Jazz this week: Diana Krall, Norman Brown, Charlie Halloran, Bosman Twins, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features the first appearance here by a major crossover star after a long absence; a benefit featuring star of smooth jazz guitar; some homecoming shows from an expat-made-good; plus noteworthy gigs from a number of local performers. Let's go to the highlights... 

Wednesday, June 13
Trombonist Charlie Halloran, back home from New Orleans for a visit, will be the featured performer at this week's free Whitaker Music Festival concert at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Also on Wednesday, the "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" will include drummer Alberto Patiño at The Stage at KDHX, the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's quartet at The Dark Room.

Thursday, June 14
If you missed Charlie Halloran on Wednesday, there's another chance to catch him Thursday night at Joe's Cafe & Gallery.

Also on Thursday, pianist Adam Maness' trio is at Thurman's in Shaw; guitarist Dave Black will be joined by singer Kittie Moeller and keyboardist Vince Golomski of the group Fanfare at The Pat Connolly Tavern; and saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet is back at The Dark Room

Friday, June 15
Singer and pianist Diana Krall returns to St. Louis for the first time in nearly five years for a concert Peabody Opera House.

Krall (pictured, top left) currently is on the third North American leg of an extended tour promoting her 2017 album Turn Up The Quiet. For more about that, and some videos of live performances of material from the album, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, The Bosman Twins (pictured, bottom left) begin a six-show run at Jazz St. Louis, with two sets on Friday and Saturday nights, plus a matinee and an early-evening show for Father's Day on Sunday; and guitarist and singer Norman Brown performs at the Sheldon Concert Hall in a benefit for the Eta Boule Foundation, with support from St. Louis' own Denise Thimes and Tim Cunningham.

Elsewhere around town, trumpeter Jim Manley and band will perform at Evangeline's, and Second Generation Swing plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, June 16
Singer Danita Mumphard performs at the Webster Groves Concert Hall (aka Ozark Theatre); and guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran returns to Das Bevo

Sunday, June 17
Troy's Jazz Gallery presents "Mo' Better & Beyond," a Father's Day show featuring saxophonist Kendrick Smith and trumpeter Danny Campbell.

Monday, June 18
Jim Manley continues his residency at Momo's Greek Restaurant.

Tuesday, June 19
Bassist and singer Tonina Saputo and her quartet will host "The Tuesday Night Hit" at The Dark Room.

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: Diana Krall "turns up the quiet"

This week, StLJN's video spotlight shines on pianist and singer Diana Krall, who will be in St. Louis to perform next Friday, June 15 at the Peabody Opera House.

Krall currently is on the third North American leg of a year-long tour in support of her 2017 album Turn Up the Quiet. She'll be performing in St. Louis for the first time since her 2013 concert at the Fox Theatre, at which time she was supporting her then-new release Glad Rag Doll.

There's been one album and tour in the interim, as Krall skipped St. Louis during the 18-month-long string of live dates following up the 2015 release of Wallflower, which featured her interpretations of rock and pop songs from the 1960s and '70s such as "California Dreamin'," "Desperado," and "I'm Not In Love."

Turn Up The Quiet finds Krall back on more familiar turf, offering her distinctive takes on jazz standards and material from the "Great American Songbook."
 
You can see her playing songs from the album starting with the first video up above, in which Krall performs "L-O-V-E," and after the jump in the clip of "Night And Day," both recorded during an appearance last summer on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Next, there's a clip of Krall in the studio playing "Isn’t It Romantic," issued to help promote the album's release last years. That's followed by two videos shot by an audience member last November in Toronto, in which Krall does "Sway" and Bob Dylan's "This Dream Of You."

The final video is a 24-minute interview Krall did last year with the CBC TV program Q, in which she talks about some of her influences and how she approaches standards and other well-known material.

For more about Turn Up The Quiet, see Krall's interview from last June with the New York Times.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Diana Krall to perform Friday, June 15 at Peabody Opera House

Singer and pianist Diana Krall is returning to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m. Friday, June 15 at the Peabody Opera House.

