Clockwise from top left: Haller, Sullivan, Ross, Watts & Dreyer
St. Louis is getting a new venue for cabaret-style entertainment with the debut next week of Blue Strawberry at 364 N Boyle in the Central West End.
Set to open on Thursday, October 31, Blue Strawberry is owned by Jim Dolan, who through his company The Presenters Dolan has been producing cabaret shows here since the mid-2000s in a variety of locations, the most recent being the Gaslight Theater, which has hosted several iterations of Dolan's Gaslight Cabaret Festival just a few doors down the street on Boyle.
Blue Strawberry, which also will offer a full bar and food menu, will feature performances by a mix of local and touring singers on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, with additional live music on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
St. Louis cabaret favorite Ken Haller will provide the entertainment for opening night with his new show "When I'm 65." Others scheduled for the first month include St. Louis' own Rosemary Watts and Joe Dreyer on Friday, November 1; singer and actress K.T. Sullivan with a tribute to the late Barbara Cook on Saturday, November 16; and the "Crown Prince of New York cabaret" Steve Ross with a show of Cole Porter songs on on Friday, November 29 and Saturday, November 30.
Singer Storm Large is returning to St. Louis to present her show "Holiday Ordeal" at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 11 at the Sun Theatre in Grand Center.
Described as "a night of music, stories, gags, and gifts," the show includes songs such as "2000 Miles," "O Holy Night," "Hallelujah," "Sock It to Me Santa," "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and "Somebody To Love," which Large calls in the show's promotional material "the greatest holiday song never written for the holidays."
Large (pictured) has performed here several times in recent years, both with the band Pink Martini and as a solo act, most recently as part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival's winter series earlier this year.
Tickets for "Holiday Ordeal," which is produced by the Presenters Dolan, are $25 and $35 for regular seating, $85 for a package that includes "premium seating" and a post-concert reception, and are on sale now.
This week, it's part one of StLJN's Fall 2016 jazz preview, in which we present videos featuring various touring jazz and creative music performers who will be visiting St. Louis in the next several months.
Going in chronological order, the first clip showcases Chicago-based singer Tammy McCann, who will be presenting her cabaret show "Ella Loves Gershwin" on Saturday, September 15 at The Emerald Room at The Monocle under the auspices of the Presenters Dolan. McCann can be seen in the first video up above, which shows an excerpt from a set she did at Birdland in NYC in January of this year.
After the jump, you can see a video of organist Dr. Lonnie Smith’s Evolution, who will be in town from Wednesday, September 21 through Saturday, September 24 to kick off the fall season at Jazz at the Bistro.
Named after Smith's most recent album, which features a horn section and second drummer added to the organist's usual trio, Evolution is seen here playing "Straight No Chaser" in October 2015 at BRIC JazzFest in Brooklyn. (Alas, the touring version of the band is a five-piece that only includes one drummer, so St. Louis audiences won't get a chance to hear the sort of interplay between the percussionists that's featured here.)
Right after Smith concludes his run at the Bistro, guitarist Pat Metheny will return to St. Louis with a brand new quartet featuring drummer Antonio Sanchez, bassist Linda Oh, and pianist Gwilym Simcock for a performance on Sunday, September 25 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Metheny is seen here with his Unity Group (Sanchez, bassist Ben Williams and saxophonist Chris Potter) performing the song "Kin" in 2014 at the the Five Angels Theater in New York.
Next up is pianist Bill Charlap, who will perform with his trio on Wednesday, September 28 and Thursday, September 29 at Jazz at the Bistro. The third clip after the jump shows Charlap's entire set from the 2015 Jazz San Javier festival in Spain.
That same week, the Bistro features one of their major "gets" of the season, as singer Al Jarreau checks in for two evenings of intimate duo performances on Friday, September 30 and Saturday, October 1. In today's video, you can see Jarreau singing "Take Five" with an all-star band at the 2016 International Jazz Day concert, held in April at the White House in Washington DC.
