Jazz this week: Cyrus Chestnut, Tortoise, Denise Thimes' Mothers Day show, and more

This week's calendar of jazz and creative music in St. Louis features sounds ranging from straight-ahead jazz to "post-rock," with plenty of other styles in the mix, too. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, May 4
Drummer Montez Coleman plays the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro, with a bit of help from pianist Adam Maness, bassist Bob DeBoo and singer Anita Jackson.

Elsewhere in Grand Center, saxophonist Dave Stone takes over Bob DeBoo's hosting duties for the weekly jam session at the Kranzberg Arts Center; cornetist TJ Muller of the Gaslight Squares will play at The Stage at KDHX, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor will do his weekly set at The Dark Room.

Thursday, May 5
Latin/jazz band Clave Sol will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo starting in the afternoon and continuing through evening at Rosalita's Cantina downtown; Miss Jubilee plays an early evening show at Blues City Deli; and singer Ralph Williams returns to Troy's Jazz Gallery.

Friday, May 6
Singer Brian Owens performs for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro; the Midwest Jazz-tette brings the sound of West Coast cool jazz to Evangeline's; and Tom Byrne switches to bass for a night, ceding the guitar duties to Eric Slaughter for a show by what Byrne's calling the Bassic Instinct Trio at Cigar Inn.

Also on Friday, singer/actor Ben Nordstrom performs for the first of two nights in the cabaret room at The Monocle; and singer Joe Mancuso and bassist Willem von Hombracht will duet at Tavern of Fine Arts.

Saturday, May 7
Pianist Cyrus Chestnut returns with his trio to offer some "African Reflections" at Sheldon Concert Hall. You can read more about Chestnut (pictured, top left) and see some videos of him performing in this post from last Saturday. Note also that The Sheldon is offering a discount on remaining tickets to online buyers, cutting the price to $25.

Also on Saturday, trumpeter Jim Manley and guitarist Randy Bahr lead their All-Star Band at Nathalie's.

Sunday, May 8
Singer Denise Thimes will present her annual Mothers Day extravaganza this year at a new venue, the Touhill Performing Arts Center, with help from guest stars including pianist Tamir Hendelman, saxophonist Tom Braxton, and comedian Monique Marvez.

Monday, May 9
The "post-rock" band Tortoise, who mix up a half-dozen genres or more in their mostly instrumental music, will play at the The Ready Room. The Chicago-based group (pictured, bottom left) is touring in support of their first new album in seven years, The Catastrophist, that was released in January.

Also on Monday, saxophonist Doug Webb, a veteran of many movie and TV soundtrack sessions in Los Angeles studios who's also enjoyed a long association with trumpeter Doc Severinsen, will present a free performance and workshop at Saxquest.

Tuesday, May 10
Doug Webb will perform again with Saxquest's Little Big Band at the Tavern of Fine Arts, and pianist "Ragtime" Jack Radcliffe, a Massachusetts-based performer specializing in stride, pre-WWII blues, and yes, ragtime, will play at a one-nighter at Evangeline'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.)

Jazz this week: Marcus Roberts Trio, Denise Thimes with Cyrus Chestnut and Tom Braxton, Pedrosaxo, and more

Although it's getting to the end of the spring presenting season for jazz and creative music here in St. Louis, this Mother's Day weekend nevertheless offers plenty of options for your listening enjoyment. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, pianist Marcus Roberts (pictured) and his trio will be the featured performers for the tenth annual "Evening of Hope" event benefiting the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Roberts last played in St. Louis in November 2012 concert for the Sheldon's jazz series, and you can read more about him and see some performance clips in this video showcase post from just before that gig. For info on ticket availability for tonight's show, contact The Sheldon directly.

Tomorrow night, guitarists Shaun Robinson and Eric Slaughter team up with drummer Montez Coleman and bassist Jahmal Nichols for "Great Guitars 2014" at Jazz at the Bistro; and the St. Louis Big Band will present an extravaganza they're calling "Gatsby Night," with "aerial dancers, music from the 2013 soundtrack, food, flappers and gangsters," at the Casa Loma Ballroom .

