Jazz this week: Bruce Barth, Erin Bode, Victor Goines, Lynne Fiddmont, and more

With some relatively mild weather in the forecast and a nice variety of performances happening over the next several days, the weekend leading up to Valentine's Day should be a good time for jazz lovers in St. Louis. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, February 8
Pianist Bruce Barth returns for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro, leading a trio with bassist Dave Baron and St. Louis' own Montez Coleman on drums.

Barth (pictured, top left) is a jazz veteran who first gained wide attention nearly thirty years ago working with saxophonist Stanley Turrentine. Since then, in addition to a solo career yielding more than a dozen albums as a leader - the most recent being 2014's Daybreak - he's racked up a long list of credits accompanying well-known musicians and singers such as Terence Blanchard, Tony Bennett, Terell Stafford, Karrin Allyson, and many more.

Longtime local jazz fans will remember Barth as a fairly frequent visitor to St. Louis and the Bistro in the early 2000s, when he cut a couple of albums for the locally based label MAXJAZZ. More recently, he took part in the memorial concert in 2014 at the Bistro honoring Richard McDonnell, the late founder of MAXJAZZ, but it's been a few years since he's actually headlined here with his own band. St. Louis is the fourth of six cities that Barth, Baron and Coleman will visit on this winter mini-tour, so they should be firing on all cylinders when they get here.

Elsewhere around town, the new weekly jam session hosted by pianist Curt Landes, bassist Glen Smith and drummer Chuck Kennedy continues at @Nesby's in South County.

Thursday, February 9
In honor of Black History Month, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University will present a free concert program called "A Celebration of the Blues: From Oxford, Mississippi to Chicago" featuring Memphis-based "avant soul" singer Candice Ivory, pianist Charles Creath, guitarist Dennis Brock, bassist Paul Steinbeck, and series curator William Lenihan on guitar and/or bass.

Also on Thursday, the Jazz Troubadours perform at the Venice Cafe, and pianist Adam Maness and his trio continue their new weekly Thursday night residency at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, February 10
Singer Erin Bode will perform for the first of three Valentine's-themed nights at Jazz at the Bistro, with shows on Friday, Saturday and next Tuesday. Bode's most recent release Here and Now came out last summer, and features her interpretations of songs from writers including Irving Berlin and Frank Loesser, Rickie Lee Jones, and Gerry Rafferty. While some of that material should fit neatly into a Valentine's show, Bode likely will be reaching into her catalog of original songs as well.

Also on Friday, saxophonist Tim Cunningham will play the first of two nights this weekend at Troy's Jazz Gallery, and saxophonist Freddie Washington will lead a trio with with drummer Jon-Marc Dale and bassist Simon Evans at Cigar Inn

Saturday, February 11
If you're up for a bit of a drive, you can catch saxophonist and clarinetist Victor Goines (of Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra fame) and his quintet performing at the Cedarhurst Center for the Arts in Mt. Vernon, IL, about an hour east of St. Louis.

A bit closer to home, singer Tony Viviano will be presenting a Valentine's Day show at Patrick's Westport Grill, and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will be playing hot jazz, blues and swing at Venice Cafe.

Sunday, 
February 12
Singer and St. Louis native Lynne Fiddmont (pictured, bottom left) will be back home from the West Coast for a matinee performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall, showcasing material from her forthcoming album Power of Love.

Also on Sunday, the Ambassadors of Swing will play at Kirkwood Station Brewing Company.

Monday, February 13
Pianist Carolbeth True and her band Two Times True plus guest vocalist Erika Johnson will perform while jazz photos by St. Louis author, historian and DJ Dennis Owsley are projected overhead in Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium.

Also on Monday, Dizzy Atmosphere will serenade diners at the Shaved Duck, and Chicago-based saxophonist Shawn Maxwell and his band New Tomorrow will play at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

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.)

Victor Goines Quintet playing on Saturday, February 11 at Cedarhurst Center for the Arts

Saxophonist and clarinetist Victor Goines and his quintet will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, February 11 at the Cedarhurst Center for the Arts, 2600 Richview Rd in Mt. Vernon, IL.

A New Orleans native who is known for his long association with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Goines (pictured) currently is director of jazz studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.

