be Thimes' special guest.

Also on Thursday, the Gaslight Cabaret Festival resumes with Shanara Gabrielle, a graduate of Webster University's theater program and now a working actress who will be making her cabaret debut with the show "Rated SG" at the Gaslight Theater.

Friday, October 16
The funk/jazz/jam band Lettuce (pictured, center left) returns for the first time since last year's LouFest, touring in support of their just-released album Crush, for a performance at The Pageant; and the Coleman Hughes Project, featuring singer Adrienne Felton, will play smooth jazz and R&B in the first of two nights of their debut gig at Jazz at the Bistro.

Elsewhere around town, the Gaslight Cabaret Festival continues with the acapella group One Too Many at the Gaslight Theater; Second Generation Swing plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and Tim Cunningham continues what's now being billed as a ongoing weekly gig at Troy's Jazz Gallery

Saturday, October 17
The Spiritual Revolution Ensemble will team up with poets Mama Blue and Pacia Anderson to pay tribute to Ornette Coleman in a fundraiser for the Yeyo Arts Collective; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to the Venice Cafe; and singer Chuck Flowers will perform his cabaret show "Songs I Came Up With" at the Gaslight Theater.

Sunday, October 18
Youngblood Brass Band, a Wisconsin-based group that filters the New Orleans brass band tradition through hip-hop and punk, plays at 2720 Cherokee.

Monday, October 19
With between 15 and 20 members at any given time, Portland, OR's MarchFourth! (pictured, lower left) will no doubt fill the stage at the Old Rock House, looking something like a fun-house mirror version of a marching band augmented by dancers and stilt-walkers, with a percussion- and brass-heavy sound that defies easy categorization.

For some video samples of what this looks and sounds like in a live situation, check out this video post from last Saturday.

Tuesday, October 20
The British funk quartet The New Mastersounds bring their Meters-esque funk to the Old Rock House, while new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound begins their fourth St. Louis season at the Sheldon Concert Hall with a program of music from composers under age 40.

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.)

Loufest 2014 lineup includes Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Lettuce

While the first four years of Loufest have concentrated mostly on rock, pop and hip-hop, the festival's fifth anniversary lineup includes a couple of acts that may be of interest to local jazz fans as well.

Specifically, the 2014 edition of Loufest, set for Saturday, September 6 and Sunday, September 7 in Forest Park's Central Field, will include appearances from Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue (pictured) and the funk band Lettuce.

Other headlining acts this year will include Outkast, Arctic Monkeys, Cake, Grouplove, Matt & Kim, Portugal The Man, Future Islands, and Kelis. For the complete lineup, see http://www.loufest.com/.

Shorty's last appearance here was in November 2013 at the Old Rock House. As for Lettuce, while yr. humble StLJN editor is pretty sure they've played here at some point in their 20+ year history, I've been unable to locate any specifics on that.

VIP tickets for the two-day Loufest are priced at $350 per person and already are on sale. They include access to a VIP lounge with complimentary beer, wine, and specialty libations all day, catered food servings, air conditioned restrooms and more.

Regular two-day tickets are priced at $95 per person, inclusive of all fees, and go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, May 13 via http://www.loufest.com/tickets.