Jazz this week: Clayton Brothers Quintet, Nick Finzer, "Sculptures in Sound," and more

The news in St. Louis jazz and creative music this week is coming mostly from Grand Center, as the district rolls out an expanded version of their weekly Wednesday night "jazz crawl."

The first week includes a promising young musician making his St. Louis debut at a new venue for the event, the return of a popular group of seasoned jazz veterans to Jazz at the Bistro, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, March 1
The Clayton Brothers Quintet (pictured, top left) performs for the first of four nights continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

Led by bassist John Clayton and saxophonist Jeff Clayton, and also including John's son, the talented pianist Gerald Clayton, the CBQ offers a spirited update of the classic hard bop sound. For more about them, and some video samples of live performances, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Wednesday, NYC-based trombonist Nick Finzer will make his St. Louis debut, helping inaugurate the expanded version of the Grand Center Jazz Crawl with a performance at the Curtain Call Lounge.

Finzer is touring in support of his "politically charged" third album Hear & Now, released in February on his label Outside in Music. His set at the Curtain Call officially marks that venue's addition to the expanded Jazz Crawl, which is adding Wednesday sets there from local (and some touring) bands and a weekly swing dance event hosted by Lindy Hop St. Louis at the newly reopened Grandel Theatre.

The event will continue to include weekly happy hour sets at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, guitarist/singer Tommy Halloran playing this week; a jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's trio at The Dark Room, now officially re-located in the Grandel Theatre; and the free video simulcasts in Jazz St. Louis' first-floor lounge when there's live music at the Bistro.

Elsewhere around town, pianist Curt Landes, bassist Glen Smith and drummer Chuck Kennedy will be hosting their weekly Wednesday jam session at @Nesby's in South County.

Thursday, March 2
The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert featuring vocalists Katie Greenberg,  a Wash U student, and R. Scott Bryan interpreting music from a number of rock and pop songwriters, backed by a group including keyboardist Jay Oliver and a string trio.

Friday, March 3
During the afternoon, trombonist and St. Louis native Michael Vlatkovich
will present an open rehearsal and masterclass at the St. Louis Artists' Guild in Clayton. (He'll perform at the same venue Saturday night; see below.)

That evening, saxophonist Harvey Lockhart (pictured, bottom left) has a new Friday happy hour gig weekly at The Dark Room; the Jazz Troubadours play at Thurman's in Shaw; and jazz/fusion band SpaceShip returns to The Abbey in Belleville.

Saturday, March 4
Michael Vlatkovich helps launch the new "Sculptures in Sound" series at the Artists' Guild, with some help from saxophonists Christopher Braig and Jay Hutson.

Also on Saturday, guitarist Cory Christiansen, who lived in St. Louis in the early 2000s while working for Mel Bay Publishing, returns for a public concert at Webster Groves High School.

Sunday, March 5
The St. Louis Record and CD Collector Show will hold their March event at the American Czech Educational Center, and the Friends of Scott Joplin present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe.

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.)

Edited after posting to fix a typo.

Trombonist Nick Finzer to help kick off expanded Grand Center Jazz Crawl on Wednesday, March 1 at Curtain Call Lounge

Trombonist Nick Finzer and his sextet are coming to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 1 at the Curtain Call Lounge. The show will be free and open to the public.

Finzer (pictured), a native of Rochester, NY who graduated from the Juilliard School of Music and now resides in NYC, will be touring in support of his third album Hear & Now, which is set for release Friday, February 17 on his label Outside in Music.

His gig at the Curtain Call will be part of the launch that evening of a revamped Grand Center Jazz Crawl, said Robert Harris, director of communication and programs with the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, which co-sponsors the weekly event.

Harris said that, starting that evening, the expanded Jazz Crawl will add Wednesday sets from local (and, occasionally, touring) bands at the Curtain Call and a weekly swing dance event hosted by Lindy Hop St. Louis at the newly reopened Grandel Theatre.

The existing elements of the Jazz Crawl will continue as before, including a happy-hour set featuring various "vintage jazz" performers at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe; bassist Bob DeBoo's weekly jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center; trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's weekly sets at The Dark Room, newly relocated to the Grandel Theatre; and the free video simulcasts in Jazz St. Louis' first-floor lounge when there's someone playing at the Bistro. 

As for Finzer, with eight original compositions plus one song by Duke Ellington, his new album is described in promotional materials as "politically charged."

"I wanted to capture feelings I was having about our country's social framework," said Finzer in a news release. "I started out trying to write about the emotional feeling of living in New York in 2016, but as the presidential election went on I realized that the stances I was taking were more politically oriented. Throughout the process of making the record I saw that this project was becoming more and more relevant to our reality."

Along with the leader on trombone, Finzer's sextet includes tenor saxophonist/bass clarinetist Lucas Pino, guitarist Alex Wintz, pianist Glenn Zaleski, bassist Dave Baron, and drummer Jimmy Macbride.