Also on Friday, the contemporary/smooth jazz quintet Dreaming In Colour plays at Robbie's House of Jazz; Koplant No performs at the Tavern of Fine Arts; guitarist Dave Black and Joe Mancuso return to Chaser's Lounge in the Chase Park Plaza Hotel; singer Mary Dyson takes the stage at Voce; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will be at Nathalie's.

Saturday offers several performances featuring female vocalists, as Wendy Gordon settles into a new weekly matinee at The Choice Restaurant, 3265 S. Jefferson Ave; Ann Dueren's trio with Jan Ammerman and Bob Stout is back at Il Bel Lago; Anita Rosamond sings for diners at Truffles; and Miss Jubilee will play at the Trainwreck Saloon in Westport Plaza.

Then on Sunday, singer Denise Thimes will present her annual Mother's Day concert at The Sheldon, with special guests including pianist Cyrus Chestnut, who was here last month to play with his trio and guitarist Russell Malone at the Bistro, and saxophonist Tom Braxton, just back from playing in Japan with guitarist Earl Klugh.

Also on Sunday, Saxquest presents another in their series of free workshops and performances, this time featuring Pedro Rafael Garcia Moreno, aka Pedrosaxo, who's developed a number of unusual performance techniques, allegedly including an ability to play, sing, beatbox, and throat-sing all at the same time.

Lastly, Sunday is when the "Inner Jazz" series Kirkwood United Church of Christ will present their final concert of the season, featuring Rev. Cliff Aerie's Oikos Ensemble plus some words from special guest, writer and filmmaker Phil Cousineau.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday singer Dean Christopher will perform his Rat Pack repertoire at One 19 North Tapas and Wine Bar; and percussionist Joe Pastor's group will be back at BB's Jazz, Blues & 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.)

Jazz this week: Dafnis Prieto, Bobby Watson, New Music Circle showcase, Denise Thimes with Tom Braxton, and more

There are several noteworthy jazz and creative music shows happening this weekend in St. Louis, and for once, the schedule lays out so that it's possible to hear all the touring musicians coming through town, provided you've got the stamina and the necessary funds to go out five nights this week. Let's go to the highlights...

Tonight, drummer Dafnis Prieto (pictured) makes his St. Louis debut and opens a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Prieto certainly is one of the more talked-about jazz drummers of recent years, enjoying a rapid rise in fortune since coming to the USA from his native Cuba in 1999. In 2011, he won one of the coveted "genius grants" from the MacArthur Foundation, which, aside from serving as a pretty convincing refutation of all those old jokes about drummers being dumb, also helped him gain wider recognition among the general public.

Genius grant notwithstanding, there's no question that Prieto is both a very impressive drummer and a thoughtful composer, bandleader and teacher of jazz and Latin music, as you can hear for yourself in the performance video clips and interviews included in this post from last Saturday.

Also tonight, saxophonist Jim Stevens will play at the Cigar Inn; and on Thursday, Good 4 The Soul, which includes several of Stevens' frequent collaborators, will perform an early evening show at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Then on Friday, New Music Circle wraps up their 2011-12 season with a showcase of regional and local performers including Olivia Block, Joseph Raglani, Kevin Harris, Pat Boland, and Jeremy Kannapell at the William A. Kerr Foundation, 21 O'Fallon St. on Laclede's Landing.

Following the showcase, NMC will host an end-of-the-season celebration and fund raiser, with food, beer, DJs and video, plus a raffle of prizes and gift certificates to local businesses. Admission is a suggested $10 donation in addition to the ticket price of the concert, and includes food, drink and one raffle ticket. Additional raffle tickets also will be available for sale, giving you more chances to win the stuff donated by Vintage Vinyl, Euclid Records, Apop Records, St. Louis Tap Room, Tivoli Theatre, Dierberg's, Local Harvest Market, Left Bank Books, and numerous others.

While NMC certainly is deserving of your support - without them, St. Louis audiences would not have had a chance this year to hear musicians like Joe McPhee, Matthew Shipp, and the Claudia Quintet - they do have some tough competition on Friday in addition to Prieto.

