Jazz this week: Jeff Coffin & the Mu'tet, Peter Martin, Funky Butt Brass Band CD release, Thollem McDonas, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in and around St. Louis includes the Jazz at the Bistro debut of a touring saxophonist who's already built up a nice local following; the release of a new album by some local favorites; shows from several fine piano players; and, as the saying goes, much more. Let's go to the highlights....

Tonight, saxophonist Jeff Coffin and his eclectic jazz-fusion group the Mu’tet will make their debut at Jazz at the Bistro in the first evening of a four-night run continuing through Saturday. They're touring in support of a new album, and for more about that, plus some video samples of the Mu'tet in action, see this post from last Saturday.

Also on Wednesday, two weekly gigs nearby in Grand Center continue, starting early with bassist Bob DeBoo hosting a jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center, followed by trumpeter Kasimu Taylor leading a trio (with guests) just down the block at The Dark Room.

Elsewhere around town, guitarist Dave Black, singer Feyza Eren and friends will perform at Nathalie's, and the Sidney Street Shakers will play their monthly "Cherokee Shake" swing dance event at 2720 Cherokee.

Tomorrow night, multi-instrumentalist Jeff Anderson will lead a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and the Gaslight Cabaret Festival continues with actor, singer and director Christopher Limber reprising his show "Riffs in a Set of 10," originally performed at this past summer's St. Louis Fringe Festival, at the Gaslight Theater.

On Friday, pianist Peter Martin resumes his eponymous series at the Sheldon Concert Hall, though without his originally announced special guest, clarinetist Anat Cohen, who had to cancel due to a family emergency. Standing in for Cohen will be singers Erin Bode and Brian Owens.

There are two other noteworthy pianists in action on Friday, too, as free improvisor Thollem McDonas will be in town for a performance at Tavern of Fine Arts, while Carolbeth True and Two Times True will be playing straight-ahead jazz and more at the Ozark Theatre

On Saturday afternoon, as he has on several previous visits, Jeff Coffin will present a free workshop and performance at Saxquest.

Then on Saturday night, the Funky Butt Brass Band (pictured) will celebrate the release of their new album Sugar Sugar Whomp Whomp with a performance at the Broadway Oyster Bar. (You can hear a preview of the album here.)

Also on Saturday, singer, actor and Webster University faculty member Lara Teeter wraps up the Gaslight Cabret Festival's fall schedule with his show "Lucky To Be Me" at Gaslight Theater; and the Joe Bozzi Band will play at Evangeline's.

On Sunday afternoon, those who enjoy supporting local student musicians can do so by checking out the Riverview Gardens High School Big Band and "Point of View" jazz combo, along with band director and saxophonist Harvey Lockhart's quintet, at the Sheldon.

Also on Sunday, catch some swing and jump blues from Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups; or revisit "The Music of Phyllis Hyman" courtesy of singer Courtney Loveless and First Call, which features Jeff Anderson, Eric Slaughter, Phillip Graves, Everett Moore, Chad Evans, Craig Williams, and Jason Swagler, at the Clubhouse of the Probstein Golf Course in Forest Park.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday "Blind" Willie Dineen and the Broadway Collective will check in for their monthly gig at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Then on Tuesday, Genesis Jazz Project will perform at the Midwest Music Conservatory in Ballwin; and the Tavern of Fine Arts will host a triple bill presented by the Society for Creative Survival, a joint project of pianists David Parker and Greg Mills.

The free show will feature the Vernacular String Trio (Tracy Andreotti, cello; Josh Weinstein, bass; and Alexander Cunningham, violin) with Nexus (Mills, piano; Dave Stone, saxophones; Jeremy Melsha, trombone; and Ajay Khanna, electronics) and Creative Delusions (Mills, Andreotti, Parker, and Henry Claude, percussion).

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 the latest wrap-up of assorted links and short local news items of interest:

* The old Saum Hotel building in the Shaw neighborhood - once the site of performances by swing era bandleader Eddie Randle and the Blue Devils, who provided early professional experience for Miles Davis - is the subject of a post by the history blog Sherlock Homes STL.

* Baritone saxophonist Roger Lewis of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band (pictured) was interviewed by the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson. The DDBB will perform tonight at the Old Rock House.