Krall (pictured) is touring this spring and summer in support of her most recent album Turn Up The Quiet, a which was released last May and featured her return to a more jazz-oriented sound after 2012's eclectic Glad Rag Doll. She last performed in St. Louis in 2013 at the Fox Theatre.

Tickets for Diana Krall at the Peabody Opera House are priced from $42 to $122 plus service charges, and will go on sale to the general public at 10:00 a.m. this Friday, January 26 via Ticketmaster and the Scottrade Center box office or by phone at 800-745-3000.

Jazz this week: Antonio Hart, Glenn Miller Orchestra, Norah Jones, St. Louis Piano Festival, and more

With spring winding down and summer just ahead, this week's calendar of jazz and creative music is a bit back-loaded, with several of the more noteworthy musicians visiting our town scheduled to perform early next week rather than over the weekend.

Fortunately, St. Louis' local musicians and singers also have a few things planned between now and then. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, May 31
With Jazz at the Bistro now on its weekends-only summer schedule, there's no live music there this Wednesday, but the weekly Grand Center Jazz Crawl will include music from Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, pianist Phil Dunlap at the Curtain Call Lounge, the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Elsewhere around town, trumpeter Jim Manley will be playing his weekly gig at Sasha's Wine Bar, and guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran will entertain diners at The Shaved Duck.

Thursday, June 1
Pianist Adam Maness' trio returns to Thurman's in Shaw, and pianist Ptah Williams and guitarist Eric Slaughter will hold forth at at The Dark Room.

Friday, June 2
On Friday morning, Jazz St. Louis will celebrate the annual observance of "National Donut Day" with an event featuring free donuts, live music from students in the JazzU program, and more, at Jazz at the Bistro.

That evening, the JazzU students will be back on stage for the first evening of their annual weekend of performances at the Bistro, with alto saxophonist Antonio Hart (pictured, top left) as guest soloist. Hart, who first gained notice as a collaborator with trumpeter Roy Hargrove, bassist Dave Holland, and others, has recorded nine albums as a leader and also teaches jazz studies at Queens College City University of New York.

Saturday, June 3
The Funky Butt Brass Band will be playing at two different faux-New Orleans events in one day, providing the music for "Crawfish Fest 2017" in late afternoon at Ballpark Village, then heading a few blocks over to the Old Rock House to wrap up their "Summer Gras," an afternoon-into-evening affair also featuring music from Al Holliday and the The East Side Rhythm Band, The Grooveliner, The Provels, and Big Mike Aguirre and The Blu City All Stars.

Also on Saturday, pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson will perform at the Parkside Grille.

Sunday, June 4
Following up on the weekend's Scott Joplin Festival, an annual event held in Joplin's birthplace of Sedalia, MO, the Friends of Scott Joplin will present an "Afterglow Party" featuring festival performers and St. Louis players at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's New Rosebud Cafe.

Monday, June 5
Also capitalizing on the aftermath of the Joplin festival, the second year of pianist Ethan Leinwand's St. Louis Piano Festival will pay tribute to a famed St. Louis ragtime pianist and historian with the "Trebor Tichenor Ragtime Concert," featuring Tichenor's daughter Virginia Tichenor, Marty Eggers, Terry Parrish and John Reed-Torres, at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Tuesday, June 6
Singer/songwriter, pianist and guitarist Norah Jones will perform at the Peabody Opera House. 

Jones (pictured, bottom left) is touring in support of her most recent album Day Breaks, which was released in October of last year on the Blue Note label and offered something of return to the jazz-influenced sound featured on her first album 15 years ago.

Day Breaks features guest performances from well-known jazz musicians including drummer Brian Blade, bassist John Patitucci, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, and includes Jones' interpretations of Horace Silver's "Peace" and Duke Ellington's "African Flower," both of which seem like good candidates for her set list at the Peabody.