That particular weekend is shaping up to be a busy one, as percussionist Jason Marsalis' Vibes Quintet also will be performing here on Saturday, October 1 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Marsalis, who recently moved from his native New Orleans to France, is seen here playing "Offbeat Personality" in 2015 at the Blue Note in Milano, Italy.
And as if those two shows weren't enough for one evening, New Music Circle also will begin their season on Saturday, October 1 with a concert featuring duo performances by pianists Craig Taborn and Kris Davis at the 560 Music Center.
Since the Taborn/Davis tour hasn't even started yet, there's no video of the two of them playing together. So instead, in the next two clips you can see Taborn with his trio in 2015, playing "All True Night" and "Future Perfect" at the Salle Poirel in Nancy, France; and Davis and her trio playing in January 2015 at Klaviersalon MERTA in Linz, Austria.
Today's penultimate video features drummer, singer and songwriter Jamison Ross, who will be making his St. Louis debut as a leader with shows from Wednesday, October 5 through Saturday, October 8 at Jazz at the Bistro. The clip features Ross and his band performing "These Things You Are to Me" in February of this year at the studios of KPLU in Tacoma, WA.
The final video features guitarist Dweezil Zappa, who will return with his band to perform on Thursday, October 13 at The Ready Room. Though currently fighting a legal battle with his family over the rights to perform his father Frank Zappa's music, Dweezil is using the current tour to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of FZ's debut album Freak Out. You can hear what that sounds like in the video, an entire show show as shot by an audience member on July 8, 2016 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY.
Part two of the Fall 2016 jazz preview will appear next week in this space. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...
As usual for the season, things are a bit slow for live jazz and creative music in St. Louis during the first full week of the new year, but there is at least one notable touring act in town this weekend, along with enough music from local performers to satiate those prepared to venture out against the winter's chill. Let's go to the highlights...
Wednesday, January 6 The Bad Plus(pictured, top left) return for the tenth consecutive January for a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.
Since their last visit here, TBP spent a good chunk of 2015 touring with saxophonist Joshua Redman, and, augmented by two saxophonists and a trumpeter, also invested some time revisiting all the music from Ornette Coleman's historic album Science Fiction.. However, having just completed their annual week-long gigs at the Dakota in Minneapolis and Village Vanguard in NYC, the core trio should be fully locked in by the time they hit St. Louis. As usual with The Bad Plus, advance reservations are recommended, as some sets likely will sell out.
Also on Wednesday, the Presenters Dolan resume their production of cabaret shows at The Emerald Room, the newish venue that's part of The Monocle in the Grove neighborhood, with actress and singer Johanna Elkana-Hale's "Starting Here."
Friday, January 8
For those who can make to the Grand Center area at mid-day, The Bad Plus will be featured in a free, public event at lunchtime, combining performance, discussion, and free pancakes from noted St. Louis artist/chef Dr. Dan the Pancake Man.
Then on Saturday evening, Franglais and singer Eve Seltzer(pictured, bottom left) will play Gypsy jazz and swing at Evangeline's, and pianist Matt Villinger returns home from his new digs in Kansas City to promote the release of his first CD with a performance 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.)
The band Pink Martini, "a rollicking around-the-world musical adventure" drawing on classical, jazz, Latin music and "old-fashioned pop," is coming to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m., Monday, March 21 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.
Formed in 1994 in Portland, OR by pianist and bandleader Thomas Lauderdale, the group (pictured) is fronted by singer China Forbes and has released seven albums, the most of recent of which, Dream A Little Dream, came out in 2014.
They've toured extensively throughout the US and internationally, but will be making their St. Louis debut with their performance at The Sheldon, which is being co-produced by cabaret impresarios The Presenters Dolan.
Singer Storm Large, who sometimes substitutes for Forbes as Pink Martini's frontwoman, has performed in St. Louis a couple of times for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival, also a Dolan production, and that connection helped bring about the band's St. Louis performance, said The Sheldon's Chris Peimann.