* The Sheldon Concert Hall and Metrotix over the holiday weekend are offering 50% off tickets to see "Miller Magic: The Music of Glenn Miller" featuring Bob Coleman's Legacy Big Band on Sunday, June 3 at the Sheldon. Regular prices are $35 and $30, but with the discount, purchasers only have to pay $17.50 and $15. To access the offer, go to this page on Metrotix.com before 11:59 p.m. on Monday, May 28. No promo code is needed.

* One of Wednesday night's sets by bassist Stanley Clarke's trio at Jazz at the Bistro was reviewed by KDHX's Wil Wander. Clarke continues at the Bistro through tomorrow night.

* Speaking of Clarke, NPR's program Jazz Set has reposted online a recording of a live performance from the 2009 Monterey Jazz Festival featuring the bassist's trio with pianist Chick Corea and drummer Lenny White.

* Electronic musician Eric Hall has just put online a full-length audio recording from his performance on Wednesday night at Laumeier Sculpture Park with pianist Thollem McDonas and multi-instrumentalist Arrington de Dionyso. Download it for free from Hall's Bandcamp page here. You also can see video of the concert, divided into five segments, here.

* City Music & Education Center this summer will present a jazz ensemble camp for students in grades 7 through 12 from Monday, August 6 through Friday, August 10.. The instructor is keyboardist Pete Ruthenburg. Get details on this and the store's other summer camps - for songwriting, pop vocals, "Caribbean Kids," and one aimed at devotees of the music of Jimmy Buffett, aka "Parrotheads"- on their website.

* The St. Louis American's Chris King interviewed Oliver L Jackson, one of the visual artists who back in the day belonged to the Black Artists Group. Jackson has a solo show at the "project room" at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 3750 Washington Ave., continuing through June 10.

Thollem McDonas to perform Wednesday, May 23 at Laumeier Sculpture Park

Pianist Thollem McDonas, a frequent visitor to St. Louis in recent years, is coming back again this spring to perform at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 23 at Laumeier Sculpture Park.

McDonas (pictured) will play an hour-long set outdoors at Laumeier with multi-instrumentalist Arrington de Dionyso and electronic musician Eric Hall as part of Hall's year-long gig as the park's composer-in-residence. The event is free and open to the public.

McDonas was last in St. Louis in January 2011 to play a concert presented by New Music Circle at the Kranzberg Arts Center. His website also says he has another show on Wednesday, May 23 at Floating Laboratories, performing with de Dionyso, Hall, Kevin Harris, and Spelling Bee, but so far there's no mention of it either on Floating Laboratories' site or their Facebook page.

McDonas played at Floating Laboratories in May 2010 when he was in town for a visit that also included an on-air performance at KDHX and a show at the Tap Room with the band Tsigoti. If/when the details of that second May 23 performance are announced, we'll have an update for you here.

Jazz this week: Charlie Hunter, Bonerama, Bloom Project, Dave Black, and more

This week's schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis offers a grab-bag of styles, from a funky, soul-jazz-inspired guitar trio to straight-ahead standards to free improv. Let's go to the highlights....

The big name in town this week is guitarist Charlie Hunter, who plays with his trio tonight through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Hunter was in St. Louis most recently in 2009 at the Bistro, playing in a duo format, and has released a couple of CDs since then, including his most recent effort, the 2010 solo disc Public Domain.

His current trio includes drummer Eric Kalb and bass trumpeter Michael Williams, and you can see some footage of them performing live in this post from last Saturday.

Also tonight, the New Orleans-based Bonerama brings its four-trombone front line to The Gramophone, and saxophonist Christopher McBride plays an early evening gig at Brandt's, which recently underwent a change in management and seems to be doing better both at updating their online music schedule and at once again booking some jazz-oriented acts.

On Thursday evening, the Webster Groves HS and middle school jazz bands hold their "Cool Nights, Hot Jazz" fundraiser at The Pageant, and on Friday, pianist Ptah Williams leads his trio at Robbie's House of Jazz.

UPDATE - 10:00 a.m., 1/20/11: Webster Groves HS jazz band director Kevin Cole just emailed with the news that tonight's fundraising event at the Pageant has been postponed due to the snowstorm that hit St. Louis today. Cole says they'll try to reschedule, and when they do, StLJN will have the news right here.

