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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Lonnie Holley

This week, let's check out some videos featuring Lonnie Holley, who will perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, December 1 at Off Broadway.

Born in 1950 in Birmingham, AL, Holley was one of 27 children and grew up in dire poverty. He first gained recognition as a visual artist in his late twenties, working with found objects and carved sandstone, developing a distinctive style of assembly and collage and eventually winning considerable acclaim. Holley's artworks now are included in the collections of major museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Folk Art Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Museum of Art, and many others.

He began recording music in 2006, releasing two albums on the Dust-to-Digital label, and started touring as a musician in 2013. Playing keyboard, singing, and sometimes inventing songs on the spot, Holley earned good notices from critics, turning up in some year-end "top ten" lists, and in 2014 he was featured in the New York Times, which served as a significant boost for his musical career. His latest recording is MITH, released in September of this year on the Jagjaguwar label.

Today's videos include a half-dozen performances from throughout Holley's relatively brief career as a working musician, starting up above with Holley doing his song "I Threw My Head Back," as recorded for the web series Jam In The Van in July of this year at the A Ship in the Woods festival in Escondido, CA.

After the jump, you can see the official music video for “I Woke Up in a Fucked-Up America,” a track from MITH, followed by a full-length performance by Holley recorded in February 2017 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC.

That's followed by two more full performances recorded in 2014, in April at the Studio Museum in Harlem, and in August at the Pickathon festival on Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Oregon. Finally, there's an excerpt from Holley's performance in 2013 at the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC.

For more about Lonnie Holley, read the profile of him published in 2013 by The Fader, and this feature from October 2018 on Afropunk.com.

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