Dave Koz holiday tour booked for Tuesday, December 11 at Family Arena

Saxophonist Dave Koz is bringing his 2018 Christmas tour to the St. Louis area for a performance on Tuesday, December 11 at the Family Arena.

This is the 21st year that Koz (pictured) has done a holiday-themed tour, and for this year's edition, his "special guests" will include saxophonist and singer Mindi Abair, guitarist and singer Jonathan Butler, and keyboard player Keiko Matsui.

Tickets are priced from $50 to $90 (plus service charges), and there's also a "VIP Experience" for $198 per person.

Tickets will go on sale at noon this Friday, September 7, but there's also a presale beginning at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, Thursday, September 6, and continuing until 10:00 p.m. tomorrow night. To get in on the presale, go to the the Metrotix website and when prompted, use promo code HORNS.

Concert with Spyro Gyra, Mindi Abair canceled; Ferguson unrest cited

Promoters of the Eco Music Festival have canceled the event, which was to have featured Spyro Gyra, Mindi Abair (pictured) and two St. Louis acts in concert on Saturday, August 30 at the Chesterfield Amphitheater.

No replacement date was announced, and although a story by Calvin Wilson on STLtoday.com refers to the event as "indefinitely postponed," an email from a representative of promoters Sky Promotions used the word "canceled," suggesting that none will be forthcoming.

The email also stated that "the processing of refunds on Eventbrite is underway," but the Eventbrite page for the concert still had no mention of any cancellation, postponement or refund procedure as of 12:15 p.m. Thursday. However, the show has been removed from the Chesterfield Amphitheater site, and the URL ecomusicfestivals.org that originally was used to promote the event is now redirecting to the EventBrite page.

Wilson's story says that the promoters are citing the current unrest in Ferguson as the reason for the cancellation; the story also drily notes that the Chesterfield Amphitheater is located more than 20 miles away from Ferguson.

Given that promoters were still soliciting vendors for the event via Twitter as recently as this past Tuesday, August 19 - 11 days after people took to the streets to protest the shooting of 18-year-old Mike Brown by a Ferguson police officer - and tensions on the ground there seem to have eased somewhat since then, one can't help but wonder what's happened in the last two days to prompt the cancellation now. Perhaps a report indicating poor advance ticket sales?

Discounts available on advance tickets for Spyro Gyra/Mindi Abair concert

Promoters of the Eco Music Festival, which will feature performances from jazz/fusion band Spyro Gyra and saxophonist Mindi Abair (pictured) on Saturday, August 30 at the Chesterfield Amphitheater, are offering a 15% discount to online buyers for tickets purchased before next Tuesday, July 15.

The nominal advance prices for the show, which also will feature St. Louis' Bach to the Future and Tim Cunningham as opening acts, are $28 for lawn seats, and $48 for general admission "preferred seating" in the auditorium's fixed seats.

With a 15% discount, those prices would drop to $23.80 and $40.80, respectively. (Day-of-show prices are $33 and $53.)

To get the online discount, go to the event website at www.ecomusicfestival.org/, and when prompted, enter the discount code JAZZBISTROSTL.

Spyro Gyra, Mindi Abair to perform Saturday, August 30 at Chesterfield Amphitheater

Jazz/fusion band Spyro Gyra and saxophonist Mindi Abair are coming to St. Louis to perform as part of the Eco Music Festival starting at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, August 30 at the Chesterfield Amphitheater.

Also on the bill are St. Louis' own Tim Cunningham and Bach to the Future.

Led by saxophonist Jay Beckenstein, Spyro Gyra first gained wide notice in the 1970s for their self-produced hit singles "Morning Dance" and "Shaker Song," and subsequently have made more than two dozen albums, many of them best-sellers on the jazz and/or smooth jazz charts.

In addition to Beckenstein, the group's current lineup (pictured) includes longtime keyboardist Tom Schuman plus bassist Scott Ambush, guitarist Julio Fernandez, and drummer Lee Pearson. Their most recent album, The Rhinebeck Sessions, came out last year.

Abair has collaborated with contemporary jazz performers including Bobby Lyle, Jonathan Butler, Peter White and Rick Braun and also has made forays into pop with likes of the Backstreet Boys, Duran Duran, Mandy Moore, Aerosmith, and numerous others. Her most recent recording is 2014's Wild Heart.

Advance tickets for the Eco Music Festival with Spyro Gyra and Mindi Abair are $28 for lawn seats, and $48 for general admission "preferred seating" in the auditorium's fixed seats. Tickets purchased at the door will be $33 and $53. Also, six VIP tables for 10 are available for $1,000 each. Tickets are on sale now via EventBrite.