Also on Tuesday, the Glenn Miller Orchestra "ghost band" will perform a "Salute to the Heroes of D-Day" at the Webster Groves Concert Hall (formerly the Ozark Theatre); and the St. Louis Piano Festival wraps up with an evening of blues pianists including Silvercloud, Carl "Sonny" Leyland, Gene Taylor, Ethan Leinwand and Christopher Parrish, at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

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: Winter/spring 2017 jazz preview, part five

Today, it's time to wrap up StLJN's winter/spring 2017 jazz preview with the fifth installment in the series, which features videos of jazz and creative music performers who are coming to St. Louis over the next few months. The posts cover those acts in chronological order, and if you've missed earlier installments, you can catch up by clicking through to parts one, two, three and four.

Picking up in April, today's chapter begins with the musicians performing at the 2017 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, the public portions of which will be held Friday, April 21 and Saturday, April 22 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

This year's GSLJF will feature trumpeter Terell Stafford and trombonist Wycliffe Gordon playing with the UMSL Jazz Ensemble on Friday, and trumpeter Jon Faddis and friends "Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Dizzy Gillespie" on Saturday.

In the first clip up above, you can see Stafford playing flugelhorn on the ballad "Everything Happens To Me" as recorded last March in the studios of KNKX radio in Tacoma, WA.

After the jump, the second clip features Gordon singing and soloing on Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose" at the 2015 New York Hot Jazz Festival, with help from clarinetist Adrian Cunningham, drummer Alvin Atkinson Jr, bassist Jennifer Vincent, and pianist Ehud Asherie.

Below that, you can see Faddis featured with pianist Mike Longo's big band, playing Longo's arrangement of "A Night in Tunisia" as part of an event commemorating Dizzy Gillespie's birthday in November 2015 at the NYC Baha'i Center.

The week after the GSLJF, the SFJAZZ Collective will return for a series of performances starting Wednesday, April 26 through Saturday, April 29 at Jazz at the Bistro.

The Collective each year features new arrangements of music from a single composer, and this season, they're spotlighting the works of Miles Davis, which should prove to be a strong audience draw pretty much everywhere, but especially so here in St. Louis.

To get an idea of how they're approaching Davis's music, check out the next video featuring trumpeter Sean Jones' arrangement of "So What" as performed last October at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco. In addition to Jones, the current lineup of the Collective includes alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon, tenor saxophonist David Sanchez, trombonist Robin Eubanks, vibraphonist Warren Wolf, pianist Edward Simon, bassist Matt Penman and drummer Obed Calvaire.

A couple of weeks later, organist Joey DeFrancesco, will be performing starting Wednesday, May 10 through Saturday, May 13 at the Bistro. DeFrancesco is seen today's fifth clip with guitarist Dan Wilson and drummer Jason Brown playing a full set recorded in August 2016 at Dizzy's Club in NYC's Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Next up, it's bassist Christian McBride, who's bringing his New Jawn Quartet here to play Wednesday, May 24 through Saturday, May 27 at the Bistro. With trumpeter Josh Evans, saxophonist Marcus Strickland, drummer Nasheet Waits but no pianist, guitarist or vibraphonist to fill out the ensemble, this group represents something of a new sound for McBride, but unfortunately, they're so new that there doesn't seem to any representative video of them online as of yet.

They're playing the Village Vanguard next week, so perhaps some video of that will surface before spring, but in the meantime, in the penultimate clip you can check out McBride's trio, which played the Bistro last year, performing "Sand Dune" in a session last July at KNKX radio.

Today's final video features singer, pianist and occasional guitarist Norah Jones, who will be coming to St. Louis for a concert on Tuesday, June 6 at the Peabody Opera House. Jones' most recent album Day Breaks offered something of a return to the jazz-oriented sound with which she began her career, including a version of Horace Silver's composition "Peace" that she performed in December on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

That finishes StLJN's 2017 winter/spring jazz preview, though if any future performances of interest subsequently are announced, you'll find the news here. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Norah Jones to perform Tuesday, June 6 at Peabody Opera House

Singer, songwriter, and pianist Norah Jones will return to St. Louis for the first time in more than three years to perform at 8:00 p.m., Tuesday, June 6 at the Peabody Opera House.

Jones (pictured) last played St. Louis in a "secret" un-billed appearance during the Open Highway Music Festival in August 2013 at Off Broadway, and previously performed at the Peabody in October, 2012.

