Jazz this week: A tribute to Ray Kennedy, "Music at the Intersection," Marquis Hill, Mike Dillon Band, and more

If you're trying to shake the mid-summer doldrums after some punishing heat and humidity over the past few days in St. Louis, getting out to hear some live jazz and creative music could be just the thing.

This weekend's musical menu features a benefit for the family of a well-known local musician, a visit from a fast-rising trumpet talent, a free evening of music at multiple venues in Grand Center, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, July 15
Warming up for next week's St. Louis Cabaret Conference, Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "Open Mic Night" at Tavern of Fine Arts.

Thursday, July 16
Drummer Maurice Carnes leads a quintet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; guitarist Dave Black and friends, with singer Feyza Eren, perform at Nathalie’s, and singer Joe Mancuso and pianist Nick Schlueter will boldly go where no jazz musician has gone before with a happy-hour show at the dueling-piano bar Jive and Wail in Westport Plaza.

Friday, July 17
"A Celebration of the Life & Music of Ray Kennedy," featuring singer/guitarist John Pizzarelli's trio along with his dad, guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, at the Sheldon Concert Hall will pay tribute to the late St. Louis pianist (pictured, top left, with the Pizzarellis) and raise money for his widow and two young daughters.

Also on Friday, Grand Center presents the first evening of its new "Music at The Intersection" series, this month featuring free sets by local jazz and blues acts at eight different venues throughout the district. 

That same evening, the St. Louis Big Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and the trio of pianist Jim Hegarty, bassist Paul Steinbeck, and drummer Gary Sykes will play the music of Miles Davis, Oliver Nelson, and more at the Jacoby Arts Center in Alton.

Saturday, July 18
St. Louis Community College-Meramec and Saxquest present a day-long "Saxfest" on the Meramec campus with workshops and performances from saxophonists Paul DeMarinis, Christopher Braig, Jason Swagler, Arthur White, Jeffrey Collins, and more. Following the events at Meramac, Braig also will lead a quartet for an evening after-party at Tavern of Fine Arts.

Also on Saturday evening, singer Anita Jackson will perform at Jazz at the Bistro; Gypsy jazz quartet Franglais plays at Evangeline's; pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True return to the Ozark Theatre; and pianist Matt Villinger, who's moving to Kansas City shortly, will present a "going-away" show at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Sunday, July 19
Chicago-based trumpeter Marquis Hill (pictured, lower left), winner of the 2014 Thelonious Monk International Trumpet Competition, will be in town to raise funds for Community Women Against Hardship with a performance at the Ferring Jazz Bistro.

Billed as "A Tribute to Freddie Hubbard," the benefit will feature Hill fronting a group of St. Louisans including Villinger, Jerome "Scrooge" Harris (drums), Jeff Anderson (bass), and Chad Evans (alto sax).

Also on Sunday, percussionist Mike Dillon and band will headline an all-ages matinee also featuring The Feed and Richie Kihlken Band at 2720 Cherokee.

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: The funky cosmos of Galactic

This week, we've selected for your viewing and listening enjoyment some recent videos of Galactic, who will be back in St. Louis to perform on Thursday, March 6 at The Pageant.

Comprised of Stanton Moore (drums), Jeff Raines (guitar), Robert Mercurio (bass), Rich Vogel (keyboards), and Ben Ellman (saxophone), the New Orleans-based funk/jazz/hip-hop band has been making an annual St. Louis appearance in close proximity to Mardi Gras for a number of years now, often bringing at least a couple of guest stars with them.

This time, they'll have along singer Maggie Koerner, a recent transplant to New Orleans from her native Shreveport, as their special guest, with the Mike Dillon Band as opening act. (Given Galactic's proclivity for jamming with others featured on the same bill, it seems a safe bet that they'll all end up on stage together at some point, too.)

In the first clip, you can see them performing "Go Go" at the 2013 Gathering of the Vibes Music Festival, held last July in Bridgeport, CT. Down below, there's a multi-song performance recorded last year during their visit to the studios of KEXP in Seattle.

Below that, you can see a full set from Galactic's show last August at the Telluride Jazz Festival in Colorado, including some vocals from their former lead singer Theryl DeClouet, who left the band in 2004 but recently has been making some appearances with them.

That's followed by the first half of their show from the 2013 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which includes guest performances from Mike Dillon on percussion as well as Cory Henry (trombone), Corey Glover (vocals), Jazz Henry (trumpet), and David Shaw (vocals).

The final two embeds are parts one and two of a complete show from last April at the Vogue in Indianapolis, also with Shaw as guest vocalist.

Jazz this week: Mike Dillon Band, Erin Bode sings standards, Phil Dunlap Quintet with Nicholas Payton, and more

Though many touring jazz stars are busy playing the festival circuit this month, there's still plenty of live jazz and creative music this weekend in St. Louis. Here's what's coming up over the next few days...

Tonight, the Mike Dillon Band returns to perform at The Demo. Led by percussionist Mike Dillon (pictured), the MDB were here last in February, opening for Umphrey's McGee at The Pageant. They mix up jazz, funk, rock and punk in an energetic and entertaining way, and you can check out some samples of them on video in this post from a couple of weeks ago.

Also tonight, guitarists Eric Slaughter and Tom Byrne play at the Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood; the Tavern of Fine Arts features live improvised music for its monthly "Avant Garde Arts Night"; and and saxophonist Tim Cunningham plays a free outdoor concert at Bluebird Park in Ellisville.

On Friday, singer Erin Bode returns to her musical roots as a student in the jazz program at Webster University, opening a two-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro during which she'll revisit material from the "Great American Songbook." Though Bode performs mostly original songs these days, those who remember her early gigs here know that she's a capable interpreter of standards, too.