He previously performed at Cedarhurst in February 2014, and played in St. Louis most recently in December 2016 as part of a benefit concert at The Sheldon for the North County Big Band. Goines' most recent recording, Morning Swing, came out in 2013 on Rosemary Joseph Records.

Tickets are $35 or $30 for members of Cedarhurst, and can be purchased online at www.cedarhurst.org or by phone at 618-242-1236, ext. 225.

Jazz this week: Sean Jones, Sylvie Courvoisier & Mark Feldman, Roseanna Vitro, and more

Even as presenters prepare to go into full holiday mode, it's going to be a busy week for jazz and creative music in and around St. Louis, with visits from several major touring musicians in the next few days, plus special seasonal performances from a number of local favorites. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, December 2
Trumpeter Sean Jones returns to Jazz at the Bistro for the first evening of a four-night engagement in which he'll be recording tracks for a planned live album for his longtime label Mack Avenue Records. Jones (who was the subject of video showcase posts here previously in 2009 and 2011) performed here most recently last November at the Bistro, co-leading a band with saxophonist Tia Fuller and vibraphonist Warren Wolf.

He first came to St. Louis as lead trumpeter for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and since leaving that job in 2010, he's become chair of brass at Berklee College of Music and the artistic director of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestras. Also, this past August Jones (pictured, top left) joined the SF Jazz Collective octet, succeeding Avishai Cohen. That means he'll be coming back to St. Louis and the Bistro in the spring for the Collective's annual tour, which next year will feature interpretations of the music of Michael Jackson.

Also tonight, saxophonist Daniel Bennett's trio will play a free concert at the St. Louis County Library's Daniel Boone Branch in Ellisville; and this year's procession of holiday-themed performances begins with the Gateway City Big Band playing their annual Christmas concert at Sky Music Lounge in Ballwin, while pianist Peter Martin joins St. Louis Symphony violinist David Halen and friends to "Celebrate the Holidays" at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Thursday, December 3
Singer Kim Fuller will sing songs associated with Billie Holiday in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, and guitarists Brian Vaccaro and Tim Fischer will play duets at the Pat Connolly Tavern in Dogtown.

Friday, December 4
New Music Circle presents pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and violinist Mark Feldman (pictured, center left) in concert at The Stage at KDHX.

Working the territory where contemporary composition meets free improvisation, Courvoisier and Feldman have earned a reputation as serious players in both contexts. You can find out more about them and see some video samples of their duo performances in this post from the Saturday before last.

Also on Friday, trumpeter Randy Holmes and his quintet anticipate and pay tribute to the December 14 birthday of the late trumpeter Clark Terry by performing his music at the Ozark Theatre; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will play swing and jump blues at Evangeline's; and the Original Knights of Swing perform for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Over in Illinois, Miss Jubilee will play at Edwardsville's Wildey Theatre, while the Midwest Jazz-tette brings their West Coast jazz sound to The Abbey in Belleville.

Saturday, December 5
Singer Roseanna Vitro (pictured, center left) will perform at the Ozark Theatre. Vitro is a savvy and swinging vocalist who was nominated for a Grammy Award for her 2012 album interpreting the music of Randy Newman.

For more about her, plus some video samples of some live performances, see this post from last Saturday.

Sunday, December 6
The University of Missouri St. Louis music department presents "UMSL's Jazz for the Holidays," a free concert featuring the UMSL Jazz Ensemble, directed by bassist Jim Widner, the Vocal Point ensemble and University Orchestra at the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Also on Sunday, the Dave Dickey Big Band turns their regular monthly gig at Jazz at the Bistro into a "Big Band Christmas" with a little help from guest vocalist Olivia Neal and an intermission set from the Pattonville HS Jazz Ensemble; and saxophonist and clarinetist Victor Goines will perform in a benefit for the North County Big Band at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Monday, December 7
Guitarist Tom Byrne and singer Erika Johnson perform at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Tuesday, December 8 
The eclectic acoustic band The 442s will present their "Holiday Spectacular" with guest performers including pianist Peter Martin and singer Erin Bode at the 560 Music Center.

Also on Tuesday, the Saxquest Jazz Orchestra returns to the Tavern of Fine Arts; guitarist Vincent Varvel plays at Evangeline's; and pianist Pat Joyce will perform at The Wine Press.

