Jazz this week: Michael Buble, Kim Massie, Brave Combo, and more

St. Louis may be without a major jazz festival this June, but fortunately there's enough other activity this weekend that many fans of jazz and creative music can probably find something to their liking.

It looks like the busiest night of the next few is Friday; that's when singer Michael Buble (pictured), who's arguably a jazz-influenced pop singer rather than a jazz singer per se, brings his current tour to the Scottrade Center, and singer Kim Massie opens a two-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro

That same evening, pianist Carolbeth True performs at the Foundry Arts Centre in St Charles, and the Funky Butt Brass Band will be at the St. Louis Art Museum for a free "Art After 5" concert. (You can see some video of the FBBB in action here.)

Also of interest on Friday is the return to St. Louis of perennial favorites Brave Combo, who will be playing at The Gramophone. While they're not really a jazz group either, the band's eclectic mix of "salsa, meringue, rock, cumbia, conjunto, polka, zydeco, classical, cha cha, the blues and more" usually makes for interesting listening as well as providing fun, danceable beats.

Elsewhere this weekend Robbie's House of Jazz will feature house band the Robert Edwards Ensemble on Friday, with the Christopher Braig Caribbean Trio taking the stage on Saturday.

Also on Saturday: the Presenters Dolan will feature singer Christy Simmons performing her cabaret show "'Cause I'm A Woman" at the Kranzberg Arts Center, backed by pianist Joe Dreyer, bassist Dave Troncoso and drummer Clancy Newell; and, for the more cacophonously inclined, Open Lot offers "an invasion of synths, violins, and incredible noise from the north" with Stare Case, Dog Lady, Steve Kenney and Maths Balance Volumes.

BB's Jazz Blues and Soups also has a couple of jazz-related acts coming up, with Good 4 The Soul playing the early set on Sunday, and bassist David Certain's CertainBeat WorldBop, featuring saxophonists James Warfield Jr. and Willie Dineen and drummer Stan Hale, on Monday.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, 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: Tiempo Libre, Eric Person, Musica Slesa, and more

Once again, there's a varied selection of jazz and creative music on tap this weekend in St. Louis, and time is short, so let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, there's a memorial for Blake Travis at the Sheldon Concert Hall, the first of two events this week honoring the late percussionist, singer and storyteller.

Though Travis didn't usually work in the jazz idiom per se, he played with all sorts of St. Louis musicians over the course of his career, and many of them, including pianist Carolbeth True and multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman, will gather tonight to pay tribute to him. The roster of performers also will include Lydia Ruffin, Tom Hall, Lisa Campbell, Tim Albert, the Road Apples, January Kiefer, Barton and Sweeney, Charlie Pfeffer, John Higgins and Colleen Heine.

This evening also is the first preview performance for the Black Rep's production of the Louis Jordan musical Five Guys Named Moe, which runs at the Grandel Theatre through April 25. For more about the show, see this post.

On Thursday, pianist Kara Baldus and her group will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Then on Friday, the weekend takes on a distinct Latin flavor as the Miami-based band Tiempo Libre (pictured) brings their mix of jazz and Cuban rhythms to Washington University's Edison Theatre. For more about Tiempo Libre and some video of them in action, see this post from Saturday.

Meanwhile, a few miles to the east, the St. Louis-based Latin jazz band Musica Slesa will open a weekend stand at Jazz at the Bistro. Jazz St. Louis' Bob Bennett tells me that Musica Slesa has proved to be a good draw at the Bistro, and you can hear samples of their music on their MySpace page.

Also on Friday, the performance space Open Lot has a triple bill of ambient/noise music, featuring electronic musician Kyle Parker a.k.a. Infinite Body, the tape loops and guitar of Earn, and music and 8mm film from Ghost Ice.

On Saturday afternoon, drummer Jerome "Scrooge" Harris and his band will play the music of Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter at the Metropolitan Gallery as part of the Nu-Art Series' jazz composers shows. Saturday evening will provide a double dose of swinging vocals, as Jeanne Trevor performs at Robbie's House of Jazz and Denise Thimes takes the stage at Harris-Stowe State University in a benefit concert for the Delta Child Development Center.