Elsewhere on Friday, saxophonist Michael Anthony Fitzgerald performs at Jazz on Broadway, Second Generation Swing takes the stage at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and guitarist Brian Vaccaro's trio will play a mini-concert at a rather unusual venue, the Clayton cafe and spa Sip Salon. There's also another free outdoor show of interest on Friday, as trumpeter Jim Manley performs before a screening of The Big Chill for the Old Orchard Gazebo Music and Movie series in Webster Groves. 

Saturday brings a couple of very different grand openings  - one on the Hill, the other on Art Hill - with jazz accompaniment. First up, in the afternoon singer Tony Viviano and band will perform to celebrate the new outdoor cafe at J. Viviano & Sons grocery and deli, located in the heart of South St. Louis' famed Italian neighborhood.

Then a few hours later and just a couple of miles away in Forest Park, pianist and Jazz St. Louis director of education Phil Dunlap will debut a new quintet at the long-awaited grand opening of the new wing of the St. Louis Art Museum. Dunlap's quintet, with drummer Montez Coleman, bassist Jahmal Nichols, saxophonist Ben Reece and trumpeter Danny Campbell, will be augmented for the occasion by special guests including trumpeter Nicholas Payton, saxophonist Willie Akins and singer Brian Owens.

Also on Saturday, guitarist Larry Brown Jr. is back home from Chicago to lead his group at Robbie's House of Jazz; singer Feyza Eren is at Thurman Grill; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes perform at the Wine Press; and singer Jerome Elliott presents his cabaret show "My Favorite Springs" at The Chapel.

On Sunday, trumpeter/singer Dawn Weber and multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris (in his alternate identity as "DJ Nune") will supply the sounds for Sauce Magazine's annual "Saucy Soiree" at the Four Seasons Hotel; and singer and pianist Jesse Gannon will promote the release of his new CD with a show at The Gramophone.

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: Ride the "Lunatic Express" with Mike Dillon

This week, let's check out some videos of the Mike Dillon Band, who will be in St. Louis to play on Thursday, June 27 at The Demo.

The group features Dillon on vibraphone, percussion and vocals, Carly Meyers on trombone and bass pedals, Cliff Hines on guitar, bass and keyboards, and Adam Gertner on drums. They played here most recently back in February, when they opened for Umphrey's McGee at The Pageant.

Dillon, a prolific collaborator and relentless live performer, also has played St. Louis in recent years with both Garage A Trois and The Dead Kenny Gs, and the MDB shares to an certain extent what might be called the "punk/jazz" sensibility of those two bands.

All three are high-energy, generally high-volume ensembles that rely most on driving, danceable rhythms with occasional quiet interludes and/or bursts of odd time signatures. In addition, given the MDB's trombone and mallet percussion; frequent use of fast, angular unison melodies; and penchant for cryptic or tongue-in-cheek song titles, some listeners of a certain age might be tempted to use the adjective "Zappaesque" to describe their music.

That impression is further reinforced visually by Meyers, whose interpretive-dance stage moves seem like they'd fit right in next to those of famously rubber-legged former FZ sideman Napoleon Murphy Brock and Zappa Plays Zappa keyboardist/saxophonist Scheila Gonzalez.

Though Dillon has recorded extensively with a number of different bands, his 2012 solo album Um seems to be the source of much of the MDB's current live repertoire. And while comparisons can be useful as shorthand or a starting point, there's really no substitute for actually hearing the music. So, let's get to that...

The first video up above is of a tune called "Hafta" and was recorded right here in St. Louis in the studios of KDHX (88.1 FM) during Dillon's last visit here in February.

Down below are two songs, "DVS" and "Ding Dong (The Party's Over)," recorded in September 2012 at Mezo's Juke Joint in Ocean Springs, MS. Below that is a version of "Lunatic Express" captured in May of last year at Keg Lounge in Orange Beach, AL.

The fifth clip, date and place of origin unknown, features a tune called "Harris County." The sixth video is of a tune called "Omar," recorded at One Eyed Jacks in New Orleans, with New Orleans native (and Dillon's fellow Garage A Trois member) Stanton Moore sitting in for Gertner on drums.

You can hear more audio of the Mike Dillon Band recorded during their visit to KDHX here. For more about Dillon, check out this 2011 interview with Drum magazine.











(Edited 6/17/13 to correct a typo.)

Mike Dillon Band to perform Thursday, June 27 at The Demo

The Mike Dillon Band will bring their jazz-funk-punk sound back to St. Louis for a performance at 9:00 p.m., Thursday, June 27 at The Demo, 4144 Manchester Blvd.

Dillon, a percussionist, vocalist and composer, has played here before with Garage A Trois and The Dead Kenny Gs as well as with his own eponymous group. The Mike Dillon Band were in St. Louis most recently in February, when they opened for Umphrey's McGee at The Pageant. While they were here, they also recorded some material at the studios of KDHX, which can be heard online here.

The Mike Dillon Band at The Demo is presented by the Old Rock House's ORH Concerts. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 day of show, over 18 only, with the on-sale date TBA.

Garage A Trois to play Tuesday, September 14 at the Old Rock House

The jazz/funk combo Garage A Trois (pictured) is coming to St. Louis on Tuesday, September 14 to perform at the Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St.

Garage A Trois was formed in 1999 by drummer Stanton Moore, single-named saxophonist Skerik (nee Eric Walton) and guitarist Charlie Hunter. The band's current lineup includes Moore and Skerik along with Mike Dillon on vibes and Marco Benevento on keyboards. Their most recent CD Power Patriot came out in October 2009.

For their performance at the Old Rock House, the doors open at 8:00 p.m., and show time is 9:00 p.m. It's an "all ages" show, and tickets are $15 general admission, plus a $2 surcharge for minors.