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.)

Victor Goines to perform benefit concert Sunday, December 6 at The Sheldon

Saxophonist and clarinetist Victor Goines is returning to St. Louis for a performance benefiting the North County Big Band at 7:00 p.m. Sunday, December 6 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Goines, a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since 1993, also directs the jazz studies program at Northwestern University and is active as a solo artist, performing and recording with his own quartet as well as with Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Roberts, Diana Krall, Dianne Reeves, and more. He's played here in St. Louis several times over the past decade, both as a member of JaLCO and as a headliner at the Sheldon and Jazz at the Bistro.

For this performance, Goines (pictured) will accompanied by a rhythm section of St. Louis musicians including Adam Maness on piano, Jahmal Nichols on bass, and Montez Coleman on drums.

The North County Big Band, which will play an opening set before Goines, is made up of students from several St. Louis area high schools, including Riverview Gardens, Normandy, Hazelwood Central, Central Visual and Performing Arts, and University City. The group is led by saxophonist Harvey Lockhart, band director for Riverview Gardens HS, and has performed several times at the Sheldon and at community events since its inception earlier this year.

Tickets are $35 for general admission orchestra seats, $30 general admission balcony, and $15 for students, and are on sale now via MetroTix at 314-534-1111 and online.

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

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

* Pianist Johanna Ballou talked with St. Louis magazine about her New Music Circle-sponsored concert tomorrow night at 560 Music Center.

* Saxquest has posted on Facebook some photos of Victor Goines' appearance at the store on Wednesday night. Goines and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Group perform tonight and tomorrow night at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Singer Denise Thimes talked with the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson about receiving a St. Louis Arts Award from the Arts and Education Council. Thimes will be among the honorees at A&E's $300-per-plate annual dinner Monday night at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel.

* Thanks to Ethan Iverson of The Bad Plus for mentioning and linking to StLJN last week during TBP's four nights here at Jazz at the Bistro.

* Saxophonist Oliver Lake's new organ quartet album What I Heard was reviewed in Down Beat magazine.

* The live Miles Davis recording Olympia - March 20, 1960 gets an "extended analysis" from AllAboutJazz.com's C. Michael Bailey.

* Meanwhile, Miles Ahead, the upcoming movie about Davis directed by and starring Don Cheadle, is on IndieWire's list of "100 Most Anticipated Films of 2015." The film currently is in post-production, and the soundtrack will feature musical contributions from pianists Herbie Hancock and Robert Glasper, as well as trumpeter and St. Louis native Keyon Harrold, whose photo in the studio with Cheadle and Glasper, taken from the latter's Instagram account, accompanies this post.

* Though the Clark Terry documentary Keep On Keepin' On was snubbed in the 2015 Academy Award nominations, the film did receive a couple of other awards this week, winning the Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and "Best Film - Inspiration" at the Waimea Ocean Film Festival in Hawaii.

* St. Louis Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts will present another free seminar for artists, "Navigating Healthcare Reform," next Tuesday, January 20 at KDHX in Grand Center. The program will explain relevant aspects of the Affordable Care Act for self-employed artists and "provide strategies for acquiring quality and affordable health care coverage, including tax credits and subsidies." Admission is free, but because space is limited, advance registration is required.

* Jazz radio update: On this Saturday's edition of Radio Arts Foundation - St. Louis' “Somethin’ Else,”  host Calvin Wilson will highlight the drumming and compositions of the late Tony Williams.

Right after that on "The Jazz Collective," host Jason Church will be spinning music from Groove Ltd., Brian Culbertson, Paul Brown, Ken Navarro, U-Nam, Melissa Manchester, Funky Butt Brass Band, Jim Manley, Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes, Jim Stevens, Sonny Rollins, Chuck Mangione, Michael Franks and Eumir Deodato.

Wilson can be heard at 8:00 p.m. Saturdays, followed by Church at 9:00 p.m., on 107.3 FM, 96.3 HD-2, and online at http://www.rafstl.org/listen.