On Saturday morning, pianist Carolbeth True and singer Christi John Bye will play a program of jazz and pop standards at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and later that afternoon, pianist Heather Bosshardt has a CD release event at Robbie's.

On Saturday night, Bloom Project, aka pianist Thollem McDonas and saxophonist Rent Romus (pictured), will offer a performance of improvised music at the Kranzberg Arts Center under the auspices of New Music Circle, and vibraphonist Peter Schlamb is at Brandt's.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday bassist David Certain's CertainBeat WorldBop returns to BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, and on Tuesday, guitarist Dave Black will perform in a "Notes from Home" concert at the Sheldon.

Black's concert will feature original music performed by four different ensembles, with a cast of players including violinists Asako Kuboki and Justin Branum; cellist Ranya Iqbal; saxophonist Paul DeMarinis; bassists David Deriso, Marc Torlina, Willem von Hombracht, and Dave Troncoso; drummers Kevin Gianino and Joe Meyer; and vocalists Margaret Bianchetta and Javier Mendoza.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, 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.)

Jazz this week: James Carter Organ Trio, Ozomatli, TSIGOTI, Willerm Delisfort, Stephanie Trick, and more

Though the biggest jazz name in St. Louis this weekend is a saxophonist, it's also a good week to hear some piano players, with four different events featuring talented pianists working in styles ranging from ragtime and stride to swing, bop and blues to free-form and experimental. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, saxophonist James Carter's Organ Trio begins a four-night run at Jazz at the Bistro. A versatile performer with a wide stylistic range and serious chops on a half-dozen different horns, Carter (pictured) also will give a free clinic/masterclass this Saturday at Saxquest. For more about Carter and some video of his organ trio in action, see this post from last Saturday.

Also tonight, the experimentally minded pianist Thollem McDonas will do a solo concert at Luminary Center for the Arts, 4900 Reber Place on the south side. This show was a late addition for McDonas, who's back in town primarily for a performance Thursday with the band TSIGOTI at the Schlafly Tap Room downtown. Described by their label ESP-Disk as "an international band combining revolutionary politics and intelligent semi-acoustic avant-punk," TSIGOTI are touring in support of their latest CD, Private Poverty Speaks to the People of the Party.

On Friday, the Latin/funk/jazz/hip-hop band Ozomatli plays at Blueberry Hill. Originally scheduled for Powell Symphony Hall as a collaboration with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the show last week was moved to Blueberry Hill for reasons that still are unexplained. The performance was announced as a sellout earlier today - no big surprise considering the relative capacities of the two venues - but it's possible some ticket brokers may still have seats, or you can always try your luck at the venue right before the gig me and hope for a cancellation, no-show, or to run across someone with extra tickets for sale.

Elsewhere on Friday, pianist Willerm Delisfort will play at Robbie's House of Jazz. A native of Miami, FL, Delisfort studied at Northern Illinois University, where the much-esteemed educator Ronald Carter heads the jazz program, and also is a protege of the fine Chicago pianist Willie Pickens. (Warning: Delisfort's website has one of those annoying Flash interfaces that launches another window and autoplays music as soon as it loads. Fortunately, the music sounds pretty good, but those with finicky browsers should be wary.)

On Sunday afternoon, the husband-and-wife team of pianist Reggie Thomas and singer Mardra Thomas will do a free concert titled "Your Blues Ain't Like Mine" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Tuesday pianist Stephanie Trick will perform in a "Notes From Home" event at the Sheldon Concert Hall. A 2009 graduate of the University of Chicago, Trick specializes in ragtime and pre-WWII jazz piano styles, and the examples of her playing available online show some impressive technique. Jazz broadcaster Don Wolff, who will MC Tuesday's concert, recently recorded an interview with Trick for his radio show, and you can hear it online here.

Also on Tuesday, the Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club presents “Da-Dum-Dun,” a event honoring three world-class artists associated with East St. Louis. The tribute to jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, writer Henry Lee Dumas and dancer Katherine Dunham will include live jazz from saxophonist Kendrick Smith and pianist Brian Harrison; poetry from Redmond, Michael Castro, Roscoe Crenshaw, Byron Lee, Susan Lively, Patricia Merritt, Darlene Roy, Lena Weathers, Treasure Williams and Jaye Willis; dance from students at the SIUE-ESL Center for the Performing Arts; and what's being called a "multimodal exhibit." It starts at 6:00 p.m. in Room 2083 of Bldg. B on the SIUE-East St. Louis Higher Education Campus, 601 J.R. Thompson Dr.

