Jazz this week: Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, The Sunset Stomp, "Bach and Jazz," and more

It's a big week for big bands in St. Louis, as the calendar of upcoming jazz and creative music events in St. Louis features a couple of famed large ensembles as headliners of the annual Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival.

There's also a retrospective of the Harlem Renaissance and a look at how Johann Sebastian Bach influenced jazz, plus plenty of other performances in jazz styles ranging from vintage to modern. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, April 18
Jazz St. Louis' "Whitaker Jazz Speaks" series continues at Jazz at the Bistro with Washington University professor Gerald Early talking about "Harlem's Renaissance,"  followed by a performance of music associated with the period.

Meanwhile, this week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" will help kick off the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival by featuring small ensembles from UMSL's jazz program at The Stage at KDHX and as opening acts for the jam session led by bassist Bob DeBoo at the Kranzberg Arts Center and for trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's band at The Dark Room.

Also on Wednesday, the Ambassadors of Swing return for the monthly "Shake n Shout" event at Tin Roof St. Louis.

Thursday, April 19
Singer Erin Bode performs at Cyrano's, and the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival continues with trumpeter Hermon Mehari (pictured, top left), who's originally from Kansas City and now splits his time between there and Paris, leading a quartet at The Dark Room.

(You can find out more and see some videos of performances by Mehari and the headlining bands of the GSLJF's weekend shows in this post from last Saturday.)

Friday, April 20
The SLGJF presents the University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, while drummer Kevin Bowers reunites the band from his Nova project for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Also on Friday, pianist Dave Venn begins a new weekly. early-evening gig at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel's Sidecar Lounge, and singer Danita Mumphard will perform at the Webster Groves Concert Hall

Saturday, April 21
The Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival concludes with a performance by Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band (pictured, bottom left); and Carolbeth True and Two Times True will be joined by singer Joe Mancuso at the Webster Groves Concert Hall.

Sunday, April 22
This week's Sunday jazz brunch options include The Bonbon Plot playing bossa nova and more at The Dark Room, and Miss Jubilee singing vintage jazz and blues at Evangeline's.

Also on Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents traditional jazz band The Sunset Stomp from Indianpolis, IN at the  Doubletree Hotel St. Louis at Westport.

Monday, April 23
The Webster University Jazz Singers will show off what they've learned this year in a performance at  Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

Also on Monday, Dizzy Atmosphere returns to The Shaved Duck, and trumpeter Jim Manley will be back at his weekly residency at Momo's Greek Restaurant.

Tuesday, April 24
As part of St. Louis Bach Festival 2018, the Bach Society of St. Louis will present "Bach & Jazz" with singer Erin Bode, guitarist Steve Schenkel and pianist Kim Portnoy at Jazz at the Bistro.

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: Previewing the 2018 Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival

This week, let's take a look at some videos of the musicians who will be performing at the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, which takes place next week and culminates with concerts on Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

While the first part of the festival involves student bands from around the area working with and performing for visiting clinicians, the GSLJF also usually has several public events. This year, those performances include a show by trumpeter Hermon Mehari on Thursday at The Dark Room, and the weekend concerts at the Touhill, which will feature the One O'Clock Lab Band from the University of North Texas on Friday and Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band on Saturday, with the UMSL Jazz Band directed by Jim Widner as opening act on both nights. Small ensembles from UMSL also will be performing as part of next week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" on Wednesday night.

Based in Los Angeles and stocked with first-call West Coast musicians, the Big Phat Band occupies a place in the jazz world not unlike that once held by Stan Kenton and later Maynard Ferguson. They're favorites of band directors and members of high school and college student big bands across the country, thanks to their energetic live show and slickly executed arrangements, and no doubt aided by their willingness to travel and perform at high schools and small colleges as well as at more prestigious venues.

The first video of the Big Phat Band up above, "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes," was recorded in 2016 at one of those off-the-beaten-path gigs at New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL, near Chicago. So were "Count Bubba's Revenge" and "Horn Of Puente," the two numbers that follow it after the jump. While the videos are low-res, the audio quality is good, and the three numbers depicted give a good taste of the Big Phat Band's sound and stylistic range.

The One O'Clock Lab Band is the top student band at the University of North Texas, home to one of the most storied and longest-running collegiate jazz programs in the USA. Although like any college band, they have ongoing turnover in membership, the One O'Clock band over the years has maintained a consistent high standard of musicianship rivaling many professional ensembles, as you can hear in the next three videos.

"Hey, It’s Me You’re Talking To" is an arrangement of a tune by drummer Victor Lewis, recorded on March 1 of this year at Winspear Hall on the North Texas campus, as was the Robert Washut arrangement "Beneath the Mask" just eight days later. The third of clip of the group, a new arrangement of the venerable "Harlem Nocturne," was recorded last November, also at Winspear Hall.