Tickets for Pink Martini are $44 for orchestra seats, $38 for the balcony, and will go on sale to the public at 10:00 a.m. this Friday, December 18 via MetroTix outlets, the Sheldon's website, and by phone at 314-534-1111.
There also will be an online-only pre-sale beginning at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, Thursday, December 17. To access the pre-sale, go to the Metrotix website and when prompted for a promotional code, enter MARTINI15.
The Presenters Dolan have announced their fall schedule of cabaret shows, featuring 15 different acts performing over seven weekends in October and November at the Gaslight Theater, 358 Boyle Ave in the Central West End.
Though apparently without the "Gaslight Cabaret Festival" branding used recently, the series will welcome several new performers, including Wendee Glick, the New Hampshire-based jazz singer who gave the final performance in June 2014 at Robbie's House of Jazz; folk-influenced singer-songwriter Susan Werner; and Kat Edmondson (pictured), a one-time American Idol contestant who has sung with Lyle Lovett and toured as opening act for Jamie Cullum.
There also will be encores from several acts featured previously, including Lina Joutrakos and Rick Jensen, Storm Large, Jeffrey Wright, and Ken Haller, as well as cabaret debuts from the acappella group One Too Many, rock duo Sleepy Kitty, and more.
Here's the complete schedule in chronological order:
Thursday, October 8:Wendee Glick - "Moon Over The Mississippi" Friday, October 9:Maxine Linehan - "An Immigrant’s Journey From Ireland To America" Thursday, October 15:Shanara Gabrielle - "Rated SG" Friday, October 16:One Too Many Saturday, October 17:Chuck Flowers - "Popping In" Thursday, October 22:Dean Christopher - "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime: A Tribute to Dean Martin" Friday, October 23: Ken Haller - "Mama's Boy" Saturday, October 24:Jeffrey M. Wright Sunday, October 25:Lina Koutrakos and Rick Jensen - "Two For The Road" Thursday, October 29 & Friday, October 30:Kat Edmonson - "The Big Picture"
Thursday, November 5:Sleepy Kitty (Paige Brubeck and Evan Sult) Friday, November 6 & Saturday, November 7:Storm Large Thursday, November 12: Sleepy Kitty (Paige Brubeck and Evan Sult) Friday, November 13 & Saturday, November 14:Karen Oberlin - "His Aim Is True - The Songs of Elvis Costello" Thursday, November 19: Brian Owens - "The Soul of Cash - Johnny Cash" Friday, November 20 & Saturday, November 21:Susan Werner
All shows start at 8:00 p.m.. Prices for most performances range from $25 to $35, except for Storm Large, which is priced at $45 and $40. Tickets are on sale now via LicketyTix.com.
Here's the latest wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:
* Lew Prince, half of the partnership that has run the local indie record store Vintage Vinyl(pictured) for the last 35 years, has sold his stake in the business to co-proprietor Tom "Papa" Ray.
Prince told the Riverfront Times' Jaime Lees that after a break, he'll be looking for a new job or project. Ray will continue to operate VV as sole owner.
* The application period is now open for the Regional Arts Commission's 2015 Artist Fellowships. RAC will award $20,000 each to ten St. Louis artists "in varied disciplines" to provide "funds to allow for more time and space to study, reflect, experiment, explore, practice, and create." Applications must be submitted by Friday, August 7; for more information or to apply, visit RAC's website.
* Jim Dolan of The Presenters Dolan will be hosting a group trip in October to NYC's Cabaret Convention. The package includes opportunities to take in cabaret and Broadway shows, as well as special events and parties specifically for the tour group. To find out more, visit The Presenters Dolan website.
* Jazz radio update: This Saturday on Radio Arts Foundation-St. Louis, Calvin Wilson's program “Somethin’ Else” will greet the solstice with summer-themed music from Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny, Abbey Lincoln, and others. "Somethin' Else" airs at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.