Congratulations also go out to Church and radio station Hip 96.3 HD-3, as the HD sub-channel service, for which Church programs a mix of contemporary jazz, R&B and pop, celebrated five years on the air this week

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2015 jazz preview

Today, it's the first part of StLJN's winter/spring 2015 jazz preview, in which we bring you music videos from jazz and creative music performers who will be visiting our city in the first part of next year.

First up are The Bad Plus, who will be back in St. Louis from Wednesday, January 7 through Saturday, January 10 to play at Jazz at the Bistro. The group has been visiting the Bistro early in January for nearly a decade now, and since their last trip here, they've put out a new recording of all original music, Inevitable Western. In the video up above, you can see them playing a song from that album, "Gold Prisms Incorporated," during a gig in September at the Blue Note in Milano, Italy.

After the jump, you'll see the Stooges Brass Band playing "Hot." They'll be in town on Thursday, January 15 at the Broadway Oyster Bar; the video was recorded in July of this year in New Orleans for the web series "Jam in the Van."

Below that you can see their fellow New Orleanians Bonerama, who will be here the very next night, Friday, January 16, also at the Broadway Oyster Bar. The clip is an audience-shot video of them performing "Hey, Hey, What Can I Do" last month at the Cutting Room in NYC.

That same weekend, the Bistro will feature a band being billed as the Jazz at Lincoln Center Group, an ad hoc assemblage made up of musicians doing week-long educational residencies for Jazz St. Louis that will culminate in public performances on Friday, January 16 and Saturday, January 17. The front line features two familiar faces, trumpeter Terell Stafford and saxophonist/clarinetist Victor Goines - both of whom have fronted their own bands here - along with trombonist Chris Crenshaw, with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra drummer Alvin Atkinson quarterbacking the rhythm section with a bassist and pianist TBA.

In the fourth clip, you can see Stafford performing a very nice version of Billy Strayhorn's "Day Dream" at the 2013 International Trumpet Guild convention, backed by pianist Bruce Barth. Below that, there's a clip of Goines working out on his composition "Turning Points" during a 2011 gig with pianist Aaron Diehl, bassist Phillip Kuehn, and drummer Marion Felder. Crenshaw is represented by a clip compiling excerpts from a concert for a Smithsonian traveling exhibit that the trombonist played in March 2013 in his hometown of Thomson, GA; the rhythm section is Josef Patchen (keyboard), Travis Shaw (bass), and Edwin G. Hamilton (drums).

Today's final video features the Arturo O'Farrill Sextet, who will visit St. Louis Wednesday, January 21 through Saturday, January 24 to play at Jazz at the Bistro. O'Farrill, a pianist, composer/arranger and son of the famous bandleader Chico O'Farrill, was here a decade ago with his Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra to play the long-defunct St. Louis Jazz Festival in Clayton, but this will be his first visit here since. To get an idea of what to expect, check out the video of O'Farrill's octet recorded in September 2013 for an NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert.

Look for the second part of StLJN's winter/spring 2015 jazz preview in this space next week. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Saxquest announces four free master classes for summer, fall

Saxquest has announced the featured artists and dates for four more free master classes this summer and fall.

First up is saxophonist and educator Chip McNeill, who will appear with his quartet at the south-side saxophone sales and repair shop at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 4. McNeill is known for his work in the bands of trumpeters Arturo Sandoval and Maynard Ferguson, and presently serves as associate professor and chair of jazz studies at the University of Illinois.

Next up, saxophonist Jeff Coffin and members of his band, The Mu'tet, will be at Saxquest at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, August 20. Coffin, who's based in Nashville, was a member of Bela Fleck & the Flecktones from 1997 to 2010, and then joined the Dave Matthews Band in 2008 after the death of their original saxophonist LeRoi Moore.

The following month, saxophonist Bob Sheppard will visit the shop starting at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 9. Sheppard's credits include a wide range of studio work, film and television projects, as well as tours with Steely Dan, James Taylor, Natalie Cole and other major artists.

The fourth master class will be presented by saxophonist and clarinetist Victor Goines (pictured) at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, October 20. Goines has been a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Wynton Marsalis Septet since 1993, and also is the director of jazz studies at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. He's performed in St. Louis several times in recent years, both as a leader at Jazz at the Bistro and the Sheldon Concert Hall, and with JaLCO at the Sheldon.