For more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, 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.)

TSIGOTI performing at the Tap Room on Thursday, May 13

Pianist Thollem McDonas is returning to St. Louis with his latest project, the band TSIGOTI (pictured), for a free concert at 8:00 p.m., Thursday, May 13 at the Schlafly Tap Room, 2100 Locust downtown. The St. Louis band Magic City will open the show.

McDonas, who has performed in St. Louis several times in recent years as part of his seemingly non-stop touring, incorporates elements of free improvisation, classical music, jazz, rock and more into his solo work. TSIGOTI, signed to the famed free-jazz label ESP-Disk, is described as "a collaborative and improvisational quazi-punk band dedicated to expressing their opposition of war, authoritarian regimes, and violent religious extremes."

TSIGOTI's album Private Poverty Speaks To The People Of The Party was released in January, just after they wrapped up a tour of Italy. Besides McDonas on piano and vocals, TSIGOTI includes Jack Andrews (guitar), Ben Itchy (bass) and Andy Cap (drums).

(Edited 4/1/10 to correct band members' names.)

Jazz this week: Trio Globo, Box Deserter Trio, Jazz St. Louis All-Stars, and more

After a veritable banquet of musical activity last week, the menu of jazz, improvisation and creative music this weekend in St. Louis is a bit shorter, but still offers some potentially tasty choices. Also notable in these recessionary times is the fact that the two touring attractions in town are both doing shows with no admission fees or cover charges, which is certainly good news for anyone who may have already spent their live music budget for the month. .

One of those touring groups is Trio Globo, featuring keyboardist/harmonica player Howard Levy, cellist Eugene Friesen and percussionist Glen Velez (pictured). They'll be in residency at St. Louis Community College-Meramec on Thursday and Friday, doing a series of free workshops and rehearsing during the day, and then closing things out with a free concert on Friday night in the Meramec Theatre on campus, accompanied by the Meramec orchestra and choir. For more on Trio Globo and a complete schedule of events, please see this post.

The other touring ensemble in question is the Box Deserter Trio, featuring pianist Thollem McDonas, saxophonist Skeeter Shelton, and bassist/multi-instrumentalist Joel Peterson. They're also performing on Thursday and Friday, doing a pair of free shows downtown at the Schlafly St. Louis Brewery and Tap Room. On Thursday, the opening acts will be the bands Holy! Holy! Holy! and Allgorithms, and on Friday, it's poet K. Curtis Lyle with multi-instrumentalist David A.N. Jackson and bassist and mbira player Zimbabwe Nkenya.

This is also the weekend when the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars, the ensemble featuring the top students from JSL's educational programs, does their annual gig at Jazz at the Bistro. They'll be on stage for two sets a night on Friday and Saturday, showing off what they've learned over the past year of rehearsing, performing, workshopping with visiting artists including Greg Osby and Bruce Barth, and studying with their regular instructors, trumpeter Anthony Wiggins and pianist/JSL education director Phil Dunlap.

UPDATE - 4/23/09, 12:10 p.m.: Drummer T. S. Monk, son of the legendary jazz pianist Thelonious Monk, is also in the St. Louis area this weekend, performing with his sextet on Saturday night at SIU-Edwardsville as part of the University's Arts and Issues series. Tickets are $27 for general admission, $12 for students, and the concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Meridian Ballroom of the Morris University Center.

Elsewhere this weekend, the St. Louis Jazz Cafe has smooth jazz saxophonists Readus Miller on Thursday and Michael Anthony Fitzgerald on Friday, then singer Danita Mumphard on Saturday night and the Usual Suspects Duo for Sunday brunch. On Sunday, Bud Shultz and the You Can't Beat Experience Jazz Band will offer their monthly session of traditional jazz at the Alton VFW hall, and on Tuesday, neo-swing group Swing DeVille will play at The Gramophone/

As always, these are just some of the noteworthy shows happening around St. Louis over the next few days. To see more jazz-related events in St. Louis this weekend and beyond, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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: Average White Band, Konk Pack, Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum, KMOX Jazz and Wine Festival, John Jorgenson, and more

It's another busy week for jazz in St. Louis, with performances representing a variety of subgenres including mainstream, experimental improv, funk, and even some 1930s-style string band hot jazz in the spirit of legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt.