The Gaslight Cabaret Festival has announced their series for spring 2015, with a slate of shows in March and April including performances of NYC actor and singer T. Oliver Reid's show "Drop Me Off In Harlem" on Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28.
Described as "an evening of club-hopping to the music of Harold Arlen, Duke Ellington and Andy Razaf," Reid's show won a 2013 Bistro Award for "Best Theme Show" and will include a backup band featuring music director Lawrence Yurman, trumpeter Bob Ceccarini, bassist Dave Troncoso, and drummer James Jackson.
Reid (pictured) has been seen on Broadway in shows including Mary Poppins, Sister Act, The Wedding Singer, La Cage aux Folles, Never Gonna Dance, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Follies and Kiss Me, Kate.
All performances start at 8:00 p.m. in the Gaslight Theater, 358 N. Boyle. Tickets are priced from $25 to $35, depending on the show and the seating option, and are on sale now.
The fall season announced by cabaret producers The Presenters Dolan will include return performances from singers Steve Ross, Storm Large, and Karen Mason, as well as a weekend of shows from Chicago-based performers; encores and new shows from several St. Louisans; and more.
Billed once again as the Gaslight Cabaret Festival, the slate encompasses 19 performances by 15 different acts over eight weekends. Storm Large (pictured) will kick off the festivities at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 27 with a performance of her show "Le Bonheur (Good Times)" at BB's Jazz Blues and Soups.
The rest of the performances will be presented at the Gaslight Theatre, starting with a reprise of Katie McGrath's "Love in the Desert: Romance in an Age of Scarcity" on Saturday, October 11. Next up is Mason with "Secrets of the Ancient Divas" on Friday, October 17 and Saturday, October 18.
"An Evening with Steve Ross" will be presented on Friday, October 24 and Saturday, October 25, while the weekend of Chicago performers will include Beckie Menzie & Tom Michael's "That 60's Show" on Friday, November 7 and Joan Curto singing songs by Cole Porter on Saturday, November 8.
The following weekend will feature shows by New York-based performers Sheri Sanders, a veteran of numerous Broadway rock musicals, on Thursday, November 13; and Carole J. Bufford, who will present her show "Body & Soul" on Friday, November 14 and Saturday, November 15.
St. Louis performers in the festival will include Ken Haller, Joe Dreyer & Rosemary Watts, Christopher Limber, Meghan Kirk (who recently returned from Los Angeles), Antonio Rodriguez (who recently moved to Chicago), and Lara Teeter, who will wrap things up with an encore of his show "Lucky To Be Me" on Saturday, November 22.
All shows (except for Storm Large) will start at 8:00 p.m. at the Gaslight Theater. Ticket prices range from a top of $45 for Large to $35 and $40 for the other visiting performers and $22 or $25 for local acts. You can see a complete schedule of shows and prices here.
Has the dreadful winter of 2014 finally released its icy grip on the St. Louis area? We can only hope so, because there's a lot of interesting jazz and creative music to hear around town over the next few days. Let's go to the highlights...
Tonight, bassist Christian McBride begins a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro, this time with the latest iteration of his trio, featuring drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. and the up-and-coming pianist Christian Sands.
Their first album together, Out Here, was released last August as McBride's fifth recording for Mack Avenue Records. With a sound firmly "in the tradition," it's gotten generally positive reviews, as has their live show, which the New York Times' Ben Ratliff called "constant sleek fun, organized and coordinated."
Tomorrow night, actor/singer Ken Page, a St. Louis native who starred in the original companies of Ain't Misbehavin', Cats, and other Broadway hits, opens the Gaslight Cabaret Festival with the first of two performances of his show "Old, New, Borrowed & Blue" at the Gaslight Theater. The festival continues through April 26, and you can hear more about that and Page's show during this interview he did last week with KWMU's "Cityscape" program.
Also on Thursday night, the Rainbow Band, a quartet with guitarists William Lenihan and Vincent Varvel, bassist Eric Stiller, and drummer Steve Davis, will play a free concert for Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.