On Sunday, saxophonist Eric Person is back in town to headline a show paying tribute to (and raising funds for) his father Thomas Person, who's recovering from a stroke. The event at the Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., will get started at 4:00 p.m. with a jam session, followed by sets featuring Philip Gomez, Ed Nicholson, Person and pianist Ptah Williams, and Willem Von Hombracht's X-tet.

Also on Sunday, there will be a "jazz funeral" for Blake Travis at the Schlafly Tap Room, with music from the Funky Butt Brass Band and others.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, 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 by becoming a "fan" of 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: "A Night of Jazz Greats" with Clark Terry; Eastern Blok; free outdoor concerts; and more

Vacation season is winding down, and there are a number of noteworthy jazz and creative music performances over the next few days in St. Louis, including several free concerts. Let's take a look at the shows in chronological order:

Tonight, saxophonist Willie Akins and his group will give a free concert as part of a city-sponsored series at O'Fallon Park.

On Friday evening, the Chicago-based ensemble Eastern Blok will perform in the Saint Louis Art Museum's Grigg Gallery in a free show that's part of the Museum’s "Art After 5" series. That same night, Jazz St. Louis is holding a fundraiser spotlighting the work of local artist Russell Kraus at Jazz at the Bistro.

The biggest event of the weekend is on Saturday, when "A Night of Jazz Greats" comes to Harris-Stowe State University. The concert, which benefits the Wolff Jazz Institute at Harris-Stowe, will feature trumpeter and St. Louis native Clark Terry (pictured) along with an all-star band including trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, tenor saxophonist Houston Person, trumpeter Randy Sandke, drummer and vibes player Chuck Redd, pianist Rossano Sportiello, bassist and singer Nicki Parrott, and drummer Eddie Locke, as well as St. Louisans Jim Widner on bass and Denise Thimes on vocals. For more on the event, Clark Terry, and the other musicians who will be performing, see these two posts.

Also on Saturday, there's a triple bill of electronic and experimental music at Open Lot, 1310 South 18th Street, featuring two acts from southern California - the cello and electronics duo Pedestrian Deposit and solo ambient electronics performer Infinite Body (aka Kyle Parker) - plus St. Louis electronic musician Joe Raglani, who, after getting his equipment stolen on tour earlier this year, has assembled a new arsenal of machines.

Update - 8;30 p.m., 8/27/09: Just got an email from Open Lot saying that Infinite Body will not be performing, so Saturday night's bill now includes Pedestrian Deposit; "power drone" group Earn (aka Privy Seals); St. Louis' The Lonely Procession; and "if you're lucky, a collaboration between RAGLANI (St. Louis) and TREETOPS!"

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday the Missouri History Museum's Twilight Tuesdays series features a free outdoor concert from singer Denise Thimes.

For more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar. However, note that if you look more a couple weeks into the future, you'll see that last week's promised mega-update of the calendar has yet to happen. There are several reasons for for the delay which will become clear in the very near future, but in the meantime, please be patient and know that there is indeed work going on to bring you an improved and up-to-date calendar of St. Louis jazz events.

Coming attractions include Oikos Ensemble, Mountains, Ntozake Shange with Hamiet Bluiett

The weekend brought news of three upcoming performances of interest to St. Louis jazz and creative music fans, all happening at venues other than the usual clubs and concert halls:

* Mount Tabor United Church of Christ, 6520 Arsenal St. in south St. Louis, will present a program called "Jazz for the Journey" featuring the Oikos Ensemble at 10:15 a.m. next Sunday, March 29.

Led by saxophonist Rev. Cliff Aerie (pictured) and pianist Christopher Bakriges, the Oikos Ensemble is a world music/jazz group that is part of MICA (Ministry of Imagination, Creativity and the Arts), a national ministry of the United Church of Christ. Their multi-media live shows feature an "imaginative interplay of jazz, storytelling and spirituality." The performance at Mount Tabor UCC is free and open to the public, though a free-will offering will be received. For more information, call 314-645-9025.

* The Nu-Art Series' next offering is "Dangling Participles and Shady Syllables", a spoken word performance featuring author, poet and playwright Ntozake Shange and musicians Hamiet Bluiett (baritone saxophone) and Dr. London Branch (piano and trumpet), starting at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 4 at the Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust St. in downtown St. Louis.

