Jazz this week: Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Jazz at Lincoln Center Quartet, and more

Here's a look at some of the most noteworthy jazz and creative music performances happening this week in and around St. Louis:

Tonight, the Jazz at Holmes series of free concerts at Washington University presents "A Tribute to Jim Hall" with guitarists William Lenihan & Vincent Varvel; and it's the monthly "Experimental Arts Open Mic Night" with live improvised music at the Tavern of Fine Arts.

Tomorrow night, four musicians who are part of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra - trombonist Vincent Gardner (pictured), saxophonist Walter Blanding, trumpeter Kenny Rampton and drummer Jerome Jennings - will take the stage for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro. The four have been in town all week for an educational residency with Jazz St. Louis, presenting workshops and master classes at area schools and working with student musicians in the JazzU and Jazz St. Louis All-Stars programs. They'll be joined for the Bistro gig by JSL's education director, pianist Phil Dunlap, and bassist Nick Jost.

Also on Friday night, pianist Travis Wesley Hoover brings his trio to Robbie's House of Jazz; the Ann Dueren Trio performs at Il Bel Lago; Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; guitarist Mason Baran's trio will be at the Cigar Inn; and saxophonist Tim Cunningham will continues with what's now being billed as a regular weekly Friday show at Troy's Jazz Gallery. 

Then on Saturday, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey returns to St. Louis for the first tme since 2011 to perform at  The Demo. To see some performance videos and find out what JFJO has been up to since they were here last, see this post.

Also on Saturday night, the Coleman Hughes Project plays at Troy's Jazz Gallery; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will perform at Venice Cafe; singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black will duet at Thurman Grill; and the Funky Butt Brass Band will be back at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

On Sunday, the Friends of Scott Joplin will present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday saxophonist Freddie Washington will join members of the Webster University Jazz Faculty to play the music of Sonny Rollins at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus; and guitarist Tom Byrne will play at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

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.)

(Edited after posting to fix some formatting problems.) 

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Six from Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey

This week, let's look at some videos featuring Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, who are coming back to St. Louis to perform next Saturday, February 1 at The Demo.

Formed in Tulsa, OK in 1994, JFJO are celebrating their 20th year as a band with, among other things, a set at the recently completed Winter Jazzfest in NYC, and having a craft beer named in their honor by Oklahoma’s Prairie Artisan Ales.

(They last appeared here in St. Louis in 2011 at Cicero's, and the subjects of a video showcase post then. Keyboardist and founding member Brian Haas also talked with yr. humble editor about the band's evolution in an interview published in the Riverfront Times.)

At that time, JFJO had recorded but not yet released The Race Riot Suite, an album of songs telling the story of a 1921 race riot in Tulsa that resulted in the death of hundreds of black Tulsans and the destruction of an entire city district.

The album featured the band's core lineup - Haas, Joshua Raymer (drums), Chris Combs (lap steel guitar, guitar) and Jeff Harshbarger (bass) - augmented by a five-member horn section that included Kansas City saxophonist Mark Southerland, who's since become an official member of the group, along with Jeff Coffin, Steven Bernstein, Peter Apfelbaum, and Matt Leland.

You can see that ensemble in the first clip up above, performing the "Prelude" of The Race Riot Suite followed by the song "Black Wall Street," both recorded at the suite's world premiere in May 2011 at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.

Down below, there are clips of four more selections from The Race Riot Suite: "The Burning" and "Second Prayer," also from the world premiere; "Grandfather's Gun," recorded in October 2011 at FTC StageOne in Fairfield, CT; and "Eye of the Dove," again from the world premiere.

The sixth and final video features a solo improvisation from Haas, who now lives in Santa Fe, NM, and last fall released Frames, an album of original compositions performed as a duo with drummer Matt Chamberlain.

Jazz this week: Mike Dillon Band, Erin Bode sings standards, Phil Dunlap Quintet with Nicholas Payton, and more

Though many touring jazz stars are busy playing the festival circuit this month, there's still plenty of live jazz and creative music this weekend in St. Louis. Here's what's coming up over the next few days...

Tonight, the Mike Dillon Band returns to perform at The Demo. Led by percussionist Mike Dillon (pictured), the MDB were here last in February, opening for Umphrey's McGee at The Pageant. They mix up jazz, funk, rock and punk in an energetic and entertaining way, and you can check out some samples of them on video in this post from a couple of weeks ago.

Also tonight, guitarists Eric Slaughter and Tom Byrne play at the Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood; the Tavern of Fine Arts features live improvised music for its monthly "Avant Garde Arts Night"; and and saxophonist Tim Cunningham plays a free outdoor concert at Bluebird Park in Ellisville.