Her newest album Day Breaks, which was released in October of this year on the Blue Note label, has been perceived by many critics and fans as a welcome return to the jazz-influenced sound Jones offered on her 2002 debut album Come Away With Me.

Day Breaks features guest performances from well-known jazz musicians including drummer Brian Blade, bassist John Patitucci, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, and includes Jones' interpretations of Horace Silver's "Peace" and Duke Ellington's "African Flower" as well as nine original tunes and a cover of Neil Young's "Don't Be Denied."

Tickets for Norah Jones at the Peabody Opera House are priced at $52.50 and $68 and will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. this Thursday, December 15 via Ticketmaster, by phone at 800-745-3000, and at the Scottrade Center box office.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Six from Harry Connick Jr.

This week, let's check in via video with singer and pianist Harry Connick Jr., who will be performing in St. Louis this coming Tuesday, July 28 at the Peabody Opera House.

If you're enough of a jazz fan to have found your way here, you're likely already familiar with Connick, as he's among the most prominent of the relatively small number of jazz musicians who have crossed over to significant pop success in the last couple of decades. (If not, please consult his website, linked above, for the relevant biographical details.) Given that, and the fact that it's summer vacation time, let's skip any additional preamble and go straight to the videos.

Up top, you'll find a clip from Connick's recent stint as one of the celebrity judges on TV's American Idol, but thankfully, it's not one drawn from the ample supply of videos showing him schooling a clueless contestant. It's a straight-up performance, featuring Connick singing and playing "City Beneath the Sea," a song about New Orleans that he first recorded on his 1996 album Star Turtle.

After the jump, you can see the official music video for "One Fine Thing," which was the single released from Connick's most recent album, 2013's Every Man Should Know.

The next two clips are even farther removed from the commercial slickness of American Idol, as both were recorded during a visit Connick made in 2013 to the Agape House Fellowship Church in Bridgeport, CT.

These audience-shot videos, which to date have only a few thousand views each on YouTube, show Connick singing the gospel standards "The Old Rugged Cross" and "You Are My Sunshine." While the production values obviously are not professional quality, it's an interesting chance to see him in a different environment than usual.

Last but not least, we close out with two more videos showing Connick performing two more songs about New Orleans, "Mardi Gras in New Orleans" and "Take Her To The Mardi Gras."

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Jazz this week: Harry Connick Jr., St. Louis Cabaret Festival, Russell Gunn with Montez Coleman, and more

It's looking like a good week to get out and hear some live jazz and creative music in St. Louis, particularly for fans of vocalists.

With three headliners performing for the St. Louis Cabaret Festival, plus the opening of a locally produced show paying tribute to a legendary singer, plus the much-anticipated return of one of today's most popular crossover performers, and more, there are plenty of options from which to choose. Let's go to the highlights....

Wednesday, July 22
Marilyn Maye (pictured, top left), considered by many to be the grande dame of cabaret singers, begins the concert portion of the St. Louis Cabaret Festival with a performance of her show "Sinatra Her Way" at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Produced by Cabaret Project of St. Louis, the festival is the performance portion of their annual St. Louis Cabaret Conference, and continues through Saturday night. You can find out more and see videos of Maye and the festival's other headliners in this post from last Saturday.

Also tonight, guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran's Guerrilla Swing will perform for the World Chess Hall of Fame's music series, and Dizzy Atmosphere returns to The Shaved Duck.

Thursday, July 23
The St. Louis Cabaret Festival continues with a performance by singer, songwriter and pianist Jason Robert Brown at the Sheldon, while a couple of blocks away at Jazz at the Bistro, Jazz St. Louis will be presenting "Swingin’ for the Fences: Big Bands & Baseball," the first in a series of three free events over the next two weeks highlighting the connections between jazz and baseball. 

Also in the Grand Center district, the tribute show "Sinatra at 100" with singer Joe Scalzitti and the St. Louis Big Band begins a three-week run at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

Elsewhere around town, the Wire Pilots will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes summer series at Washington University; Franglais returns to Howard's in Soulard; and singer Erin Bode will perform in a free outdoor concert at  Kirkwood Station Plaza in downtown Kirkwood.