On Saturday, New Music Circle will present multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society at Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave. in the Central West End. As a bassist, Abrams is a mainstay of Chicago's improvised music scene, but the Natural Information Society is something a bit different, as it's built around his work on the guimbri, a three-string acoustic bass from west Africa.
The band's lineup for this concert will include drummers Frank Rosaly and Mikel Avery, Emmett Kelly on electric guitar, Ben Boye on autoharp and Lisa Alvarado on harmonium. For more about Abrams and some video footage of the band in action, check out this post from last Saturday. Abrams also was interviewed for a preview story by St. Louis magazine's Stef Russell, and the show even is the subject of a full-page cartoon in this month's issue of Eleven magazine.
On Sunday, the Coleman-Hughes Project will play smooth jazz, R&B, and more at Nathalie's; and the Dave Dickey Big Band will be back for their monthly gig at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company.
Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday faculty members from Webster University will join together as the Webster Jazz Collective for a concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the main campus in Webster Groves; and saxophonist "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective will return to BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.
Then on Tuesday, guitarist Dave Black will be featured in a "Notes From Home" show at the Sheldon Concert Hall, aided and abetted by violinist Asako Kuboki, saxophonist Paul DeMarinis, singer Joe Mancuso, bassist Willem von Hombracht, and drummer Steve Davis.
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.)
The Gaslight Cabaret Festival has added a major attraction to its lineup, as festival producers The Presenters Dolan have announced that singer/actor, Broadway veteran, and St. Louis native Ken Page will perform to kick off the multi-week event with shows at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 20 and Friday, February 21 at the Gaslight Theater.
Although Page (pictured) has appeared in movies, on TV, and as a voiceover performer for animation, he's best known for his many starring roles in musical theater, including being part of the original casts of the Fats Waller musical Ain't Misbehavin', Cats, The Wiz, and the hit revival of Guys and Dolls.
For the Gaslight Cabaret Festival, Page will perform a show called "Old, New, Borrowed & Blue," which according to promotional materials will feature "a range of songs from Old Broadway, New Broadway, his favorite artists, and the blues." (For more about Ken Page, see this 2012 feature story from St. Louis magazine.)
Tickets for Ken Page at the Gaslight Cabaret Festival are $35 and $40, and are on sale now online at http://www.licketytix.com and by phone at 314-725-4200 ext 10.
Cabaret producers The Presenters Dolan yesterday announced a new series of performances called the Gaslight Cabaret Festival that will begin February 22 and continue through the end of April at the Gaslight Theater, 358 Boyle in the Central West End.
Twelve acts are booked for a total of twenty-two performances, including three touring headliners - Marissa Mulder (pictured), Emily Bergl, and rocker/reality-TV-star Storm Large - making their St. Louis debuts, as well as a number of St. Louis' favorite homegrown performers.
The schedule in chronological order is:
Saturday, February 22: Tim Schall - "1961"
Thursday, February 27 - Saturday, March 1:Marissa Mulder - "The Songs of Tom Waits"
Thursday, March 6: Ken Haller - "The TV Show"
Friday, March 7: Joe Dreyer and Rosemary Watts - "Swing Into Spring"
Saturday, March 8: Connie Fairchild - "Down By The River"
Thursday, March 13 - Saturday, March 15: Emily Bergl - "Until the Real Thing Comes Along"
Saturday, March 29: Joe Dreyer and Rosemary Watts - "Swing Into Spring"
Thursday, April 3: Morgan A. Faulkner - "I Got It All From My Mother"
Friday, April 4: Katie McGrath - "Love in the Desert: Romance in an Age of Scarcity"
Saturday, April 5: Todd and Kelly Decker - "They Can't Take That Away from Me: Songs and Stories of George and Ira Gershwin"
Thursday, April 10:Taylor Pietz - "If I Only Had a Brain"
Friday, April 11 & Saturday, April 12: Storm Large - "Taken By Storm: songs of seduction and obsession"
Friday, April 25 & Saturday, April 26: Lara Teeter - "An Evening With..."