On Friday, singer Erin Bode returns to her musical roots as a student in the jazz program at Webster University, opening a two-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro during which she'll revisit material from the "Great American Songbook." Though Bode performs mostly original songs these days, those who remember her early gigs here know that she's a capable interpreter of standards, too.

Elsewhere on Friday, saxophonist Michael Anthony Fitzgerald performs at Jazz on Broadway, Second Generation Swing takes the stage at the Casa Loma Ballroom; and guitarist Brian Vaccaro's trio will play a mini-concert at a rather unusual venue, the Clayton cafe and spa Sip Salon. There's also another free outdoor show of interest on Friday, as trumpeter Jim Manley performs before a screening of The Big Chill for the Old Orchard Gazebo Music and Movie series in Webster Groves. 

Saturday brings a couple of very different grand openings  - one on the Hill, the other on Art Hill - with jazz accompaniment. First up, in the afternoon singer Tony Viviano and band will perform to celebrate the new outdoor cafe at J. Viviano & Sons grocery and deli, located in the heart of South St. Louis' famed Italian neighborhood.

Then a few hours later and just a couple of miles away in Forest Park, pianist and Jazz St. Louis director of education Phil Dunlap will debut a new quintet at the long-awaited grand opening of the new wing of the St. Louis Art Museum. Dunlap's quintet, with drummer Montez Coleman, bassist Jahmal Nichols, saxophonist Ben Reece and trumpeter Danny Campbell, will be augmented for the occasion by special guests including trumpeter Nicholas Payton, saxophonist Willie Akins and singer Brian Owens.

Also on Saturday, guitarist Larry Brown Jr. is back home from Chicago to lead his group at Robbie's House of Jazz; singer Feyza Eren is at Thurman Grill; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes perform at the Wine Press; and singer Jerome Elliott presents his cabaret show "My Favorite Springs" at The Chapel.

On Sunday, trumpeter/singer Dawn Weber and multi-instrumentalist Lamar Harris (in his alternate identity as "DJ Nune") will supply the sounds for Sauce Magazine's annual "Saucy Soiree" at the Four Seasons Hotel; and singer and pianist Jesse Gannon will promote the release of his new CD with a show at The Gramophone.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Ride the "Lunatic Express" with Mike Dillon

This week, let's check out some videos of the Mike Dillon Band, who will be in St. Louis to play on Thursday, June 27 at The Demo.

The group features Dillon on vibraphone, percussion and vocals, Carly Meyers on trombone and bass pedals, Cliff Hines on guitar, bass and keyboards, and Adam Gertner on drums. They played here most recently back in February, when they opened for Umphrey's McGee at The Pageant.

Dillon, a prolific collaborator and relentless live performer, also has played St. Louis in recent years with both Garage A Trois and The Dead Kenny Gs, and the MDB shares to an certain extent what might be called the "punk/jazz" sensibility of those two bands.

All three are high-energy, generally high-volume ensembles that rely most on driving, danceable rhythms with occasional quiet interludes and/or bursts of odd time signatures. In addition, given the MDB's trombone and mallet percussion; frequent use of fast, angular unison melodies; and penchant for cryptic or tongue-in-cheek song titles, some listeners of a certain age might be tempted to use the adjective "Zappaesque" to describe their music.

That impression is further reinforced visually by Meyers, whose interpretive-dance stage moves seem like they'd fit right in next to those of famously rubber-legged former FZ sideman Napoleon Murphy Brock and Zappa Plays Zappa keyboardist/saxophonist Scheila Gonzalez.

Though Dillon has recorded extensively with a number of different bands, his 2012 solo album Um seems to be the source of much of the MDB's current live repertoire. And while comparisons can be useful as shorthand or a starting point, there's really no substitute for actually hearing the music. So, let's get to that...

The first video up above is of a tune called "Hafta" and was recorded right here in St. Louis in the studios of KDHX (88.1 FM) during Dillon's last visit here in February.

Down below are two songs, "DVS" and "Ding Dong (The Party's Over)," recorded in September 2012 at Mezo's Juke Joint in Ocean Springs, MS. Below that is a version of "Lunatic Express" captured in May of last year at Keg Lounge in Orange Beach, AL.

The fifth clip, date and place of origin unknown, features a tune called "Harris County." The sixth video is of a tune called "Omar," recorded at One Eyed Jacks in New Orleans, with New Orleans native (and Dillon's fellow Garage A Trois member) Stanton Moore sitting in for Gertner on drums.

You can hear more audio of the Mike Dillon Band recorded during their visit to KDHX here. For more about Dillon, check out this 2011 interview with Drum magazine.











(Edited 6/17/13 to correct a typo.)