The performance is part of Nu-Art's ongoing series "Jazz and the Visual Arts," and also will feature the musical group JBMG, which includes the grandchildren of singer Fontella Bass and trumpet player Lester Bowie. Admission is $20 at the door.

That same weekend, the Metropolitan Gallery will host a free opening reception for its exhibition of photographs and paintings by St. Louis artists Adelia Parker and James Seitu Smith from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Friday, April 3. The exhibition runs through May 15. Also, Ntozake Shange will do a book signing from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 5 at Borders bookstore in Brentwood.

* The gallery and performance space Open Lot, 1310 South 18th Street, will present a concert by the ambient/electronic/psychedelic duo Mountains on Tuesday, April 21. Mountains, comprised of musicians Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp, "is often compared to artists such as Brian Eno and Fennesz, citing their extended melodies and their unique broad guitar work... Mountains seamlessly blend pastoral electronic sounds with both field recordings and a plethora of acoustic instruments." Show time and ticket prices are both to be announced; watch this space for updates.

(Edited 3/25/09 to fix a typo in Hamiet Bluiett's name.)

Paul Metzger, Tim Kaiser to perform this Friday, November 7 at Open Lot

Improvisational guitarist and banjoist Paul Metzger and multimedia performer Tim Kaiser are returning to St. Louis for another concert at the Open Lot arts collective and performance space at 9:00 p.m. this Friday, November 7.

Both Metzger and Kaiser are known for building their own musical instruments and/or modifying conventional instruments for their own purposes, and both appeared inSt. Louis on a double bill at the same venue back in March of this year. To see some video clips of Metzger and Kaiser in action, check out this previous StLJN post. Admission to this Friday's performance is $6 at the door. Open Lot is located at 1310 South 18th Street, 63104.

Jazz this week: Erin Bode, "Decades of Divas 2008," Two Times True, Return to Forever, and more

Time is short, and so the prose may be rather terse this week, as deadlines for actual paying work loom ominously. Still, you definitely should know about these jazz and creative music-related events that are happening in St. Louis over the next few days:

This evening, the Whitaker Music Festival at Missouri Botanical Garden continues with a free concert by Two Times True, featuring pianist Carolbeth True and her son David True on drums. For this performance, the two Trues will be joined by singer Christi John Bye, bassists Glen Smith and Marc Torlina, and saxophonist Larry Johnson.

Also this evening, the Sessions Big Band performs a free concert across the river at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, IL. And later in the evening and back in south St. Louis, the performance space Open Lot will present music from Zimbabwe Nkenya's Mbira Duo and a Chicago group called Spires That In The Sunset Rise, who are described as "an all-female free folk band...whose musical palette includes the spike fiddle, cello, bul bul tarang, various drums and bells, ecstatic yelps and cackles, and all manner of plectra." Admission to the Open Lot show is $7, and the doors open at 9:00 p.m.

On Thursday evening, there's another free concert, as the Jazz at Holmes summer series on the Washington University campus gets underway with a performance by singer and woodwind player Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris.

On Friday, singer Erin Bode and her band begin a three-day, six-show run at Jazz at the Bistro celebrating the release of her new CD The Little Garden. The disc, Bode's first since early 2006, features all original songs (save one), and will be available for purchase at the Bistro gigs. Bode will do sets at 8:30 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, plus matinee performances at 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. (Watch this space for more Bode-related linkage in the next day or two.)

On Saturday, several more of St. Louis' favorite female vocalists will be displaying their respective talents during the two performances of "Decades of Divas 2008" at the Edison Theatre. The show features singers Jeanne Trevor, Kim Massie, Anita Rosamond and Monya performing songs associated with Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Nancy Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald, Carole King, Barbra Streisand, Patti LaBelle, Etta James and Gladys Knight. Bernie Hayes will MC, and provide some narration about the famous divas from a script penned by Terry Perkins. Performances are at 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Some other noteworthy shows this weekend include Trio Tres Bien at Brandt's and Banda Caribe at Riddle's, both on Friday; and singer/pianist Sherry Drake at the Cabaret at Savor on Saturday.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday the Return to Forever reunion tour makes a stop in St. Louis for a concert at the Fox Theatre. The tour features the first reunion in 25 years of key band members Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Al DiMeola and Lenny White (pictured, as they were back in the day), and the reviews and press reports from the shows so far sound promising. Tickets are still available as of this writing, and until Friday, the Post-Dispatch also has a promotion giving away some passes to the show.