Four-show subscriptions are available at $139 for premium seating, $121 for regular seating, while single tickets are priced from $22 to $45, depending on the performance and seating option selected. Subscriptions and single tickets for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival are on sale now via http://www.licketytix.com or by phone at 314-725-4200, ext 10.
This week's jazz and creative music calendar in St. Louis features some Caribbean-flavored jazz-fusion, three nights of cabaret, and some traditional prewar jazz, plus much more. Let's go to the highlights:
Tonight, the aforementioned Caribbean flavor manifests itself in the form of the Nashville-based funk/fusion band The Great Barrier Reefs(pictured), who are playing at Pop's Blue Moon. The island vibe of the five-member Reefs comes in large part from steel pan player and keyboardist Tony Hartman, but the rest of the band is quite capable, too, and their sound bridges several genres in an entertaining and appealing way. You can check them out on video in this post from last Saturday.
Also tonight, the Funky Butt Brass Band plays a free, late afternoon outdoor show at Strauss Park, across the street from the Fox Theatre; Good 4 The Soul has the early evening slot at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, and pianist Nathan Jatcko plays solo at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.
Tomorrow night, the St. Louis Cabaret Festival, sponsored by the St. Louis Cabaret Conference and The Presenters Dolan, starts a three-night run of performances at the Bistro at Grand Center with a show featuring cabaret and Broadway star Karen Mason.
Also on Friday night, guitarist Vince Varvel plays at City Music and Education Center; guitarist Tom Byrne leads a trio with bassist Willem von Hombracht and drummer Chris Gianino at Cigar Inn; the Funky Butt Brass Band performs at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company; and bassist Darrell Mixon will front a trio with drummer Gary Sykes and vibraphonist Jon Whiting at Robbie's House of Jazz.
Then on Sunday, the Saint Louis Jazz Club will present Don Schroeder's Happy-Go-Lucky Jazz Band in a matinee concert at the DoubleTree Hotel at Westport. The Cabaret Festival concludes Sunday evening with the St. Louis Cabaret Conference Showcase, directed by Graae and Fasono and featuring 20 singers from in and around St. Louis.
Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday Tom Byrne is back in action, this time with his Pat Metheny-inspired ensemble Have You Heard?, at BB's.
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.)
The St. Louis Cabaret Conference and co-sponsors The Presenters Dolan have announced the lineup of public performances for the 2012 St. Louis Cabaret Festival, which will take place starting Friday, August 10 through Sunday, August 12 at the Bistro at Grand Center, 3536 Washington Ave.
Cabaret and Broadway star Karen Mason(pictured) will kick off the weekend with a performance at 8:00 p.m., Friday, August 10 at the Bistro. Mason, who will be making her St. Louis cabaret debut with this show, has headlined at nearly every major nightclub and concert hall in New York and is the winner of 10 MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) Awards, 3 Bistro Awards, and the Nightlife Award.
Her Broadway performances include lead roles in Hairspray, Mamma Mia, and Sunset Boulevard, for which she received standing ovations on Broadway and in Los Angeles for her portrayal of Norma Desmond. Mason also has performed musical theater in St. Louis, starring at The Muny as Mama Rose in Gypsy.
At 8:00 p.m. on Friday, the Festival will present a diverse bill of performers including Barbara Fasano, Eric Comstock, Jason Graae and Rick Jensen that is designed to showcase "the breadth and depth of cabaret."
Fasano and Comstock - her husband, performing partner, and pianist - will team up to present their take on Great American Songbook standards, while Graae's approach emphasizes his skills as a comic performer. Singer and music director Jensen will round out the show with some of his original pop material.
The Festival concludes at 7:00 p.m. Sunday with the annual St. Louis Cabaret Conference Showcase. Directed by Graae and Fasono, the showcase will feature 20 singers from in and around St. Louis who have taken part in the Conference's four days of intensive workshops and master classes.