Friday, July 24
It's an East St. Louis reunion in Grand Center, as trumpeter Russell Gunn (pictured, center left) comes back from his current home in Atlanta to join drummer and fellow Lincoln HS alum Montez Coleman and his group for a weekend of shows at Jazz at the Bistro.

While Gunn's recent album Electric Butterfly showed a heavy rock influence, with songs built on distorted, riffing guitars, the musical menu for this weekend's collaboration with Coleman remains undisclosed, as Jazz St. Louis' promo for the show has been light on specifics. But regardless of whether they're playing Gunn's funk and rock-oriented material, swinging jazz, or a mix, the gig definitely should be worth hearing.

Also on Friday, the Cabaret Festivial continues with a performance by Christine Ebersole at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and pianist Carolbeth True, her band Two Times True and singer Christi John Bye will play a concert at St. Peter's United Church of Christ in Ferguson.

Elsewhere around town, singer Joe Mancuso leads a quartet at Nathalie's; Wack-A-Doo will play swing, hot jazz and Americana at Thurman Grill; and the Original Knights of Swing perform for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom

Saturday, July 25
The St. Louis Cabaret Festival wraps up with a showcase for Cabaret Conference participants at the Kranzberg Arts Center; Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom; and saxophonist Tim Cunningham will be at Troy's Jazz Gallery.

Sunday, July 26
Gaslight Square veterans Trio Trés Bien emerge for a rare public live performance, joined by singer Danita Mumphard for a free outdoor concert at Ivory Perry Park, 800 N. Belt.

Monday, July 27
"Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective are back for their regular monthly gig at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Tuesday, July 28
Singer and pianist Harry Connick Jr. returns to St. Louis to perform at the Peabody Opera House. The New Orleans native (pictured, lower left), who has enjoyed wide attention the past couple of years as a celebrity judge on TV's American Idol, released his most recent album Every Man Should Know back in 2013.

He last performed here in March 2014 as headliner for Variety's "Dinner With The Stars," also at the Peabody, and though that gig was well-received by all accounts, no doubt fans will be looking forward this time to the full-length version of his touring show.

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.)

Harry Connick Jr. to play Tuesday, July 28 at Peabody Opera House

Singer and pianist Harry Connick Jr. is coming back to St. Louis this summer to perform at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 28 at the Peabody Opera House.

The New Orleans native (pictured), who's enjoyed renewed wide attention the past couple of years as a celebrity judge on TV's American Idol, released his most recent album Every Man Should Know back in 2013.

His most recent St. Louis appearance was in March of last year, when he appeared as the headliner for Variety's Dinner With The Stars, also at the Peabody.

Tickets for "An Evening With Harry Connick, Jr" at the Peabody Opera House will be priced from $49.50 to $145, and will be "on sale soon" via Ticketmaster.

Tickets on sale Friday for Harry Connick Jr. performance at Variety benefit gala

Singer and pianist Harry Connick Jr. will return to St. Louis to serve as the headliner for Variety the Children's Charity of St. Louis' annual "Dinner with the Stars" at 8:30 p.m., Saturday, May 3 at the Peabody Opera House.

Connick Jr. (pictured) was here most recently in October 2013 at the Fox Theatre, touring in support of his album Every Man Should Know. Since then, he's earned accolades for bringing some actual musical knowledge to the table as a no-nonsense judge for this season of TV's American Idol.

Variety last year raised $4.7 million to help St. Louis children with physical and developmental disabilities. Their annual fundraising week for 2014 begins April 26 with a fashion show at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel, and continues with various events before culminating with Connick Jr's, show at the Peabody. Variety officials say the entire cost of the concert and dinner will be underwritten by World Wide Technology and the Steward Family Foundation, so that all the money raised will go to the charity's young beneficiaries.

Tickets for Harry Connick Jr. at Variety's "Dinner With The Stars" are $95 each for seats on the mezzanine level, and will go on sale at noon this Friday, March 7 via Ticketmaster.