Jazz this week: Lionel Loueke, Snarky Puppy, Trinity Piano Trio, Denise Thimes, and more

From Africa to outer space to New Orleans, NYC and beyond, this week's jazz and creative music performances in St. Louis cover a lot of ground. Let's go the highlights:

Tonight, guitarist and singer Lionel Loueke opens a four-night gig at Jazz at the Bistro. The Benin-born, Berklee-educated guitarist and singer has played in St. Louis before as a sideman with Herbie Hancock, but this will be his local debut as a leader fronting his own trio. For more about Loueke, and some video samples of him in action, check out this video post from the week before last.

Also tonight, singer Joe Mancuso leads a quartet at Frontenac Grill; and the St. Charles Community College Jazz Band plays a free show at the Shook Fine Arts Building on the SLCC campus. The concert also will feature some music from the faculty sextet, which includes trombonist Dave Dickey, trumpeter Keith Moyer, pianist Carolbeth True, guitarist Randy Bahr, bassist Eric Warren, and drummer Kevin Gianino.

Tomorrow night, the jazz/funk/world-music band Snarky Puppy returns to St. Louis, this time to perform at The Demo. The group's expansive sound defies easy description, but you can get a feel for what they're all about by checking out this video post from last Saturday.

Also on Thursday, Good 4 The Soul plays an early evening set at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups; and Miss Jubilee performs at the Thaxton Speakeasy.

On Friday, New Music Circle presents what's being billed as "a celebration of Sun Ra's 99th birthday" featuring the Trinity Piano Trio (pictured) at the William A. Kerr Foundation, 21 O'Fallon St. on Laclede's Landing.

Violinist Manuela Kaymakanova, cellist Tracy Andreotti and pianist Amanda Kirkpatrick will perform a program of original works from area composers, inspired to varying degrees by the legacy of the visionary pianist, composer and bandleader. The more explicit references include a Fred Tompkins piece based on the melody of Ra's "Space Is The Place", and something from Jim Hegarty incorporating ideas from several of Ra's pieces, but there also will be new compositions by Eric Hall, Robert Wykes, Michael F. Hunt, Adam Maness, Serban Nichifor, and Andreotti herself.

Also Friday, drummer Marty Morrison leads a quartet with saxophonist Jason Swagler, trumpeter Ross McCliff and bassist Bob DeBoo, playing the music of Ornette Coleman at Cigar Inn; singer and pianist Al Oxenhandler joins forces with saxophonist Jay Hutson and his band Da Wolvez for a gig at Robbie's House of Jazz; and the Funky Butt Brass Band plays at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

On Saturday afternoon, saxophonist Joel Vanderheyden and Koplant No will play a free concert at Saxquest. Vanderheyden is assistant professor of music and director of jazz at Jefferson College in Hillsboro; Koplant No, which mixes jazz, electronic music, and prog rock, also includes Brian Lewis Smith on trumpet and laptop, Drew Morton on bass, and Rob Baner on drums and samples.

Then on Saturday evening, trumpeter Randy Holmes will lead a quintet performing music from the Miles Davis groups of the 1950s and 1960s at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Sunday afternoon, singer Denise Thimes will star in her annual Mother's Day show at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The concert will be preceded by an optional buffet dinner; for more about that, see the event page on the Sheldon's website.

Also on Sunday afternoon, the Kirkwood United Church of Church presents another concert in their "Inner Jazz' series, featuring music from the B-V-D Trio with bassist Dave Troncoso, vibraphonist Tom Rickard, drummer Brian May, and the series' host, Rev. Cliff Aerie, on saxophone.

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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Snarky Puppy sampler

This week, let's take a look at some clips featuring Snarky Puppy, the Texas-born, Brooklyn-based funk/jazz/world music band who are coming back to St. Louis to perform this coming Thursday, May 9 at The Demo.

Three-time winners of "Best Jazz Act" in the the Dallas Observer's Music Awards, Snarky Puppy is a loosely structured collective led by bassist Michael League and made up primarily of musicians who studied in the jazz program at the University of North Texas in Denton.

They've played St. Louis several times now, most recently back in August 2012 at The Gramophone, and to date have released five CDs of original music plus a CD/DVD set called GroundUP that came out in 2012. For their next release, in February they did a live recording with singer Lalah Hathaway and other guest stars that's also set to come out as CD/DVD set.

With an ensemble that can range in numbers from a touring band of seven or eight on up to a studio contingent of 20, Snarky Puppy offers what's essentially a contemporary take on funk and fusion, laid out in multi-part compositions, layered with percussion and occasionally veering off into odd-meter grooves that keep things from getting too predictable.