Tickets are priced at $35 each for the Friday and Saturday shows, and $20 each for Sunday's showcase. Tickets can be purchase online at http://www.licketytix.com or by phone by calling 314-725-4200, ext 10.
The Presenters Dolan have announced dates for two cabaret shows to be presented this spring at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand.
Singer/actors Lara Buck(pictured, above left) and Donna Weinsting(below left) will team up for "Bold, Bawdy, Blonde - and Funny," an election-year themed show billed as "standards meet standup and politics greets parody" that will play at 8:00 p.m., Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31. Buck has done political parody before, spending two years in the satiric musical revue Political Idol, while Weinsting is a veteran of local theater productions and winner of a Kevin Kline award for "outstanding lead actress in a play" in the New Jewish Theatre's 2006 production of From Door To Door. Tim Schall will direct, with Greg Schweizer serving as music director.
The following month, Jeffrey M. Wright will return to the Kranzberg stage with "Southern Roots" at 8:00 p.m. Friday, April 13 and Saturday, April 14. Described as "an evening of songs inspired by growing up south of the Mason-Dixon line," Wright's show will feature Carol Schmidt as music director.
Tickets are $25 each for "Bold, Bawdy, Blonde - and Funny," $20 each for "Southern Roots," and can be purchased online at http://www.licketytix.com/ or by phone at 314-725-4200, ext 10.
(Edited 2/14/12 to fix a strange-looking line break.)
Here's the latest wrap-up of assorted links and short local news items of interest:
* Singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb (pictured), who's in town this weekend to perform for the Presenters Dolan at the Kranzberg Arts Center, is the subject of two preview stories in local media - one written by Terry Perkins for the St. Louis Beacon, the other by Calvin Wilson for the Post-Dispatch.
* Speaking of cabaret, here's a review of St. Louis native Craig Rubano's performance last weekend at the Kranzberg, written by Chuck Lavazzi for KDHX.
* Reunion Revolution, a new store selling vinyl records, art, antiques and collectibles, has opened in the New Town area of St. Charles.
* St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts is sponsoring a workshop about mediation at 7:00 p.m. next Monday, March 21 at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar. The workshop is intended to teach members of arts community about a "non-litigious way to resolve conflicts" that is "voluntary, confidential, fast and affordable." The registration fee for the workshop is $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Get more information at www.vlaa.org or by calling 314-863-6930.
Cabaret producers The Presenters Dolan have announced two new shows that will play the Kranzberg Arts Center in April:
Katie McGrath (pictured) will perform "The Underside of Love" at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, April 1 and Saturday, April 2. Described as "an evening of music and musings on the ups and downs of grownup love," it includes songs by Stephen Sondheim, Judy Collins, Peter Gabriel, Cole Porter and Leon Redbone. Tim Schall is the show's director, and Rick Jensen is the music director.
Two weeks later, Kay Love will offer"Confessions of a Pom Pom Reject" at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, April 15 and Saturday April 16. The performance draws on some seemingly unlikely material for a cabaret show - pop songs of the 1970s and 80s made famous by Boston, the Little River Band, Journey, Irene Cara and others. Lennie Watts will direct, with Steven Ray Watkins as music director.
Tickets are $20 for Katie McGrath, $25 for Kay Love, and are available online at http://www.licketytix.com or by phone at 314-725-4200, ext. 10.
Assuming you've recovered sufficiently from this past week's Mardi Gras revelry and haven't given up live music for Lent, there are a number of jazz and creative music gigs in St. Louis this week that you may want to check out. Let's go to the highlights...
Tonight, drummer Ben Thigpen leads his group in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. The series then will be hiatus for two weeks as the campus goes on spring break, but will resume on March 30 with a performance by pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True.
Also tonight, St. Louis native Craig Rubano returns home to open a three-night run of his cabaret show "We Can Be Kind" at the Kranzberg Arts Center under the auspices of the Presenters Dolan. Rubano will perform songs from composers such as Cole Porter, Richard Rogers, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon, with musical direction from pianist Beth Ertz.