On Thursday night, 1970s funk heroes Average White Band will play at Jazz at the Bistro. This was a late addition to the Bistro's schedule this year, and obviously AWB are a bit different than the venue's usual straightahead jazz fare. Still, given that the group's last St. Louis appearance a couple of years ago was at the much larger (and now defunct) Mississippi Nights, I'd expect enough of a turnout from AWB fans to pack the place. And judging from video of recent incarnations of the group, and the assessment of a someone who saw that last St. Louis show, those fans expecting spirited renditions of funky hits such as "Pick Up The Pieces" and "Cut The Cake" likely will be quite pleased with what they hear.

For the weekend, the Bistro goes in a completely different stylistic direction with shows on Friday and Saturday by St. Louis veteran pianist, singer and saxophonist Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum. A local fixture since the Gaslight Square era, Whalum plays frequently around town and is well known for his classy renditions of jazz standards and numbers from the Great American Songbook. However, the chance to hear him work in the Bistro's "listening room" format is both a welcome acknowledgement of his continued appeal and artistic vitality and a good opportunity for fans used to hearing him in noisier settings to catch all the nuances of Whalum's performance.

There's plenty happening beyond the Bistro, too, starting with experimental pianist Thollem McDonas, who must like St. Louis; he was just here in June and this week he's back in town once again, doing another intimate concert performance at Jackson Pianos , 3131 Cherokee, on Friday night and returning for another performace at the St. Louis Brewery and Tap Room downtown on Saturday.

Friday night also brings a show by the improv trio Konk Pack, who will kick off New Music Circle's 2007-08 season with a performance in an "alternative space" downtown at the Kerr Foundation Building, 21 O’Fallon Street (on the riverfront just north of Laclede's Landing.)

On Saturday, this year's edition of the KMOX Jazz and Wine Festival takes place at Faust Park in Chesterfield, with a lineup of popular performers including Kim Massie, Denise Thimes, the Bosman Twins and Anita Rosamond. I'm told that last year's event attracted several thousand people, and, weather permitting, this year's should be well-attended, too, which somehow seems a bit ironic considering that Saturday night is also the final time KMOX will air Don Wolff's long-running jazz radio broadcast.

Closing out the weekend, guitarist John Jorgenson (pictured) and his quintet will perform Sunday night at Trinity Presbyterian Church in University City as part of the church's "Reverberations" concert series. From the samples I've seen and heard, Jorgenson is definitely a highly proficient picker, and fans of both Gypsy jazz and great guitar playing in general will want to check him out.

Other noteworthy shows this week: Saxophonist Paul DeMarinis will do a free concert Thursday night at Washington University as part of the Jazz at Holmes series. Also, Cookie's Jazz and More has Trio Tres Bien with singer Danita Mumphard on Friday, and an event for alumni of Webster University's jazz studies program on Saturday. Last but not least, on Sunday, Brandt's has singer Mae Wheeler and Friends for another late-afternoon/early evening performance.

Update - 9/27/07, 4 p.m.: There's one more pick to add for the weekend: Bassist Ric Vice emailed with late news that the Kim Portnoy Trio will be playing a concert at 7:30 p.m. this Sunday at Eliot Chapel, 100 N. Taylor in Kirkwood. The show will feature a number of pianist/composer Portnoy's originals, and a portion of the proceeds from CDs sold at the show goes to benefit Habitat for Humanity.
As always, these highlights are but a sampling of what's out there, so for more St. Louis area jazz-related events, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar.

(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.)

Pianist Thollem McDonas coming back to St. Louis for performances on June 16 & 17

Peripatetic pianist Thollem McDonas (pictured) is back in the United States and will return to St. Louis for two performances next month.

On Saturday, June 16, he'll play at the St. Louis Brewery and Tap Room on a bill with Peanuts (Eric Hall, Jeremy Brantlinger and Sadeeq Holmes) and Y' Toros. Then at 2 p.m. the next afternoon (Sunday, June 17), McDonas will give a solo recital at Jackson Pianos, 3138 Cherokee.

In addition to his main Web site, McDonas has three different MySpace pages showcasing his various projects, located here, here and here.