By way of examples, today's first two clips come from a gig in March of this year in Paris. The first track up above is "Binky," and down below, it's "Young Stuff," which features some impromptu pre-song dialog from League about the band's experiences on tour. We round out the program with four tracks from a show in April 2013 at Brooklyn Bowl in New York: "Flood," "Skate U," "Thing of Gold" and "What About Me?"

For more about Snarky Puppy, check out this audio interview with Michael League, recorded last month before the band's appearance at a music festival in Oregon; this interview that League did with PureGrainAudio.com; and this review of a recent show in London.

Jazz this week: "Triumph of Trumpets" with Faddis, Stafford & Jones, "Seeing Sound," Marco Benevento, Hot 8 Brass Band, and more

If you're a fan of brass instruments, it's a good week to be a jazz listener in St. Louis, with three first-rate trumpet players performing together on one stage, plus a chance to see one of New Orleans' most spirited brass bands. And if you're not in the mood for brass, there are plenty of other options, too, from spacey keyboard jams to swinging guitars to experimental film and audio. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, singer Erin Bode performs at Troy's Jazz Gallery, and singer Ralph Butler and keyboardist Gigi Darr will play at Brazikat (a recently opened Brazilian restaurant in Clayton).

Tomorrow night, brothers Dan Rubright (guitar) and Ted Rubright (percussion) will bring their new group WirePilots to Washington University to play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series; and guitarist Todd Mosby plays a concert of original music at Webster University's Community Music School.

On Friday, it's the first of two evenings of the "Triumph of Trumpets" at Jazz at the Bistro, featuring noted brass men Jon Faddis, Terell Stafford (pictured) and Sean Jones. The three have been teamed up for a weekend at the Bistro after being in town all this week for an educational residency for Jazz St. Louis. If you're a fan (or student) of jazz trumpet, this obviously is the pick show of the week, as the chance to hear three top players on one stage doesn't come along all that often. 

That same evening, New Music Circle and Webster University Film Series present "Seeing Sound," a program of experimental film and audio that's screening at Webster's Moore Auditorium. For all the details on that, and some samples of the films that will be shown, please see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, Lindy Hop St. Louis present their monthly "West End Stomp" swing dance at the Mahler Ballroom , with live music from Miss Jubilee; and pianist/singer Jesse Gannon will lead a trio at Cigar Inn.

On Saturday, keyboardist Marco Benevento will be back in town to perform at 2720 Cherokee, with Downstereo as opening act. Benevento was in St. Louis most recently in September of last year, and for more about him and his music, check out the video showcase post that preceded that appearance.

Also on Saturday, keyboardist and singer Curt Landes is at Robbie's House of Jazz; guitarist Randy Bahr and pianist Carolbeth True play at One 19 North Tapas and Wine Bar; and guitarist Tom Byrne's trio with singer Feyza Eren will be at Thurman Grill.

On Sunday, New Orleans' Hot 8 Brass Band comes to town to perform at The Demo,  with a opening set from the Funky Butt Brass Band. Also on Sunday, Dizzy Atmosphere plays swing, Gypsy jazz, and more at the Schlafly St. Louis Brewery & Tap 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.)

(Edited after posting.) 

Mike Dillon Band to perform Thursday, June 27 at The Demo

The Mike Dillon Band will bring their jazz-funk-punk sound back to St. Louis for a performance at 9:00 p.m., Thursday, June 27 at The Demo, 4144 Manchester Blvd.

Dillon, a percussionist, vocalist and composer, has played here before with Garage A Trois and The Dead Kenny Gs as well as with his own eponymous group. The Mike Dillon Band were in St. Louis most recently in February, when they opened for Umphrey's McGee at The Pageant. While they were here, they also recorded some material at the studios of KDHX, which can be heard online here.

The Mike Dillon Band at The Demo is presented by the Old Rock House's ORH Concerts. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 day of show, over 18 only, with the on-sale date TBA.

Hot 8 Brass Band to perform at The Demo on Sunday, April 7

New Orleans' Hot 8 Brass Band (pictured) is coming to St. Louis to perform at 8:00 p.m., Sunday, April 7 at The Demo, the recently opened live music venue at 4144 Manchester Blvd in the Grove neighborhood. The Funky Butt Brass Band will open the show.

Formed in 1995, the Hot 8 Brass Band are known for blending hip-hop and funk with traditional jazz and brass band styles, performing regularly in New Orleans and also touring throughout the USA and internationally. They appeared in Spike Lee's 2006 documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, and have released two albums, 2007's Rock With The Hot 8 and The Life and Times of the Hot 8 Brass Band, which came out in November of last year.

Tickets for the Hot 8 Brass Band and Funky Butt Brass Band at The Demo are $10 in advance, $12 at the door (plus a $3 surcharge for minors), and are on sale online now.