And last but not least, on the radio this week, Tony Renner will be spinning some traditional jazz finds on this Thursday's installment of his program The Scientific Method, heard at 10 a.m. on KWUR (90.3 FM); Don Wolff settles in to his second month broadcasting his show I Love Jazz at its new time, 10:00 p.m. Fridays, on its new home KFUO (99.1 FM); and Dennis Owsley has scheduled a brand-new Jazz Unlimited program at 9:00 p.m. Sunday on KWMU (90.7 FM)

For more St. Louis jazz-related events this weekend and beyond, please visit 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.)

Rose, Speer and Raglani to perform at Open Lot this Sunday, April 27

This just in: The arts collective and performance space Open Lot is presenting a concert at 9 p.m. tomorrow, Sunday, April 27, featuring touring musicians Jack Rose (pictured) and D. Charles Speer and an opening set from St. Louis-based multi-instrumentalist Joe Raglani.

Rose is a Philadelphia guitarist whose sound is described as having made the journey from electric noise/drone music to "acoustic maximalism", while D. Charles Speer is the nom de musique of NYC singer/guitarist Dave Shuford, who blends influences from folk, blues and experimental music. Open Lot is located at 1310 S. 18th Street, and admission to the Rose/Speer/Raglani concert is $10.

(Edited after posting to add the photo. Edited again to correct the ticket price. )

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: Improvisations by Audrey Chen and Frederic Blondy

This week's videos showcase cellist Audrey Chen and pianist Frederic Blondy, who will be performing together next Saturday, April 5 at Open Lot, the arts collective and performance space located at 1310 South 18th Street.

The first clip shows a solo performance by Chen recorded in August 2007 at the 14 Karat Cabaret in Baltimore, Maryland. Down below, you'll find two excerpts from a performance by Blondy last year at a jazz festival in Mulhouse, France. Both clips show the musicians deploying some of the extended techniques that will no doubt be a part of their collaborative performance next week. For another look at Chen and Blondy, check out this article from City Paper in Pittsburgh, where they're playing this weekend.

Audrey Chen, Frederic Blondy to perform at Open Lot on Saturday, April 5

Experimental music cellist Audrey Chen (pictured) and French pianist Frederic Blondy will perform a collaborative concert for cello and prepared piano at 9:00 p.m., Saturday, April 5 at Open Lot, the arts collective and performance space located at 1310 South 18th Street.

Chen, a native of Baltimore, incorporates traditional and extended techniques, voice and electronics into her performances, while Blondy has been influenced by both jazz and classical music to develop what's described as "a body-based approach" to the piano.

For more information about Open Lot, call 314-588-2192, check out their blog, or visit their Web site.

StLJN Saturday at the Movies: An improvisation from Paul Metzger, plus bent-circuit sounds from Tim Kaiser

This week, let's take a look at video clips from Paul Metzger and Tim Kaiser, who will be playing next Tuesday, March 18 at Open Lot arts collective and performance space, 1310 S. 18th St.

Metzger modifies and builds guitars and banjos to do things that regular store-bought instruments can't do, and in the video clip above, he's improvising on a customized banjo that has four conventionally fretted strings plus seventeen sympathetic strings that vibrate along with the instrument's body and neck, not unlike some of the instruments used in Indian classical music. If this strikes your fancy, you can see more videos of Metzger playing his modified instruments on his YouTube page.

As seen in the second clip, Kaiser's performances usually have some sort of visual element as well as audio that draws on found instruments and so-called "bent" electronics, which are mass-produced instruments, toys or consumer electronics items that have been custom-modified to produce sound and/or process audio in ways not intended by the original designers or manufacturers. This clip is from the Bent Festival held last year in Minneapolis, and is actually the first of four available from this performance. You can see the other three parts here, here and here. For more info on next Tuesday's performance and other activities and events at Open Lot, you can email them at open.lot@gmail.com

Jazz this week: Mike Stern at the Bistro, Erin Bode opens the Gramophone, and more

It looks like spring is finally coming to St. Louis, and along with warmer weather, the next few days will bring a diverse array of jazz and creative music performances to the Gateway City.