All of these events are free and open to the public. Saxquest is located at 2114 Cherokee, two blocks west of Jefferson.

Notes from the Net: Phil Perry's new collaboration; Mtume vs. Crouch; plus news, reviews, interviews, and more

Here's the latest compilation of assorted news briefs and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest:

* In this week's Miles Davis-related news, Davis' former percussionist James Mtume and journalist and critic Stanley Crouch recently debated the merits of the trumpeter's electric music of the 1970s, and their discussion was captured on video and posted online. Most opinions I've seen so far say Mtume schooled Crouch, but you can make up your own mind after watching the video clips here.

Meanwhile, Davis' iconic image remains as marketable as ever, with another recent example being Canada's jazz.fm using a limited edition print of a photo of Davis for a pledge premium.

* East St. Louis native Phil Perry (pictured) is the vocalist and co-writer on "Forever United," the first single released from Chicago flute player Nicole Mitchell's upcoming CD The Bi-Polar Music Project...Vol. 1: Licensed to Chill. Mitchell and Perry wrote the tune with Preston Glass, whose songs have been recorded by Aretha Franklin, Jermaine Stewart, Whitney Houston, Earth Wind and Fire, Kenny G, Lenny Williams and others. The single is showing on the Music Choice R&B/Soul channel and getting radio play in the U.K.

* In news of recent visitors to our town, the New Jersey public radio station WBGO's program The Checkout recently interviewed guitarist John McLaughlin, who was in St. Louis on Friday at the Sheldon Concert Hall as part of his current tour of North America. The guitarist also was interviewed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette before a show in that city, and is the subject of Follow Your Heart, a recently published book by music journalist Walter Kolosky that offers a song-by-song analysis of McLaughlin's recorded work.

* Violinist Regina Carter played Jazz at the Bistro earlier this month, and then went to Minneapolis to perform at the Dakota, where Pamela Espelund of the Twin Cities jazz blog Bebopified caught the show and wrote a enthusiastic review.

* Pianist Vijay Iyer, who was here the weekend before last with Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet, last week selected five of Smith's recordings for a sort of "intro to..." post about the trumpeter on NPR's A Blog Supreme.

* Saxophonist Victor Goines, who played the Sheldon that same weekend, just did a performance & lecture for the Chicago Humanities Festival exploring the standard "Body & Soul"

* Glancing quickly at the "coming attractions" file, The Bad Plus, who will be here in January at the Bistro, just played the London Jazz Festival

* Lastly, a few items of general interest to jazz fans: The Concord Music Group is offering 25% off the entire order when you spend at least $40 on recordings from the group's contemporary artists such as John Pizzarelli, Esperanza Spalding, Christian Scott, Stanton Moore, Stanley Clarke and others. Use the promo code NEWJAZZ to get the special pricing. There's also a free sampler album available for download, with tracks by Spalding, Scott, Mindi Abair, Fourplay, Hiromi, Lee Ritenour and Gerald Albright.

* Want to follow your favorite jazz artist(s) on Twitter? Donna, the single-named proprietress of the blog Elements of Jazz, has put together a handy yet comprehensive list of Twitter addresses for jazz musicians, receord labels, presenters, journalists, organizations, and so on.

* And from the "Handy Things You Can Do On The Internet" file, have you ever wanted to save the audio from a YouTube video as an .MP3 file for later reference? Turns out there are a number of websites created specifically for this purpose, and yr. humble StLJN editor recently has used two of them - http://www.video2mp3.net/ and http://www.listentoyoutube.com/ - with quite satisfactory results. Both sites are free, and neither requires registration. They do serve some pop-ups and interstitial ads, but if you don't mind clicking through that stuff, both seem to handle the conversion quickly and easily.

Jazz this week: Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet, Victor Goines, Trio Tres Bien, and more

It's another busy weekend for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with a variety of styles, from traditional to experimental, on offer from both touring and local performers. Let's go to the highlights:

Cabaret St. Louis continues their fall season this week with singer Valerie Lemon, who will perform her show spotlighting the music of Marvin Hamlisch nightly through Saturday at the Kranzberg Arts Center.

On Thursday, the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a tribute to Kind of Blue by a band fronted by trumpeter Danny Campbell and saxophonists Jeff Anderson and Jason Swagler. (Presumably, they'll have a rhythm section there, too, but the announcement from the Jazz at Holmes email listserv didn't say who else would be involved.)

