It's another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a calendar featuring noteworthy performances by several visiting headliners, plus an assortment of gigs in various styles from hometown players. Let's go to the highlights...
Wednesday,
March 27
Drummer
Mark Guiliana and his quartet will perform for the first of five nights at
Jazz St. Louis
The NYC-based Guiliana is known for mixing acoustic drums and electronic beats in his own projects and while working with musicians including Brad Mehldau, Avishai Cohen, David Bowie, Meshell Ndegeocello, Lionel Loueke, and more.
However, for his St. Louis debut as a bandleader, he'll be bringing in a more straight-ahead, acoustic group, featuring bassist Chris Morrissey, saxophonist Jason Rigby, and pianist Shai Maestro.
Also on Wednesday, the weekly
"Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features singer Wendy Gordon and Friends at The Stage at KDHX, along with the jam session led by bassist Bob DeBoo at the Kranzberg Arts Center and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's quartet at The Dark Room.
Thursday, March 28
Multi-instrumentalist
Mwata Bowden (pictured, top left) will perform in
a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. Bowden, a longtime member of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and the head of the jazz program at the University of Chicago, will be joined by Wash U faculty members William Lenihan on guitar and piano and Paul Steinbeck on bass, plus drummer Steve Davis.
Friday, March 29
Singer
Feyza Eren returns to
Evangeline's; percussionist
Herman Semidey and
Son Montuno will play Latin jazz, salsa and more at
The Dark Room; and the
Sentimental Journey Dance Band performs at the
Casa Loma Ballroom.
Saturday, March 30
Pianist
Ahmad Jamal (pictured, center left) performs for the annual benefit gala at the
Sheldon Concert Hall.
Now 88 years old, Jamal plays just a few selected dates a year, so his performance here should be a special occasion, both for diehard fans who have followed him over the course of his seven-decade career and for younger listeners seeking to experience his distinctive style in person.
For more about Jamal and some video samples of recent performances (plus a couple of throwback sets), check out
this post from last Saturday.
Elsewhere around town, Kansas City-based jump blues and swing band
Grand Marquis returns to
BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; trumpeter
Keith Moyer leads a quartet at Evangeline's; and
Dizzy Atmosphere will play vintage swing and Gypsy jazz at
Urban Chestnut Midtown Brewery and Biergarten.
Sunday, March 31
The
University City Symphony Orchestra presents a program titled "Jazzy Classical" at the
560 Music Center. The free concert will feature works by George Gershwin, Aaron Copland and William Grant Still performed by the orchestra with guest musicians including pianist Ptah Williams, Bach to the Future, guitarist Dave Black, and violinist Tracy Silverman.
Monday, April 1
Webster University's Student Jazz Combos will show off what they've learned this year with a performance at Webster's
Community Music School.
Tuesday, April 2
Saxophonist
Branford Marsalis (pictured, bottom left) and his quartet will perform for the first of three nights at
Jazz St. Louis.
Appearing in St. Louis for the first time since their January, 2017 gig with singer Kurt Elling at the Bistro, Marsalis and his longtime band - pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Revis, and drummer Justin Faulkner - are touring in support of a new album,
The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul, which was released last month to favorable reviews.
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.)