Jazz this week: Chris Botti, Byron Stripling, Bill Watrous, UNT One O'Clock Lab Band, St. Louis Rivermen, and more

If there's a keyword for this weekend's schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis, it's "brass." The next few days will see three stellar touring brass players - two trumpeters and a trombonist - playing here as soloists or bandleaders, plus a somewhat larger-than-usual number of big band performances, and some other noteworthy shows, too. Let's go the highlights:

On Thursday evening, the University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band will be in town for a concert at Webster Groves High School, 100 Selma Ave. The One O'Clock band, which gets its name from the time of day the ensemble meets for class, is the top big band at one of the most storied and long lived collegiate jazz programs in the country; WGHS's jazz groups will open the show.

Also on Thursday, pianist Ptah Williams will play the music of Herbie Hancock in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and singer Erika Johnson and guitarist Eric Slaughter's trio will perform at Robbie's House of Jazz.

Friday night is when local music fans have a choice among among those three stellar brassmen. The popular trumpeter Chris Botti will be in town that evening for what has become an annual visit, playing this time at the Peabody Opera House. No doubt he'll draw a good crowd, but given that Botti's next local appearance has already been booked, for next year at Powell Hall with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, anyone on the fence about going might want to consider skipping it in favor of one of the other shows happening the same night.

That same evening, trumpeter Byron Stripling will open a two-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. He's been in town all week doing an educational residency for Jazz St. Louis, and as is the custom, will cap it off with some public performances, fronting a quartet. Though not nearly as well known as Botti, Stripling is a versatile and highly accomplished player and a polished entertainer who can hit the high notes, solo with feeling, and even sing the blues. For more about him and some video clips showing off various aspects of his talents, check out this post from last Saturday.

And as if that weren't enough for one night, Friday also is when the virtusoso trombonist Bill Watrous will be here for a concert at the Scottish Rite Cathedral Auditorium, accompanied by trumpeter Scott Vignassi and the Big Little Big Band. A veteran of the big bands of Quincy Jones, Maynard Ferguson, Johnny Richards and Woody Herman, Watrous is capable of some truly astounding stuff, so if you're specifically a trombone aficionado - as opposed to a brass fan in general - this one's got to be your pick for the weekend, especially since Stripling is playing at the Bistro for two nights.

Update - 3:00 p.m, 2/24/12: Just got an email from trumpet player/educator Adam Hucke, who teaches at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, saying that Bill Watrous also will be playing at SWIC on Saturday night. The concert starts at 7:00 p.m. in the main auditorium on campus (directions at the link above) and will feature Watrous performing with both the SWIC Big Band and The Big Little Big Band. Best of all, it's free and open to the public.

On the other hand, if you'd rather dance to a big band than listen to one in concert, the relatively new group that calls themselves the St. Louis Big Band, made up primarily of younger musicians in their 20s and 30s, has worked their way into the rotation at the Casa Loma Ballroom and will be playing there on Friday. And if brass isn't your thing, or you're just not in the mood (sorry!) that evening, you can hear guitarist Dave Black's trio at the Cigar Inn in Belleville or saxophonist Tim Cunningham at Jazz on Broadway on Alton.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Rivermen will play traditional jazz and ragtime in a concert presented by the St. Louis Jazz Club at the Doubletree Hotel at Westport. Not long after that event wraps up, trombonist Dave Dickey's big band will return to Kirkwood Station Brewing Company for the first time after securing a monthly slot at the venue with their initial appearance there in January. The Webster Groves HS big band will play at intermission.

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.)

Chris Botti to perform Friday, February 24 at Peabody Opera House

Trumpeter Chris Botti (pictured) is coming back to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m., Friday, February 24 at the recently renovated Peabody Opera House downtown.

Botti has been a relatively frequent visitor here in recent years; his last appearance was in February 2011, playing with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Symphony Hall. Another previous performance was at the Fox Theatre, with which the Peabody now would seem to be competing in earnest for bookings of touring concerts, Broadway shows, dance recitals and similar events. The trumpeter's most recent CD here in the USA is 2009's Chris Botti in Boston.

Tickets for Chris Botti at the Peaboy Opera House are priced from at $47, $42 and $37, and go on sale at 10:00 a.m. this Saturday, December 3 at the box office of the Scottrade Center (adjacent to the Peabody) and via Ticketmaster.