Jazz this week: The Great Barrier Reefs, St. Louis Cabaret Festival, Don Schroeder's Happy-Go-Lucky Jazz Band, and more

This week's jazz and creative music calendar in St. Louis features some Caribbean-flavored jazz-fusion, three nights of cabaret, and some traditional prewar jazz, plus much more. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, the aforementioned Caribbean flavor manifests itself in the form of the Nashville-based funk/fusion band The Great Barrier Reefs (pictured), who are playing at Pop's Blue Moon. The island vibe of the five-member Reefs comes in large part from steel pan player and keyboardist Tony Hartman, but the rest of the band is quite capable, too, and their sound bridges several genres in an entertaining and appealing way. You can check them out on video in this post from last Saturday.

Also tonight, the Funky Butt Brass Band plays a free, late afternoon outdoor show at Strauss Park, across the street from the Fox Theatre; Good 4 The Soul has the early evening slot at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, and pianist Nathan Jatcko plays solo at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

Tomorrow night, the St. Louis Cabaret Festival, sponsored by the St. Louis Cabaret Conference and The Presenters Dolan, starts a three-night run of performances at the Bistro at Grand Center with a show featuring cabaret and Broadway star Karen Mason.

Also on Friday night, guitarist Vince Varvel plays at City Music and Education Center; guitarist Tom Byrne leads a trio with bassist Willem von Hombracht and drummer Chris Gianino at Cigar Inn; the Funky Butt Brass Band performs at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company; and bassist Darrell Mixon will front a trio with drummer Gary Sykes and vibraphonist Jon Whiting at Robbie's House of Jazz.

On Saturday, the Cabaret Festival will present a multi-artist bill at the Bistro that includes Barbara Fasano, Eric Comstock, Jason Graae and Rick Jensen. Also on Saturday, guitarist Dave Black leads a group at Robbie's; saxophonist Jim Stevens plays at BB's; and saxophonist Michael Fitzgerald performs at Jazz on Broadway in Alton.

Then on Sunday, the Saint Louis Jazz Club will present Don Schroeder's Happy-Go-Lucky Jazz Band in a matinee concert at the DoubleTree Hotel at Westport. The Cabaret Festival concludes Sunday evening with the St. Louis Cabaret Conference Showcase, directed by Graae and Fasono and featuring 20 singers from in and around St. Louis.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday Tom Byrne is back in action, this time with his Pat Metheny-inspired ensemble Have You Heard?, at BB's.

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: Exploring The Great Barrier Reefs

This week, let's take a look at a few video clips from The Great Barrier Reefs, an up-and-coming funk/fusion/jam band from the Nashville, Tennessee area that will be in St. Louis to perform at 10:30 p.m. this coming Thursday, August 9 at Pop's Blue Moon.

Led by steel pan player and keyboardist Tony Hartman, who's worked with drummer Roy "Futureman" Wooten's Black Mozart Ensemble, the group also includes Taylor Lonardo (bass, audio production), Josh Dunlap (saxophone), Matthew Heller (drums), and Rheal Janelle (guitar). Their most recent album release is 2011's Finding Time, which features nine original songs reflecting influences from jazz fusion to the funk of the 1960s and '70s.

Today we've got a half-dozen selections from TGBR, starting up above with a tune called "Gratitude," shown here in a recording from the 5 Spot in Nashville.

Down below, it's "Matt's Birthday," recorded in Asheville, NC (and preceded by a bit of goofiness from the road), and then "Castilla," which was performed in June at the Exit/In in Nashville during the city's Fringe Festival.

Below that are three performance originally recorded for various broadcasts. "To The Bridge Burners" was done for the program "Blue Plate Special" on the Tennessee community radio station WDXV, while "You Gotta Cheer Up, Debbie!" was recorded at Fearless Radio Chicago. The final clip, a performance of the title tune from "Finding Time," comes from the Knoxville, TN cable TV program 11 O'Clock Rock.

For more on The Great Barrier Reefs, you can read a review of the Finding Time CD here, and a feature story about the band here.

The Great Barrier Reefs to perform Thursday, August 9 at Pop's Blue Moon

The Great Barrier Reefs, a funk and fusion group based in Nashville, will perform at 10:30 p.m. Thursday, August 9 at Pop's Blue Moon.

The group (pictured) is led by steel pan player Tony Hartman of Roy "Futureman" Wooten's Black Mozart Ensemble, and also includes Taylor Lonardo (bass, audio production), Josh Dunlap (saxophone), Matthew Heller (drums), and Rheal Janelle (guitar). Their most recent album release is 2011's Finding Time, which includes nine original tracks touching on genres ranging from jazz fusion to the funk of the 1960s and '70s.

Tickets for The Great Barrier Reefs at Pop's Blue Moon will be $5 at the door.