Jazz this week: Nicholas Payton, Stanley Jordan, Kahil El'Zabar, Salty Dogs Jazz Band, and more

It's a busy weekend for jazz in St. Louis, with shows coming up from four touring ensembles in styles ranging from modern to traditional, plus plenty of activity from our local contingent of musicians. Let's go straight to the highlights:

Tonight, guitarist Stanley Jordan opens a four-night engagement that continues through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Jordan is no stranger to St. Louis audiences, having performed here in recent years at Finale Music and Dining, but if you'd like to see and hear some samples of his playing, check out the video post from last Saturday here.

On Thursday, saxophonist Willie Akins and his group will perform a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. That same evening, KWMU DJ and and jazz historian Dennis Owsley will begin his three-week class on "The Great Jazz Soloists" at the Ethical Society.

On Friday and Saturday, Chicago-based percussionist Kahil El'Zabar and his Ritual Trio return to take the stage Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Saturday, New Orleans-born trumpeter Nicholas Payton (pictured) performs at the Sheldon Concert Hall, with piano phenom Taylor Eigsti as part of his band. You can see some videos of Payton in action here, read an interview with him here, and find information on how to get tickets for the show at half-price here.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club welcomes the long-running Salty Dogs Jazz Band for a concert of traditional jazz at the Sheraton Westport Hotel. Then on Sunday evening, New Music Circle presents composer and producer Rob Voisey's 60 x 60 Project at Mad Art Gallery. The event will feature 60 one-minute performances from local dancers and choreographers set to 60 different pieces of music created by 60 different composers and curated by Voisey.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday morning the St. Louis Ragtimers will do the first of two "Coffee Concerts" at the Sheldon, with the program repeating on Wednesday morning. And on Tuesday night, Jazz St. Louis' CD Listening Club will meet at Borders in Brentwood, with singer Erin Bode and JSL executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford leading the discussion of the featured CD for the month, John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman.

For information on more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, check out the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, available for viewing on the left sidebar, or by clicking here. Also, you can follow St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes and become a "fan" by signing up 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: Jeanne Trevor, Kim Portnoy Jazz Orchestra, "Cool Art & Hot Jazz," Audrey Chen and Frederic Blondy, and more

Although there are no huge marquee names performing in St. Louis this weekend, the next several days nevertheless are packed with a variety of events that will appeal to fans of jazz and creative music. Let's go to the highlights:

On Thursday night, saxophonist Jerry performs a free concert featuring the music of John Coltrane at Washington University as part of the Jazz at Holmes series, while the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, directed by bassist Jim Widner, does its regular monthly gig at Jazz at the Bistro.

During the day on Saturday and Sunday, there's "Cool Art & Hot Jazz", a festival sponsored by the Greater St. Louis Art Association at the Greensfelder Recreation Center in Queeny Park. The event features 125 visual artists from across the country and a children's art discovery program as well as live music. Saturday's performers include the John Chiecsek Trio, Dave Black (pictured) playing solo guitar and with his Quartet, and the duo of singer Al Oxenhandler and keyboardist Curt Landes. Sunday will feature smooth jazz from the Readus Miller Project and something called Curtis Blackstar - Music Extravaganza, about which neither the GSLAA's site nor Google has much to say.

Saturday evening features a couple of events that fall into the "creative music" category, starting with cellist Audrey Chen and pianist Frederic Blondy, who will perform at Open Lot, the arts collective and performance space at 1320 S. 18th St. For more about Chen and Blondy, see this post from last Saturday.

That same night, New Music Circle presents a multimedia performance at the Mildred E. Bastian Performing Arts Center at St. Louis Community College - Forest Park. The event will feature spoken word artist Chris Mann and the 2007 edition of composer Rob Voisey’s "60x60," with video by St. Louis multimedia artist Zlatko Cosic. Mann is described as a "pioneer in the field of compositional linguistics" who has performed with Thomas Buckner, Annea Lockwood, and Larry Polansky and received commissions from the BBC, NPR, John Cage, and Ars Electronica. "60x60" is a recorded music project directed by Voisey that showcases 60 electronic works of 60 seconds or less in length, each by a different composer, that are played in succession to create a one-hour concert.

If you're more in the mood for something mainstream on Saturday, singer Jeanne Trevor is having a CD release party at Cookie's Jazz and More. I wish I could tell you more about the event and/or the CD, but neither Trevor nor Cookie's has sent out any details, at least not to me. Suffice it to say that Trevor has been one of St. Louis' most esteemed and most reliable performers over the past four or five decades, and I'd expect the show and the CD both to be up to her usual standards.

And let's not forget that Saturday is also when Jazz St. Louis has its annual fundraising benefit gala and auction, featuring a performance by singer and pianist Tony DeSare. I don't know if there are still tickets available for this event, but if you've got the dough - $500 per person - and want to go, I'd suggest that you get in touch with JSL development director Melissa Jones and see if they can squeeze you in.

On Sunday, guitarist Todd Mosby brings his group to BB's Jazz Blues and Soups to perform his signature blend of jazz, fusion and Indian classical music. Also on Sunday, BAG presents a spoken word event titled "Rivers of Women, a National Poetry Month Tribute to Women" that will feature performance poetry from Shirley Bradley LeFlore, Marsha Cann, Blue-Mashibini and others. The event is free and takes place in the Rosebud Café at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday pianist and composer Kim Portnoy and his Jazz Orchestra are doing a show for the "Notes From Home" series at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Portnoy has assembled an impressive lineup of musicians to play his original compositions, including bassist Ric Vice, drummer Kevin Gianino, guitarist Tom Byrne, trumpeters Randy Holmes and Paul Hecht, saxophonists Paul DeMarinis, Mike Karpowicz and Rob Hughes, and trombonists Brett Stamps and Jim Martin. The program will feature all of the music from their CD Wash Away The Dust of Everyday Life, plus some newer work. Also on Tuesday, singer Valerie Tichacek performs Brazilian-influenced jazz at The Gramophone, and Brandt's features the swinging mainstream sounds of Trio Trés Bien.

That ought to be enough choices to hold all but the most voracious music fan for a little while, but if you're still looking for more, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar for additional listings of jazz events this weekend and beyond.

(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.)