Jazz this week: Bill Charlap and Sandy Stewart, Najee, Erin Bode, Cornet Chop Suey, and more

Holiday hustle-and-bustle may be going into full effect, but over the next few days there are a number of events in St. Louis that you may want to stop and check out if you're a fan of jazz and creative music.

Tonight, singer Erin Bode opens a two-night run at Jazz at the Bistro. If my understanding is correct, this will be a holiday themed show, which means Bode likely will be performing music from her CD A Cold December Night, which was released last year at this time. Word is that Bode and band also have been recording a new CD for release next year, so it's possible that some of those new songs may find their way into her sets as well.

Also this evening, just around the corner from the Bistro, pianist Bill Charlap and singer Sandy Stewart (pictured) will open a four-night stand of performances presented by Cabaret St. Louis at the Kranzberg Art Center. Charlap was here with the Blue Note 7 in February at the Sheldon, and often is ranked among the top piano players in jazz by critics and various jazz polls. For her part, Stewart, who is Charlap's mother, had a thriving career in musical theater, cabaret and jazz before retiring in the 1960s to raise her family; her comeback in the 1990s prompted renewed interest in both her older work and her present day performances, as described in this feature story from the New York Times.

On Thursday, guitarist Matthew Von Doran performs a free show with his trio at Broadway Bean, a new coffee house, art gallery and music venue at 7619 South Broadway in the Carondelet neighborhood.

Moving on to the weekend, on Friday the smooth jazz saxophonist Najee will headline a "Jazz Explosion" show, also featuring unspecified "special guests," at the Ambassador Events Center, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd.

Continuing in that contemporary, electrified vein, the quartet Good 4 The Soul, featuring pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson, bassist John King, guitarist Shaun Robinson and drummer James Jackson, will bring their mix of jazz, funk, soul and gospel back to the Bistro on Friday and Saturday nights.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents Cornet Chop Suey in a concert of traditional New Orleans style jazz and swing at the Doubletree Hotel in Chesterfield.

For information on more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, please visit 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.)

Cabaret St. Louis tickets going on sale Monday, October 5

Tickets for Cabaret St. Louis' fall series of touring artists go on sale at 10:00 a.m. Monday, October 5 at all Metrotix outlets.

For jazz fans, the pick show of the season probably is the pairing (pictured) of pianist Bill Charlap, a fine jazz player who was here most recently in February with the Blue Note 7, and his mother, singer Sandy Stewart.

They'll be in town December 9 - 12 to perform at the Kranzberg Arts Center, which also will serve as the venue for shows by Maude Maggart (October 21-24), Steve Ross (November 4-7), and Nellie McKay (November 17 & 18). As has been mentioned here before, the Kranzberg only holds 80 people, so if you're interested in seeing one or more of these performers, you'd best act quickly to purchase your tickets.

Pollstar: Sandy Stewart and Bill Charlap coming to St. Louis in December

The online tour information service Pollstar has added a listing showing four nights of performances by singer Sandy Stewart and her son, jazz pianist Bill Charlap (pictured), Wednesday, December 9 through Saturday, December 12, at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand (at Olive) in St. Louis' Grand Center arts district.

Stewart and Charlap have worked together as a duo in cabarets and jazz clubs since Stewart began her comeback in the mid-1990s. A big band singer and actress in her youth, Stewart had retired from the stage to raise a family after meeting and marrying Broadway composer Mark "Moose" Charlap in the 1960s. (You can read more about the circumstances of her retirement and comeback in this 1994 article from the New York Times.) Bill Charlap is well known in the jazz world for his six albums as a leader for the Blue Note label and his work with Gerry Mulligan, Benny Carter, Tony Bennett, Phil Woods and others. He played in St. Louis most recently in February of this year with the Blue Note 7 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Although the Pollstar listing does not include a presenting organization, the artists, dates and venue would suggest the work of Cabaret St. Louis and its impresario Jim Dolan, who have staged a number of shows already at the KAC. At present, the Cabaret St. Louis Web site doesn't list any dates beyond the current spring schedule, which wraps up with four shows this week at the KAC by torch singer Lina Koutrakos, and one on May 14 at the Sheldon featuring drag performer Varla Jean Merman.

However, a bit of Google-assisted sleuthing turned up this blog post from KDHX theater reviewer/host Chuck Lavazzi, which says that the Stewart/Charlap show is indeed part of a fall Cabaret St. Louis schedule that also will include "return engagements at the Kranzberg by Maude Maggart (October 21 - 24) and Steve Ross (November 4 - 7) along with first-time appearances by Nellie McKay (November 18-21)" and the Stewart/Charlap duo.

(This info is conveyed in the context of a review of Cabaret St. Louis' recent benefit at the Fox Theatre, so perhaps there was some information disseminated that night for the advance benefit of the patrons who attended. That's just my speculation, though, as there's nothing in the post indicating the source of the info, save a link to the Cabaret St. Louis site.)

Regardless, as always, Pollstar listings should be considered unconfirmed until officially announced by the venue and/or presenter. If/when an official announcement is made, StLJN will have the details for you right here. In the meantime, for a bit more on Sandy Stewart and Bill Charlap, check out the video in the embedded window below for a clip that includes a brief interview and some footage of them in the recording studio.