Jazz this week: Bobby Broom & Deep Blue Organ Trio, Bonerama, Kirk Whalum, SPOKE, Old Webster Jazz & Blues Festival, St. Louis Jazz Club picnic & more

It's shaping up to be a busy weekend for live jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with several touring musicians and bands in town, plus some noteworthy free events that should appeal to those looking for some budget-friendly entertainment. Let's go to the highlights...

On Thursday night, Chicago guitarist Bobby Broom, best known as a longtime sideman to saxophonist Sonny Rollins, and his Deep Blue Organ Trio will be in town for a one-nighter at Robbie's House of Jazz.

Also on Thursday, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University opens its season with a free concert from saxophonist Freddie Washington; and the Bosman Twins, guitarist Daryl Darden and poet Cheryl D.S. Walker will perform a free concert at Schlafly Branch Library in the Central West End.

On Friday, the New Orleans-based band Bonerama will be back in town, this time at The Gramophone. Also on Friday, singer Jeanne Trevor will do a free outdoor concert sponsored by Ferguson CityWalk at the Plaza at 501 in Ferguson; saxophonist Jerry Greene and singer Sarah Jane Ulrich team up for an evening of double-entendre songs at Robbie's; and guitarist Mason Baran leads a quartet with vibraphonist Peter Schlamb, bassist Ben Wheeler and drummer Joe Winstein-Hibbs at the Cigar Inn.

Then on Saturday, it's the annual Old Webster Jazz and Blues Festival, a free, all-day outdoor event in the old business district of Webster Groves that features two stages and ten bands, including the St. Louis Ragtimers, Dave Black, Jim Stevens, and the Webster University jazz faculty.

Also on Saturday, the Broadway Oyster Bar presents the seventh annual edition of Funkfest, an all-day event featuring eight bands including the Funky Butt Brass Band, Lamar Harris, Teddy Presberg, and others.

On Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club will host their annual picnic at the Concord Farmers Club. The event is free and open to the public and will feature live music from Utter Chaos and Banjos & Brass.

Also on Sunday, saxophonist Kirk Whalum will be playing at the Sheldon Concert Hall as part of a fundraiser for the Gamma Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and that evening, bassist and St. Louis native Dan Loomis brings his post-bop quartet SPOKE (pictured) back home for a free concert at Parkway United Church of Christ.

Looking beyond the week, on Monday drummer Joe Pastor's trio returns to BB's Jazz Blues and Soups, and on Tuesday, fusion group Steizuello plays a "Notes From Home" concert at the Sheldon.

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: Mulgrew Miller, Rasul Siddik, Tortoise, Dave Black, and more

Though this week's schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis isn't quite as jam-packed as last week's, there are still a number of notable performances happening over the next few days that are worthy of your attention. Let's go to the highlights:

Tonight, the very fine pianist Mulgrew Miller opens a four-night run that continues through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Miller was the subject of one of the very first concert reviews on StLJN four and half years ago, and his work since then continues to impress. Miller's gig also is a celebration of the ten-year anniversary of the St. Louis-based MAXJAZZ label, for which the pianist has recorded his five most recent CDs. For some video samples of Miller in action, see this post.

On Thursday evening, the quartet Utter Chaos, which draws inspiration from the pianoless Gerry Mulligan-Bob Brookmeyer combos of the 1950s, will do a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Then on Friday, acoustic guitarist Jack Rose performs at Open Lot, 1310 South 18th Street. Rose plays "a unique brand of blues, folk, ragtime and raga, all the while experimenting with guitar tunings and frequently reinterpreting and rerecording his earlier compositions." Drummer Danny McClain and saxophonist Dave Stone will open the show with a duo improv set.

On Saturday evening, the Nu-Art Series presents trumpeter and St. Louis expat Rasul Siddik (pictured) and his quartet in a performance at Luna Bar in the Central West End.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday guitarist Dave Black will perform a concert of original music at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium.

On Tuesday, the Chicago-based instrumental "post-rock" band Tortoise comes to town to perform at the rock club the Firebird, located at 2706 Olive downtown.