That's because alto saxophonist Bobby Watson is coming in from Kansas City on Friday to play the first of two nights at Robbie's House of Jazz. Though perhaps still best known for his stint with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Watson is a true master of the hard bop idiom who's played with dozens of other jazz greats over the course of his long and distinguished career. If you've heard Watson play before, you're probably already making plans to be there. If you haven't heard him, and you have any interest in jazz saxophone, he's definitely worth the trip to Webster Groves.

Watson now teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City's conservatory of music, and though he's based just a couple of hundred miles away, doesn't make it to St. Louis all that often. Fortunately, he'll be sticking around to perform again on Saturday at Robbie's, so if you're doing something else Friday, like checking out Prieto or the NMC event, you'll still have another chance to hear Watson.

And as if those weren't enough options for Friday, you can always head east of the Mississippi to catch guitarist Dave Black with bassist Willem von Hombracht and drummer Kevin Gianino at the Cigar Inn in Belleville, or saxophonist Tim Cunningham at Jazz on Broadway in Alton.

On Saturday, Tim Cunningham will be back at Jazz on Broadway, along with singers Anita Jackson and Theo Peoples, the St. Louisan who's worked with both the Temptations and the Four Tops, for a special Mother's Day show. Also on Saturday, singer Joe Mancuso and his quartet with special guest saxophonist Christopher Braig will play at Johnny Gitto's.

On Sunday afternoon, singer Denise Thimes will present her annual Mothers Day performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall, featuring saxophonist Tom Braxton as his year's special guest. There's also a dinner at the Sheldon before the show; check out the show page on Sheldon's site for times and details.

And speaking of the Sheldon Concert Hall and special guests, on Monday night the East St. Louis High School jazz band and their special guest, trumpeter and ESLHS alumnus Russell Gunn, will perform at the Sheldon in an event raising funds to provide band camp scholarships for kids from the ESLHS music program.

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:

* Pianist Vijay Iyer (pictured), who will be in St. Louis next week to play Wednesday, March 14 through Saturday, March 17 at Jazz at the Bistro, had a few words this week with the Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson.

* Last Sunday's St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show was the subject of a post by Thomas Crone for St. Louis magazine's Look/Listen blog.

* Saxophonist Tom Braxton will be singer Denise Thimes' featured guest at her annual Mother's Day concert, which is set for 5:30 p.m., Sunday, May 13 at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Tickets are $30 and $40 via MetroTix; there's also an option for dinner before the show, which costs an additional $35 and will take place from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Spiering Room on the Sheldon's third floor.

* Here's a video excerpt from last Sunday's concert featuring the Funky Butt Brass Band teaming up with the Meramec Community College Symphonic Band for large-scale renditions of some New Orleans and Mardi Gras favorites.

* Saxophonist Michael Ferrante, a senior at Fort Zumwalt West Senior High School in O’Fallon, MO, has been selected for the 2012 Jazz Band of America. The group is a national ensemble presented by Music for All and sponsored by the Jazz Education Network. They will rehearse and perform under the direction of bassist/composer John Clayton for a concert next Friday, March 16 at Butler University in Indianapolis. Ferrante also is a member of the Missouri All-State Jazz Band and the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars.

* In recent months, StLJN has made several mentions of Kickstarter, the website that helps musicians, artists and others fund various types of creative projects. For example, saxophonist and St. Louis native Eric Person used it to fund an upcoming album project, and a rep from Kickstarter will be in St. Louis on Monday, March 19 to present a workshop on how to use the site most effectively.

Now, jazz fans have a chance to use Kickstarter to come to the aid of a seminal figure of 1960s free jazz, saxophonist Giuseppe Logan. Logan, best known for his 1964 ESP-Disk release The Giuseppe Logan Quartet, has had some hard times in the ensuing decades, at one point disappearing from public view for more than 30 years.

Some friends and fellow musicians, including bassist Larry Roland, pianist Cooper Moore and electric violinist Tracy Silverman, recently recorded music for a limited-edition vinyl album, with the proceeds intended to pay for repairs to Logan's horn and provide additional assistance to him. Although the recording already is completed, they're now trying to raise funds through Kickstarter for mastering and pressing. You can read more about the project, which is accepting pledges of support through April 30, here.