On Friday night, saxophonist Ronald Carter (pictured) will team up once again with the organ-jazz trio OGD, featuring Reggie Thomas at the keyboard and Rick Haydon on guitar, for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.
The former band director at East St. Louis High School, Carter performed last weekend at Jazz St. Louis' benefit gala and still is a frequent visitor to our area from his current home base at Northern Illinois University. Look for a mix of hard bop, soul jazz and more as Carter reunites with OGD, with whom he's worked numerous time.
On Sunday afternoon, the spirit of Mardi Gras will linger for just at bit longer, as the Funky Butt Brass Band undoubtedly will be reprising some New Orleans carnival-time favorites when they perform at the Doubletree Hotel at Westport under the auspices of the St. Louis Jazz Club.
Then on Wednesday evening, Robbie's will begin "Golden Voices," a new weekly open mic night intended to showcase jazz vocalists, who are invited to sit in with accompanist Becky Alexander.
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.)
(Edited 3/10/11 to correct the location of the Funky Butt Brass Band/St. Louis Jazz Club show.)
The Presenters Dolan have announced a new schedule of cabaret shows to be presented in February and March at the Kranzberg Arts Center.
The upcoming series' best known performer is singer and songwriter Jimmy Webb (pictured), who will play the Kranzberg from Thursday, March 17 through Saturday, March 19.
Webb, the Grammy Award winning writer of 1960s vintage pop hits such as "By The Time I Get To Phoenix," "Didn't We" and "MacArthur Park", will be singing his own songs and "telling stories about them and the people who sang them over the years." Webb should have some interesting stories to tell, as his tunes have been recorded by an extraordinarily diverse group of performers, including Glen Campbell, the actor Richard Harris, Rosemary Clooney, Michael Feinstein, Frank Sinatra, Nanci Griffith, Linda Ronstadt, Judy Collins, Elvis Presley, Joe Cocker, Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson.
The performers for the other four shows all have a St. Louis connection. The husband and wife team of pianist Joe Dreyer and singer/actress Rosemary Watts will open the series on Friday, February 11 and Saturday, February 12 with their new show "Crazy Relationships - Love in Many Aspects," supported by Scott Alberici on clarinet and Dave Troncoso on bass.
St. Louis native Craig Pomranz is up next, returning home for performances on Friday, February 18 and Saturday, February 19. Pomranz' show is directed by Ron Cohen, with Stephen Bocchino as musical director.
Pianist Carol Schmidt then takes the stage on Friday, February 25 and Saturday, February 26, accompanied by Ric Vice on bass and a lineup of guest singers including Robert Breig, Michele Isam, and Dionna Raedeke. Schmidt's show will include several originals from her forthcoming CD The Significance of Scenery, which she plans to release this fall.
Roundin out the series is St. Louis native, actor and singer Craig Rubano, whose show "We Can Be Kind: Songs of Passion, Songs of Hope" will run Thursday, March 10 through Saturday, March 12. Rubano's show includes songs from writers such as Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon, with Beth Ertz as music director and accompanist.
Tickets range in price from $20 for Schmidt's performances to up to $55 for preferred seating for Jimmy Webb, and are on sale now online at licketytix.com.
Pianist and singer Steve Ross (pictured) will preview his new cabaret show "Rhythm and Romance" in St. Louis over Thanksgiving weekend before taking it NYC's famed Algonquin Room in January.
Ross will perform "Rhythm and Romance" at 8:00 p.m. Friday, November 26 and Saturday, November 27 at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand Blvd. The show would seem to be a nice "get" for producers The Presenters Dolan, as Ross is a critically acclaimed performer and proven draw once dubbed the "Crown Prince of New York cabaret" by the New York Times.
Tickets for Steve Ross' "Rhythm and Romance" are $35 each and are available for purchase now online at www.licketytix.com or by calling 314-725-4200, EXT 10.
