So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* The Riverfront Times has posted an album of photos from last month's U City Jazz Festival.

* Jazz St. Louis' education program (and trumpeter Terence Blanchard's band) were featured in a story that aired this week on the newscast of local NBC affiliate KSDK.

* And speaking of Jazz St. Louis, the organization this week also is touting a new fall menu at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Tomorrow night's Mephista Trio show at 560 Music Center, presented by New Music Circle, is previewed by the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson.

* Euclid Records has planned a sidewalk sale for next Saturday, October 13 and Sunday, October 14, featuring reduced prices on their entire inventory plus lots of CDs and LPs marked down for clearance, live music (no jazz, though) and free beer ("if you're old enough to drink it").

* Broadcaster and jazz advocate Don Wolff (pictured) was profiled this week by Terry Perkins for the St. Louis Beacon. In related news, the Internet radio version of Wolff's "I Love Jazz" program has relocated online to a new streaming provider, LoudCity; and there's a new October episode of the TV version of "I Love Jazz" (shown on cable and online by HEC-TV) featuring the band Bach to the Future and a look at local jazz jam sessions.

* And while we're on the subject of jam sessions, the latest word is that the weekly Thursday night jam hosted by guitarist Tom Byrne at Highway 61 Roadhouse has ended, and, in another example of the visionary thinking we see so often here among the proprietors of local venues, will be replaced with....nothing. Perhaps if the management had ever done anything to actually promote the event, it might have drawn bigger crowds, but now we'll never know. Meanwhile, you still can catch Byrne playing around town with his trio, singer Feyza Eren, the Pat Metheny inspired Have You Heard?, and various other bands.

Jazz this week: Billy Childs Quartet, Tatsuya Nakatani, Mephista, Arturo Sandoval, and more

It's another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a couple of notable concerts of adventurous improvised music, plus an all-star quartet of modern mainstream players, a top Latin-jazz trumpeter, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, pianist Billy Childs' quartet begins a four-night engagement, continuing through Saturday, at Jazz at the Bistro. Though Childs may be the nominal leader, it's something of an all-star band, with drummer Brian Blade, alto saxophonist Steve Wilson and bassist Scott Colley bringing together a rather eclectic menu of influences, ranging from straight-ahead jazz to rock and pop to experimental. For more about Childs, including a video interview and some performance footage, check out this post from last Saturday.

Also tonight, singer Joe Mancuso leads a quartet with Carolbeth True (piano), Willem von Hombracht (bass) and Kevin Gianino (drums) at Frontenac Grill. 

Tomorrow night, percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani returns to St. Louis, this time teaming with bassist Darin Gray and dancer/choreographer Vanessa Skantze for a concert at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center
exploring the intersection of improvised music and the Japanese performance form called Butoh.

Also on Thursday, poet Eileen G'sell and guitarist William Lenihan's trio will join forces for "Stories: The New Beat Generation," a free concert of poetry and improvised music for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

On Friday, Lindy Hop St. Louis will present another in their series of monthly swing dances at the Mahler Ballroom, with music from Miss Jubilee and the Bella Rue Jazz Band. Also on Friday, the Willie Akins/Montez Coleman quartet is at Robbie's House of Jazz; trumpeter Jim Manley plays at One 19 North Tapas Bar & Restaurant; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes are at Highway 61 Roadhouse; and drummer Paul Shaw leads a trio with bassist Bob DeBoo and vibraphonist Tom Rickard at Cigar Inn. 

Saturday,  the trio Mephista, featuring pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, electronic musician Ikue Mori, and percussionist Susie Ibarra, will perform at 560 Music Center in a concert presented by New Music Circle. Given the three musicians' diverse range of experiences, from classical to punk rock to avant-jazz, this is a tough concert to pigeonhole, stylistically speaking, but definitely recommended for fans of creative improvised music.

Also on Saturday, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval (pictured) returns to St. Louis to perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The Cuban native, who last performed here in 2006 at jazz at the Bistro, first became known in this country as a member of the Latin jazz/fusion group Irakere, and also benefited early in his career from the friendship and mentoring of trumpet great Dizzy Gillespie. On his own, he's become both an in-demand leader of his own combo and a frequent guest soloist with big bands and classical orchestras.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday saxophonist Paul Demarinis will bring his group to Webster University's Moore Auditorium, and drummer Joe Pastor's trio plays at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups. Then on Tuesday, guitarist Dave Black and his band will be at BB'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.)