For more jazz and creative music events this weekend and beyond, check out the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, available for viewing on the left sidebar or by clicking here.

(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 at Holmes series sets schedule for Fall 2009

The Jazz at Holmes series of free Thursday night concerts at Washington University in St. Louis has announced its schedule for Fall 2009.

The series kicks off with what seem like a couple of odd musical choices: a jazz tribute to Woodstock, led by guitarist and Wash U director of jazz performance William Lenihan and held outside on Brookings Quadrangle on Thursday, September 10; and the rock/funk/hip-hop band Fresh Heir on Thursday, September 17.

Regarding the former, the news release announcing the series' Fall schedule quotes Lenihan as saying, "The connections between rock music and jazz of the era of Woodstock are many, and not just that which the sonic possibilities of electric and electronic musical instruments brought to the stage. Breaking stylistic boundaries, creating new expressions and symbols of musical thought, whether through Coltrane, Hendrix or Dylan, American popular music had freed itself from its commercial limitations, with audiences fully participating in it's creation. Jazz at Holmes Series is celebrating the music in this spirit of performance."

Color me puzzled. While there's really no disputing the points about the music of the 1960s extending sonic possibilities and going beyond commercial limitations, this statement doesn't really make a connection between Woodstock and jazz, nor does it attempt to describe what the music that's going to be played that night will sound like...so at this point, your guess is as good as mine.

As for Fresh Heir, an energetic young group that mixes 1970s-style funk and contemporary hip-hop, their music doesn't seem to contain much of a jazz influence beyond the occasional background riff played by trumpet and tenor sax. While they may be popular with college students, and for all I know they're probably a nice bunch of fellas, to these ears they seem out of place on the Jazz at Holmes series. (That said, if someone can point me to some examples of their music that shows more of a jazz influence than the selections on their MySpace page, I'd be glad to take a listen...)

Here's the complete Jazz at Holmes Fall 2009 schedule:

Thursday, September 10: William Lenihan leads a tribute to Woodstock's 40th anniversary. (Concert to be held outdoors on Brookings Quadrangle.)

Thursday, September 17: Fresh Heir

Thursday, September 24: Utter Chaos performs music of Gerry Mulligan

Thursday, October 1: Clarinetist Scott Alberici plays music of the swing era

Thursday, October 8: William Lenihan leads a Miles Davis tribute recreating music from Birth of the Cool

Thursday, October 22: Trumpeter Danny Campbell and drummer Maurice Carnes

Thursday, October 29: Ptah Williams

Thursday, November 5: Willie Akins Quartet

Thursday, November 12: William Lenihan leads a Miles Davis tribute featuring "Petit Machins" and selections from In a Silent Way

Thursday, December 3: Drummer Steve Davis, Willian Lenihan and friends

Note that with the concert featuring Davis (pictured), the Jazz at Holmes series continues its recent practice of booking at least one touring musician each semester. Davis is the author of six books about playing drums; has performed and recorded with musicians including Bill Evans, Lynne Arriale, Benny Golson, Richie Beirach and John Pattitucci; and served as visiting professor of jazz studies at the Berlin Conservatory of Music. He'll play with a group of St. Louis musicians led by Lenihan, who, with major roles in four of the semester's concerts, will once again be a frequent presence on stage in the series as well as an important one behind the scenes.

All Jazz at Holmes concerts are free and open to the public. Holmes Lounge is located in Ridgley Hall, on the west side of Brookings Quadrangle near the intersection of Brookings and Hoyt drives. For further information, call Sue Taylor at 314-862-0874 or email staylor@wustl.edu.

Jazz this week: Robert Dick, the Last Poets, new bands at the Bistro, and more

Assuming you've dug out of the snow that hit St. Louis earlier this week, and are willing to venture out in the cold over the next few days to hear some jazz and creative music, here's what you'll find:

Tonight, trumpeter Randy Holmes and the Hard Bop Heritage Quintet perform a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. (And no, Jazz at Holmes has still not released a schedule for the entire semester. More on that once the information is available.)