The biggest name in town this week is guitarist Mike Stern (pictured) who's at Jazz at the Bistro through Saturday. Stern, known for his work with Miles Davis, David Sanborn, Steps Ahead, Blood Sweat & Tears and many others, is accompanied on this gig by two St. Louis natives, bassist Tom Kennedy and drummer Dave Weckl, plus tenor saxophonist Bob Franceschini. I had a chance to catch Stern's second set last night, and enjoyed it very much. With a good-sized crowd on hand for a Wednesday, the musicians seemed loose and comfortable on the Bistro stage, and since the 80-minute-plus set consisted of just five tunes, everyone got a chance to stretch out at some length. Confirmed fans of Stern, Weckl, or fusion jazz in general definitely will want to see this show; the merely curious should be forewarned that the sound, while clean and relatively well-balanced, is a good deal louder that what you'll hear from a typical acoustic jazz group playing the Bistro, so caveat auditor.

Playing what looks like a fairly stock Telecaster through two Fender Twin Reverb amps, Stern rocks harder than just about any other jazz guitarist out there, but he also delivered some nice quieter moments playing solo and in duet with Kennedy, with some effective and subtle use of delay and chorus to fatten the guitar sound. Franceschini, who seems to have been influenced significantly by Michael Brecker, doubled melody lines with Stern and provided another assertive solo voice, while Weckl and Kennedy both showed the expected impressive chops when soloing and in the ensemble.

Yes, parts of the set did bring to mind the old jest about fusion musicians playing as if they're getting paid by the note, but when you've got the kind of skills that Stern, Weckl and company bring to the bandstand, the temptation to whip 'em out must be overwhelming, especially with a room of full of fans cheering on the more bombastic moments. Given the high level of musicianship on display and the players' obvious conviction and enthusiasm, one can forgive the occasional moments of excess in favor of appreciating a generally well-crafted and well-paced whole.

Elsewhere in town this weekend, singer Erin Bode officially opens the new live music venue The Gramophone on Friday. You can read StLJN's previous coverage of the run-up to the club's opening here, and Post-Dispatch pop critic Kevin Johnson wrote a feature article about The Gramophone for today's paper, available online here.

On Saturday, New Music Circle presents "Sp(l)aces," a concert of electronic music and dance featuring composer James Hegarty and dancer/choreographer Mary Jean Cowell. Described as "an extended work for music, dance, and projected computer graphics" that will "explore the dynamics of interconnections and personal intensity," the event begins at 8:00 p.m. at the Annelise Mertz Dance Studio, which is located in Mallinckrodt Center at Washington University, 6445 Forsyth Blvd.

Beyond the weekend, on Monday the very fine St. Louis pianist Carolbeth True and her percussionist son David bring their band Two Times True to Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium. On Tuesday, improvisational guitarist/banjoist Paul Metzger and performance artist Tim Kaiser will play at the Open Lot arts collective and performance space at 1310 S. 18th St.

As usual, this is but a sampling of what's happening on St. Louis stages this weekend and beyond, so for more local jazz-related events, please visit 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.)

(Edited after posting to add tags.)

Open Lot to present concert featuring Paul Metzger, Tim Kaiser on March 18

Via 52nd City, we learn that Open Lot, an arts collective and performance space located at 1310 S. 18th St., will present a concert featuring Paul Metzger and Tim Kaiser on Tuesday, March 18.

Metzger (pictured), who's from St. Paul, MN, draws on multiple musical genres and uses a variety of extended techniques to perform improvised music on specially modified guitars and a custom-built 12-string banjo. Kaiser is a multi-media artist from Duluth, MN who incorporates circuit-bent electronics and found instruments into his "post-modern folk music."

According to the post at 52nd City, Open Lot includes a printmaker, two architects, a painter, and a sculptor who share live/work space and are now opening it up to others for events and performances. Here's hoping their schedule will include more adventurous, experimental, and/or off-the-beaten-path shows like the Metzger/Kaiser bill.