Jazz this week: Peter White with Rick Braun and Mindy Abair, Jeremy Davenport, Denise Thimes, and more

The Thanksgiving holiday means a somewhat reduced level of activity on local concert stages (and a holiday posting schedule here at StLJN) but there are still some noteworthy jazz and creative music events happening in St. Louis this weekend:

Let's start with trumpeter, singer and St. Louis native Jeremy Davenport (pictured), who returns home from New Orleans to perform at Jazz at the Bistro on Friday and Saturday, plus a matinee on Sunday to benefit PAN CAN, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. For much more on Davenport, see thhis post.

Also on Friday, pianist Peter Henderson is performing John Cage's "Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano" in a free concert at the Grigg Gallery of the St. Louis Art Museum.

The on Saturday, Trio Tres Bien with singer Danita Mumphard are at Cookie's Jazz and More in Webster Groves, and Clave de Sol, featuring pianist Phil Gomez, plays Latin jazz at Brandt's in University City.

On Sunday afternoon, singer Denise Thimes will perform at the Sheldon Concert Hall in what as being billed as a "women only" benefit for the Mildred Thimes Foundation, which supports pancreatic cancer research and awareness. Thimes will sing during the first half of the show, with the second half given over to spoken word performer Sharon McGhee, who will do a piece called "The Pocketbook Monologues."

Then on Sunday night, guitarist Peter White brings the 2009 edition of his Christmas show to The Pageant. White has been doing a holiday show for several years now using different smooth jazz musicians as co-headliners, and this year's featured guest stars are trumpeter Rick Braun and saxophonist Mindi Abair.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band is back at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups downtown, and Tuesday saxophonist Bennett Wood returns to The Gramophone.

You can find more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond by visiting the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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.)

A guide to holiday jazz concerts in St. Louis

StLJN has been getting a number of hits lately combining the search terms "Christmas" and "jazz," and so for the benefit of those visitors looking for more information on holiday jazz concerts in St. Louis, here's a quick overview of some noteworthy upcoming events:

Sunday, November 30: Smooth jazz guitarist Peter White's Christmas show, featuring trumpeter Rick Braun and saxophonist Mindi Abair, at The Pageant.

Thursday, December 4: Guitarist Steve Schenkel and singer Ashley Mason perform music from their new Christmas CD A Midnight Clear with pianist Carolbeth True and bassist Ric Vice in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Thursday, December 4: Singer Jeanne Trevor and pianist Dave Venn headline a performance of jazz and holiday music at the Black Cat Theatre.

Sunday, December 7: Singer/pianist Harry Connick, Jr and his big band perform a holiday-themed concert at the Fox Theatre.

Friday, December 12: Trumpet player and singer Dawn Weber of Mo & Dawn does a holiday themed concert at the Black Cat Theatre.

Saturday, December 13: Singer/pianist Anita Rosamond performs her third annual Christmas show "Celebrate The Season" at the Black Cat Theatre.

Sunday, December 14: "A Soulful Christmas" with saxophonist Gerald Albright (pictured) and singers Lalah Hathaway and Will Downing at The Pageant.

Monday, December 15: Steve Schenkel and Ashley Mason with guitarist Dan Rubright and bassist Ric Vice at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium.

Friday, December 19: The singing group Manhattan Transfer brings their annual holiday show to the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

As for local Christmas CD releases, in addition to Schenkel and Mason's A Midnight Clear, singer Erin Bode has a new Christmas-themed CD titled A Cold December Night that's now available for purchase on her Web site.

Other St. Louis musicians with Christmas CDs still in print include Anita Rosamond, whose release This Is Christmas came out in 2006, and saxophonist Rod Tate, who put out an album called Jazzy Melodies of Christmas last year. You can see Tate performing his version of "The Little Drummer Boy," taken from a show last December at the Vaughn Cultural Center, in the embedded video window below.

Do you know of any local jazz shows or CDs with a holiday theme that we've missed? Do you have a favorite holiday jazz CD (or CDs) of all time? Please use the comments to share your thoughts.



(Updated 11/28/08 to add the shows at Black Cat Theatre.)

Peter White Christmas show coming to The Pageant on November 30

This just in: Smooth jazz guitarist Peter White's Christmas show will be coming to St. Louis on Sunday, November 30 for a performance at The Pageant. Along with White, this year's edition of the holiday program features trumpeter Rick Braun and saxophonist Mindi Abair (pictured).

Tickets for the Peter White Christmas show go on sale at 5:00 p.m. this Friday, September 19, and can be purchased online via Ticketmaster and in person at The Pageant box office and all Ticketmaster outlets.