On Friday, the Last Poets at the J.C. Penney Auditorium at the University of Missouri St. Louis. Though this isn't technically a jazz show, it seems worth mentioning as the group has been blending socially conscious poetry with jazz, funk, and Afro-Cuban beats for nearly 40 years now, and has been an important influence on contemporary hip-hop and spoken word performers.

Also on Friday, saxophonist Bennett Wood and his Quartet make their debut at Jazz at the Bistro. Although Jazz St. Louis normally books the Bistro in block of two or four nights at a time, they're trying something a little different this weekend, with two up-and-coming bands led by young musicians booked into the club for one night each.

After Wood plays on Friday, on Saturday night the quartet Utter Chaos (pictured) featuring baritone saxophonist Andy Ament, Cody Henry on trombone, Chris Turnbaugh on bass and Jerry Mazzuca on drums, takes the Bistro stage. Both bands have previously played the Tuesday night series co-sponsored by JSL and The Gramophone, and if their gigs this weekend go well, presumably other new groups might be able to follow the same path. As I've been encouraging the folks at Jazz St. Louis to diversify the Bistro's lineup whenever possible, I think this is a potentially positive development, and I look forward to seeing how it works out.

Also on Saturday, New Music Circle present avant-garde flautist Robert Dick in a performance with dancer Ashley Tate and percussionist Rich O'Donnell at the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand. (That's the former Woolworth building just south of the Fox Theatre, also now home to the offices of Big Brothers and Big Sisters.)
Part of the performance will involve Tate dancing in a suit fitted with MIDI sensors connected to a synthesizer, and Dick and O'Donnell no doubt will demonstrate plenty of virtuoso and extended techniques on their respective instruments.

After Saturday, information gets a bit spotty due to the usual difficulties in getting band and venue schedules in anticipation of the beginning of a month. We can tell you, though, that on Monday bassist Willem von Hombracht and the St. Louis New Jazz X-Tet will perform at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium. With the group getting a rare opportunity to play a more expansive venue than its usual Sunday night confines at Riddle's, this could be the sleeper show of the week. Then on Tuesday, The Gramophone will present Davina and the Vagabonds, a blues and jazz band from the Minnesota's Twin Cities who are doing a date here on the way to the International Blues Challenge in Memphis.

As the rest of February schedule information comes in from bands and venues, I'll be adding it to the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, so please check there for the latest updates.

(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: The Bad Plus, budget-friendly local listening, and more

The first part of January typically is a slow time of year for touring bands, and so The Bad Plus (pictured) have the local field virtually to themselves in that regard this week, as they return to St. Louis to perform through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

Almost always entertaining and/or interesting, occasionally controversial, the Bad Plus have proved to be one of the more buzzworthy groups in jazz over the last few years, re-conceiving the piano trio format to their own specifications and doing improvisational interpretations of unexpected songs with origins in pop, rock and techno. For more about on The Bad Plus, check out the Jazz St. Louis podcast interview with the band, as well as last Saturday's video post here at StLJN.

The Bad Plus may be the only major touring jazz group in St. Louis this week, but they're far from the only band worthy of your attention, as many of our local stalwarts also are working diligently at their usual gigs. Note also, O cash-strapped and recession-wary music lovers, that most of these local gigs are very affordable, with some fine music available for a modest cover and/or the cost of a couple of drinks or, in some cases, absolutely free.

For example, if you're a big band fan or a swing dancer, a few bucks will get you in to see the Original Knights of Swing big band on Friday at Casa Loma Ballroom. If you like soulful singers, on Saturday vocalist Kim Massie brings her potent brew of blues, jazz, pop and whatever else she feels like singing to Brandt's.

If small combo jazz is more your speed, there's saxophonist Dave Stone's trio on Friday at Mangia Italiano; saxophonist Willie Akins' group on Saturday at Spruill's; a Sunday jazz brunch with trumpeter Jim Manley and keyboardist Mark Friedricks at Jimmy's on the Park; and the Sunday evening session with the St. Louis New Jazz X-Tet at Riddle's.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday the Sessions Big Band does their first gig of 2009 at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups, and on Tuesday, Utter Chaos returns for another no-cover-charge show at The Gramophone.