Today's last two videos feature Hermon Mehari. who grew up in Kansas City and now splits his time between there and Paris, France. "Minority" is, as Mehari mentions in his introduction, a staple of his live shows, seen here in a version recorded last October at Belleville Brûlerie in Paris, while "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face" showcases Mehari alongside the acclaimed young pianist Aaron Parks in a live-in-the-studio promotional clip for the trumpeter's 2017 debut album Bleu.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Jazz this week: Chris Botti, Byron Stripling, Bill Watrous, UNT One O'Clock Lab Band, St. Louis Rivermen, and more

If there's a keyword for this weekend's schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis, it's "brass." The next few days will see three stellar touring brass players - two trumpeters and a trombonist - playing here as soloists or bandleaders, plus a somewhat larger-than-usual number of big band performances, and some other noteworthy shows, too. Let's go the highlights:

On Thursday evening, the University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band will be in town for a concert at Webster Groves High School, 100 Selma Ave. The One O'Clock band, which gets its name from the time of day the ensemble meets for class, is the top big band at one of the most storied and long lived collegiate jazz programs in the country; WGHS's jazz groups will open the show.

Also on Thursday, pianist Ptah Williams will play the music of Herbie Hancock in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and singer Erika Johnson and guitarist Eric Slaughter's trio will perform at Robbie's House of Jazz.

Friday night is when local music fans have a choice among among those three stellar brassmen. The popular trumpeter Chris Botti will be in town that evening for what has become an annual visit, playing this time at the Peabody Opera House. No doubt he'll draw a good crowd, but given that Botti's next local appearance has already been booked, for next year at Powell Hall with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, anyone on the fence about going might want to consider skipping it in favor of one of the other shows happening the same night.

That same evening, trumpeter Byron Stripling will open a two-night stand at Jazz at the Bistro. He's been in town all week doing an educational residency for Jazz St. Louis, and as is the custom, will cap it off with some public performances, fronting a quartet. Though not nearly as well known as Botti, Stripling is a versatile and highly accomplished player and a polished entertainer who can hit the high notes, solo with feeling, and even sing the blues. For more about him and some video clips showing off various aspects of his talents, check out this post from last Saturday.

And as if that weren't enough for one night, Friday also is when the virtusoso trombonist Bill Watrous will be here for a concert at the Scottish Rite Cathedral Auditorium, accompanied by trumpeter Scott Vignassi and the Big Little Big Band. A veteran of the big bands of Quincy Jones, Maynard Ferguson, Johnny Richards and Woody Herman, Watrous is capable of some truly astounding stuff, so if you're specifically a trombone aficionado - as opposed to a brass fan in general - this one's got to be your pick for the weekend, especially since Stripling is playing at the Bistro for two nights.

Update - 3:00 p.m, 2/24/12: Just got an email from trumpet player/educator Adam Hucke, who teaches at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, saying that Bill Watrous also will be playing at SWIC on Saturday night. The concert starts at 7:00 p.m. in the main auditorium on campus (directions at the link above) and will feature Watrous performing with both the SWIC Big Band and The Big Little Big Band. Best of all, it's free and open to the public.

On the other hand, if you'd rather dance to a big band than listen to one in concert, the relatively new group that calls themselves the St. Louis Big Band, made up primarily of younger musicians in their 20s and 30s, has worked their way into the rotation at the Casa Loma Ballroom and will be playing there on Friday. And if brass isn't your thing, or you're just not in the mood (sorry!) that evening, you can hear guitarist Dave Black's trio at the Cigar Inn in Belleville or saxophonist Tim Cunningham at Jazz on Broadway on Alton.

On Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Rivermen will play traditional jazz and ragtime in a concert presented by the St. Louis Jazz Club at the Doubletree Hotel at Westport. Not long after that event wraps up, trombonist Dave Dickey's big band will return to Kirkwood Station Brewing Company for the first time after securing a monthly slot at the venue with their initial appearance there in January. The Webster Groves HS big band will play at intermission.

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.)

UNT One O'Clock Lab Band to play Thursday, February 23 at Webster Groves High School

The University of North Texas' One O'Clock Lab Band (pictured) is coming to St. Louis to perform at 7:00 p.m. , Thursday, February 23 in the main auditorium at Webster Groves High School, 100 Selma Ave. The Webster Groves High School jazz bands will open the show.

The One O'Clock Lab Band is directed by Steve Wiest and is considered the top band of the nine large jazz ensembles at UNT, which has one of the most famous and long-running collegiate jazz programs in the nation.

Their concert on February 23 at Webster Groves High School will be open to the public, with a $5 donation requested at the door.