Jazz this week: The Motet, St. Louis Art Fair, Wendy Gordon's "Cafe Society" and more

As yr. StLJN editor is still recovering from a hand injury, this post is both a bit late and necessarily on the terse side. The good news is that, barring any unforeseen complications, I should be sufficiently recovered that things will be back to more-or-less normal around here in a week or two.

For now, better late than never, let's go to this week's live jazz and creative music highlights in and around St. Louis...

Friday, September 9
The St. Louis Art Fair begins its annual three-day run, with one of the entertainment stages devoted to local jazz acts booked with help from Jazz St. Louis; see the website fora complete schedule.

Also tonight, the Denver-based funk-jazz band The Motet (pictured, top left) returns for a performance at The Ready Room; the Coleman Hughes Project begins a two-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro; trumpeter Randy Holmes and his quintet offer a tribute to the music of Horace Silver at the Ozark Theatre; and guitarist Tom Byrne plays at Thurman's in Shaw, the new name for the recently renovated South Side spot formerly known as Thurman Grill and Provisions.

Saturday, September 10
LouFest, the two-day rock festival held this weekend in Forest Park, will feature the Preservation Hall Jazz Band as its token jazz act, performing on Saturday afternoon. (Also of potential interest: blues guitarist Buddy Guy's set on Sunday afternoon.)

Elsewhere on Saturday afternoon, the Twin Cities-based jump blues and swing band Davina and the Vagabonds will be in town for a matinee at the Blues City Deli.

On Saturday evening, the Midwest Jazz-tette will perform at Evangeline's; the Wire Pilots play at 1900 Park Creative Space; and the Funky Butt Brass Band will do their monthly show at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

Sunday, September 11
The St. Louis Record & CD Collector Show will present their Fall 2016 event at the American Czech Hall.

Also on Sunday, Wendy Gordon (pictured, bottom left) and a diverse lineup of local singers and musicians will present "Cafe Society: Where Entertainers Met," the latest installment in Gordon's annual "Jazz Heaven" series, at the Florissant Civic Center Theater.

Monday, September 12
Webster University's jazz faculty will present "A Tribute to Verve Records" at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

Tuesday, September 13
The St. Louis Legacy Ensemble, percussionist Joe Pastor's project that puts student jazz musicians and professionals side-by-side on stage, will perform as part of the "Notes From Home" series at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

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.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's this week's wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:

* HEC-TV has released the final episode of I Love Jazz, the program created and hosted by the late Don Wolff (pictured).

Hosted by Cordell Whitlock, the last episode pays tribute to Wolff, who died last November, and also includes stories on the jazz program at Washington University and the dedication last September of the statue honoring Miles Davis in Alton, IL. You can see the episode online here.

* Tomorrow is the annual celebration of independent music retailers known as Record Store Day, and St. Louis stores taking part in the event with special pricing and promotions, live music, and more will include Euclid Records, Music Record Shop, Planet Score Records, Record Exchange, and Vintage Vinyl. There's also a new store on Cherokee Street, Endless Planets, that will be holding its grand opening celebration that day..

As mentioned last week in this space, yr. humble StLJN editor once again will be among the local music writers doing hour-long "guest DJ" sets at Vintage Vinyl, spinning tunes on the in-house sound system from 2:30 p.m. from 3:30 p.m.

You can find guides to all the local Record Store Day activities in both the Riverfront Times and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. And if you're looking for a list of the various record labels' special jazz releases for RSD 2016, DownBeat has all that info for you here.

* The 442s appear on the latest episode of the TV program STL Up Late, which can be seen online here.

* Wack-A-Doo has posted photos from their recent "Coffee Concert" performances at The Sheldon to Flickr and Facebook.

* St. Louis Legacy Ensemble has posted to YouTube a video of "Lafayette," a new original song by percussionist and bandleader Joe Pastor.

* Guitarist Todd Mosby has posted video of a new original song, "Ode to Joe," on Facebook. Mosby will perform it and other songs from his new album in a CD release event on April 30 at Focal Point

* Trombonist Dave Dickey's performance at tomorrow's North County Jazz Festival in Park Hills, MO is previewed in an article in the Park Hills Daily Journal.

* The Belleville News Democrat reports that student jazz bands from Belleville made a good showing in the annual Illinois State Jazz Invitational last weekend, as Central Junior High took first place in the statewide competition's junior high division and the District 118 Jazz Combo won first place in the high school division.

* According to a Riverfront Times article by Thomas Crone, the proprietors of 2720 Cherokee are reorganizing both their live music offerings and their physical space, including opening a new, smaller-scale lounge called Barcade within the 2720 building.

* Saxophonist Rev. Cliff Aerie and trumpeter/pianist Tim Osiek have published Hymns of the Spirit: Pentecost and Beyond, the fourth volume of arrangements in their Worship Jazz series. The downloadable book features hymns "arranged in a variety of jazz genres: straight ahead, Latin, Dixieland, funk and more," with all 12 selections transposed for C, Bb, Eb and bass clef instrumentation.

* Lindy Hop St. Louis, organizers of the annual Nevermore Jazz Ball weekend held in the fall, have announced the dates for the 2016 River City Mess Around. The fourth annual edition of the summer swing dance weekend will be held July 1 through July 4, with venues and exact schedule of events TBA.