Also on Tuesday, the Des Lee Big Band Jazz Festival takes place at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. This free event featuring three student jazz ensembles - a high school honors band and groups from McKinley Classical and Academic Middle School and St. Gabriel the Archangel School - in concert "performing big band standards as a culminating activity of an all-day festival of clinics, master classes and rehearsals."

And coming up on Wednesday, the Jazz St. Louis CD Listening Club has its monthly meeting at Borders, 1519 S. Brentwood Blvd in Brentwood. This month, KMOV-TV anchor/reporter Russell Kinsaul and Jazz St. Louis' Gene Dobbs Bradford will discuss Dave Brubeck's landmark album Time Out with the assembled throng.

For more jazz-related events in the St. Louis area 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 St. Louis announces more 2009 bookings for Jazz at the Bistro

Jazz St. Louis has announced additional bookings to fill out the winter/spring 2009 schedule at Jazz at the Bistro:

Friday, January 16 & Saturday, January 17: Lamar Harris
Friday, January 30: Bennett Wood Quartet
Saturday, January 31: Utter Chaos
Friday, March 13 & Saturday, March 14: Funky Butt Brass Band
Friday, March 27 & Saturday, March 28: Legacy Jazz Quintet
Friday, April 24 & Saturday, April 25: Jazz St. Louis All-Stars
Friday, May 8 & Saturday, May 9: Erin Bode
Friday, May 22 & Saturday, May 23: Kim Massie

Three of these ensembles are making their debuts at the Bistro: alto saxophonist Bennett Wood and his quartet; Utter Chaos, which features a front line of trombone and baritone sax modeled on the Bob Brookmeyer/Gerry Mulligan group of the 1950s; and the Funky Butt Brass Band (pictured), a spin-off of the New Orleans-inspired funk/R&B/zydeco group Gumbohead that focuses specifically on the Crescent City's brass band style.

Wood and Utter Chaos have both played at The Gramophone as part of the the Tuesday night series Jazz St. Louis is co-sponsoring there. If they draw sufficient numbers of listeners at the Bistro, it would certainly help validate the notion of those Tuesday shows as another way for JSL to experiment with new talent and programming ideas.

As for the Funky Butt Brass Band, I haven't heard them yet, but I do know the band's tenor saxophonist Ben Reece by virtue of having played a few casual gigs with him. Ben's a good player, and seemed very enthused about the FBBB when I asked him about it a couple of months ago.

Overall, this strikes me as a good, representative mix of new talent and proven attractions (Harris, Bode and Massie), plus the second appearance at the club by the Legacy Jazz Quintet (which includes JSL director of education Phil Dunlap on piano) and the annual gig by the All-Stars, an ensemble of student musicians drawn from JSL's educational programs.

I'd still like to see Jazz St. Louis doing something at the Bistro with both traditional and avant garde/experimental jazz. Executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford and operations director Bob Bennett have indicated to me that they'd consider both if the shows could be made to work from a financial standpoint. So here's a thought: Book a weekend with a traditional jazz band on Friday and something avant garde, experimental and/or free improvisational on Saturday. (Or vice versa.) Booking one night per act instead of a two-night stand would concentrate the turnout, mitigating the financial risks somewhat, and perhaps it could be tied into the organization's educational programs as well.

If nothing else, such a weekend would give young musicians and students a chance to hear, compare and contrast two jazz styles that are currently under-represented at area venues, and who knows, perhaps it could be turned into a genuine teaching moment. There are certainly commonalities between early jazz and the avant garde, such as collective improvisation and the use of vocal-type sounds by brass instruments and extended techniques by reeds, that could be interesting and informative for young players and students (and jazz fans of all ages) to experience and explore.

Tickets for the additional 2009 performances go on sale Tuesday, December 9, 2008 through all Metrotix outlets and the Jazz St. Louis box office.

(Edited slightly after posting to fix a garbled sentence. Edited again to add links.)