Jazz this week: Mark Guiliana Quartet, Mwata Bowden, Ahmad Jamal, Grand Marquis, Branford Marsalis Quartet, and more

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.)

Jazz this week: Mwata Bowden, a David Sanborn tribute, "Newport Jazz Festival: Now 60," Alarm Will Sound, and more

Events have conspired to make this week's preview of jazz and creative music shows in and around St. Louis both rather terse and somewhat behind schedule. so let's go straight to the highlights....

Tonight, multi-instrumentalist Mwata Bowden of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, performs a free concert with bassist Paul Steinbeck and drummer Gary Sykes for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. For more about Bowden and some video samples of him performing, see this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Also tonight, the Tavern of Fine Arts presents their monthly "Experimental Arts Open Improv Night" with live improvised music; and The Freedom plays smooth jazz and fusion at The Engine Room.

Tomorrow night, saxophonist Jim Stevens teams up with jazz/funk/R&B quartet Good 4 the Soul for the first of two nights in which they "Play the Music of David Sanborn" at Jazz at the Bistro.

Also on Friday, singer Erin Bode provides the musical entertainment for "Heart 2 Heart," a benefit for the organization Education 4 All, Inc, at Gallery 400 on Washington Ave; saxophonist Michael Fitzgerald returns to Jazz on Broadway; Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and the Lindenwood University Jazz Band, with special guest soloist Marshall Gilkes on trombone, will wrap up the first-ever Lindenwood University Jazz Festival with a performance at the Scheidegger Center for the Arts on campus.

On Saturday, singer Joe Mancuso and pianist Adam Maness will duet at Chaser's Lounge in the Chase Park Plaza Hotel; the Coleman Hughes Project performs at The Rustic Goat; and husband-and-wife cabaret performers Joe Dreyer and Rosemary Watts will reprise their show "Swing Into Spring" for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival at the Gaslight Theater.

On Sunday, the St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show, having been postponed due to bad weather twice already this year, will present their first show of 2014 at the usual location, the American Czech Hall, 4690 Lansdowne at Kingshighway. Also on Sunday afternoon, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Then on Sunday evening, the all-star "Newport Jazz Festival: Now 60" tribute show, which has been touring for the past two months, arrives at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The ensemble (pictured) features St. Louis' own Peter Martin on piano, along with clarinetist/saxophonist and music director Anat Cohen, singer Karrin Allyson, trumpeter Randy Brecker, guitarist Mark Whitfield, drummer Clarence Penn and bassist Larry Grenadier.

Also on Sunday evening, singer Steve Lippia will join the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra to perform his tribute show "Simply Sinatra" at Powell Symphony Hall.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday Webster University's student jazz combos will give a free performance at the Community Music School building on campus; and "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective return to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Then on Tuesday, the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound resumes their St. Louis season at a new venue, performing music from Aphex Twin, Tyondai Braxton, and Steve Reich at The Pageant. For more details, check out this preview story written by Terry Perkins for St. Louis Public Radio.

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 Mwata Bowden

This week, let's get acquainted with Chicago multi-instrumentalist Mwata Bowden, who's coming to St. Louis to perform with the trio Low End Theory for Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series on Thursday, March 27. Bowden plays a variety of saxophones and clarinets, flute and didgeridoo, and he'll be joined for the performance by bassist and Wash U faculty member Paul Steinbeck and drummer Gary Sykes.

Bowden is associated closely with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, having been a member for nearly 40 years and serving for a time as the organization's chairman, and also teaches jazz and improvisation at the University of Chicago. That's where he connected with Steinbeck, who earned his bachelor's degree at UC.

While he's in St. Louis, Bowden also will present a lecture on "Creating Culture" at 1:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 26 at the Music Classroom Building 102, which is located at 6500 Forsyth Blvd. (at Wallace Dr.) on the Wash U campus. Both the concert and lecture are free and open to the public.

Born in Memphis, the 66-year-old Bowden moved with his family to Chicago when he was ten, and attended DuSable High School, where he studied under the renowned band director Captain Walter Dyett. He earned a degree in music education at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, and after graduating, started gigging as a baritone saxophonist with big bands and R&B groups. After touring with soul vocal group the Chi-Lites in the early 1970s, Bowden wanted to get off the road, so he began teaching and in 1974, got involved with the AACM.

As a bandleader, Bowden has led the jazz groups Sound Spectrum and Tri-tone, as well as the Black Classical Music Ensemble. He also directs a student ensemble, the Chicago Jazz X-Tet, as part of his work at the university. Bowden is a longtime collaborator with saxophonist Ed Wilkerson, playing in Wilkerson's groups 8 Bold Souls and Shadow Vignettes. He also works frequently with bassist Tatsu Aoki in various ensembles, including the Miyumi Project, which blends jazz with Japanese taiko drumming and folk music styles.

Though Bowden may be less well known outside Chicago that some of his fellow AACM members, he's an important part of the organization and the city's music scene, so much so that in 2013 he was recognized by the Jazz Journalists Association as one of 25 "Jazz Heroes" in various cities across the US. And so it was on the night that award was presented that our first video clip, which features Bowden as part of an ensemble jam, was recorded at a venue called Elastic.

Down below, you can see him conducting and playing didgeridoo with the University of Chicago Jazz X-Tet Reunion Band, leading them through his composition "Maze Factor Suite, Two Front Doors" in October 2012 concert at the Logan Arts Center on the UC campus.

Below, Bowden can be seen conducting another of his large ensemble works, "A Well Woven Web," which was commissioned for and recorded at the 2013 Made In Chicago Festival in Poznan, Poland.

The fourth and fifth videos are excerpts from an 8 Bold Souls performance, coincidentally also in Poznan, but recorded in 2009. In the first, you can hear how saxophonist, bandleader and composer Ed Wilkinson uses Bowden's baritone sax to buttress the ensemble, while in the second, Bowden gets a tasty clarinet solo starting at about the 4:40 mark.

In the final clip, you can see Bowden sitting in with the punk-jazz group Slammin' Blue Watusis, adding an extra measure of skronk to "Mchaka Uba."