Jazz this week: Bill Frisell, Houston Person, Tower of Power, Steve Tyrell, Marvin Horne, Reptet, St. Louis Jazz Club picnic, and more

It's going to be a busy few days for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, and time is short, so let's go to the highlights without further preamble...

Tonight, tenor saxophonist Houston Person is back to open a four-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. Equally adept at blues, bop and ballads, Person has played in St. Louis several times in recent years, most recently at Jazz St. Louis' benefit gala in February 2010, and before that, at the Bistro and at Harris-Stowe State University in 2009. In conjunction with those 2009 gigs, Person did an interview for Jazz St. Louis' now-defunct podcast series, which you can still listen to online here. (.MP3 file)

Tomorrow night, guitarist Bill Frisell makes a rare St. Louis appearance at Old Rock House. He'll be playing with a quartet including bassist Tony Scherr, drummer Kenny Wollesen, and trumpeter Ron Miles. You can read more about Frisell and see some video clips of him in this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

On Friday, drummer Paul Shaw's trio with pianist Ptah Williams and bassist Bob Deboo will play at the Cigar Inn in Belleville, while yr. humble StLJN editor will be playing some blues piano at Robbie's House of Jazz with drummer Stan Hale's band, featuring singer Renee Smith and bassist Phil Burton.

On Saturday afternoon, guitarist and St. Louis native Marvin Horne returns home to wrap up this spring's schedule of concerts from the Nu-Art Series, performing the music of Grant Green at Metropolitan Gallery.

Also on Saturday, the St. Louis Jazz Club will hold their annual picnic at the Concord Farmers Club, with music from Red Lehr & the St. Louis Rivermen in the afternoon and the Michael Lacey Band in the evening.

That same night, a little bit of Oakland comes to downtown St. Louis, as the legendary funk band Tower of Power is back here for the first time in five years to play at Lumiere Place Casino. (I've got a Critic's Pick on the TOP show in this week's Riverfront Times; look for the link here as soon as it's online.)

Meanwhile, for those in the mood from something a bit more intimate on Saturday evening, Robbie's will present pianist Carolbeth True's trio with singer Christi John Bye.

Last but not least on Saturday, Trio Kinsella, featuring flute player Jonathan Borja, cellist Ben Gitter and pianist Brendan Kinsella, performs at the Kranzberg Arts Center for New Music Circle. The program will include music by George Crumb, John Corigliano, Thailand’s Narong Prangcharoen and former St. Louis Symphony composer in residence Joseph Schwantner, as well as the world premiere of “Falling Through Infinity” by Nicholas Omiccioli.

UPDATE - 5/14/11: Terry Perkins previews the Trio Kinsella concert for the St. Louis Beacon here.

On Sunday, singer Steve Tyrell returns to the Sheldon Concert Hall for a performance benefiting education programs at the Sheldon. Tyrell's previous show at the same venue sold out, and at last word tickets for this one were almost gone, but if you're interested in going it may be worth a call to the Sheldon to see if any seats are released at the last minute.

Also on Sunday, the clever, eclectic Seattle sextet known as Reptet (pictured) will be here to play at 2720 Cherokee. I've enjoyed their most recent CD At The Cabin and was prompted to write more about them in this video post from last Saturday.

That same evening, there will be a benefit for bassist Gus Thornton at Beale on Broadway. Thornton is an East St. Louis native who's best known for playing blues with Albert King, Katie Webster and others, but also has done his share of local jazz gigs. He recently had a heart transplant and although his prognosis is said to be good, the operation has left him with huge medical bills and no income while he recovers.

Sunday's event will help raise some cash to assist the universally well-liked Thornton with those bills and living expenses. There's been no information released on the lineup of performers, but given that Thornton seems to have played with at least half the musicians in town at some point, I'm sure it'll be well worth the $10 requested donation at the door.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Recognizing Reptet

Today, let's check out some videos of Reptet, a Seattle-based band that will be making their St. Louis debut next Sunday, May 15 at 2720 Cherokee.

With two brass, two reeds, bass and drums, the six-member Reptet incorporates a variety of influences, including jazz, funk, cartoon music, New Orleans brass bands and their Eastern European equivalents, into multi-part compositions often featuring several changes in tempo, mood and style.

All the brass and reed players deploy multiple instruments, which adds some nice timbral variety, and there's lots going on with the lower frequencies, as bassist Tim Carey frequently is joined in the nether regions by Nelson Bell's euphonium and tuba, Chris Credit's baritone sax and/or Isaak Mills on bass clarinet. Credit may be Reptet's most compelling soloist when playing tenor or alto sax, but the emphasis is mostly on ensemble playing, and all six musicians execute their parts skillfully.

While their music can be complex, Reptet also incorporates a good amount of humor into their presentation, with costumes - the "cartoon burglar" look seems to be a recurring motif, as you'll see in the videos below - silly hats, goofy or inscrutable spoken word bits, and so on. Given the inherent subjectivity of humor, there's always a chance that some people won't get it, but Reptet has an appealing energy, and in any event they certainly deserve credit for trying to do something different than the no-frills sort of staging that characterizes too many jazz performances.

The first video up above shows Reptet in June 2010 performing "Milky Shakes," a song from their new CD At The Cabin. Down below, you can see them play "Eltet" at a 2008 show in Boston, with trumpeter Samantha Boshnack leading the front line through some nice four-part writing.

Below that, drummer John Ewing shows off some New Orleans-style marching licks to kick off a St. Patrick's Day gig in 2009, as the other band members - now clad in leprechaun outfits - promenade through the audience to the stage while playing "Zeppo." Last but not least, there's another food-themed song, "Fish Market," taken from a 2007 performance, which starts out as jagged funk and ends with Chris Credit serving up a large order of saxophone skronk to go with the filet referenced in the lyric. (Note: while the video image is rather dark, the audio quality is just fine.)

Reptet to perform Sunday, May 15 at 2720 Cherokee

The six-member, Seattle-based band Reptet (pictured) will make its St. Louis debut on Sunday, May 15 with a performance at 2720 Cherokee. The group is touring in support of its latest CD At The Cabin, playing 15 shows in the east, midwest and mountain states in 17 days.

Described by ChicagoJazz.com as "Part mutant New Orleans brass band, part Sun Ra orchestra and part Skatellites," Reptet includes Samantha Boshnack (trumpets, vocals), Nelson Bell (trombone, tuba), Izaak Mills (tenor sax, bass clarinet, flute, vocals), Chris Credit (baritone sax, tenor sax, alto sax, clarinet), Tim Carey (double bass, bass guitar, banjo) and John Ewing (drums, percussion, vocals).

At The Cabin is their fifth release, and the fourth full-length CD of their original compositions, which incorporate "jazz, reggae, rock, ska, punk, modern classical, avant-garde, and eastern European folk music." Showtime for the Reptet at 2720 Cherokee is scheduled for 8:00 p.m., and tickets will be $7 at the door.

To get an idea of what Reptet sounds like, you can see and hear them performing the title song from their 2008 CD Chicken or Beef? in the embedded video window below.