On Friday, Trio Tres Bien open a two-night engagement at Jazz at the Bistro. Featuring pianist Jeter Thompson and his brothers Harold on bass and Howard on drums, the group's straight-ahead, swinging sound (with occasional touches of Latin and soul) has made them a popular and enduring attraction for local jazz fans.

Also on Friday, guitarist Matthew Von Doran is back at Broadway Bean Coffee on the south side for a free performance backed by bassist Bob Deboo and drummer Kyle Honeycutt; and singer Cherise Rise Laday takes the stage at Robbie's House of Jazz with a band including guitarist Chris Burchett, pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson, bassist Jahmal Nichols and drummer Irvin Neal.

On Saturday night, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet performs at the 560 Music Center in a concert sponsored by New Music Circle. This is the St. Louis debut for the Golden Quartet, which also includes bassist John Lindberg, drummer Pheeroan akLaff and pianist Vijay Iyer, and the performance promises to be one of this fall's creative music highlights. You can read my Riverfront Times Critic's Pick on the concert here, and to see some video of Smith and the Golden Quartet in action, check out this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

UPDATE, 11:00 p.m. 11/11/10: Smith was interviewed by Terry Perkins for an informative article on the concert published today by the St. Louis Beacon.

UPDATE, 1:00 a.m. 11/12/10: Smith also talked with Calvin Wilson of the Post-Dispatch for a story that's just come online here.

That same evening, saxophonist Victor Goines will make it a "Sonny" evening at the Sheldon Concert Hall. Goines, who's known to many jazz fans for collaborating with Wynton Marsalis in both the trumpeter's small group and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, will play music associated with Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt.

The Sheldon and Metrotix are offering a two-for-one discount on tickets for the concert; for details on that, go here. Goines also is a noted jazz educator who currently directs the jazz studies program and Northwestern University, and while he's in town he also will present a free master class on Saturday morning at Saxquest.

Also on Saturday, the Tom Byrne Trio will be at Robbie's House of Jazz, featuring Byrne on guitar & guitar synth, Willem von Hombracht on bass and Philip Graves on drums.

Then on Sunday, Robbie's will celebrate a holiday event in the surrounding Old Webster business district with a jazz brunch/concert at 3:00 p.m. featuring singer Jeanne Trevor, pianist John Pyatt, and friends.

Also on Sunday afternoon, the St. Louis Jazz Club will present keyboardist Bob Row's group, featuring clarinetist Scott Alberici, at Doubletree Hotel & Conference Center in Chesterfield. Also, Tom Byrne is back in action Sunday night with his Pat Metheny tribute Have You Heard? at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Looking beyond the weekend, on Monday pianist Phil Gomez and Clave Sol will play Latin jazz at BB's, and on Tuesday morning, Elsie Parker & the Poor People of Paris will perform a Coffee Concert of their jazz-inflected, French cabaret-style music at the Sheldon. (As is customary with the Coffee Concerts series, they'll return to repeat the same program on Wednesday morning.)

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.)

Metrotix, Sheldon offer two-for-one discount on tickets to Victor Goines

The Sheldon Concert Hall and Metrotix are offering a two-for-one discount on tickets for the concert by saxophonist Victor Goines (pictured) this Saturday, November 14 at the Sheldon.

Billed as "The Two Sides of Sonny," the concert will feature Goines' tribute to the music of saxophonists Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt. Regular ticket prices are $40 and $35, but online purchasers who use the promo code can buy one ticket and get a second ticket free.

To access the offer, go here, enter promo code 2SONNY, and follow the instructions to complete the transaction.

While he's in St. Louis, Goines also will present a free master class at 11 a.m. Saturday at Saxquest. For more information on that, call Saxquest at 314-664-1234 or visit their website.

Saxquest to present free master classes with Eric Mandat, Dick Oatts, Jeff Coffin and Victor Goines

The St. Louis woodwind sales and repair shop Saxquest will host a free recital and master class featuring clarinetist Eric Mandat at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, October 2.

Mandat (pictured) will perform solo works with piano for about an hour, then give a master class for an hour. Consider a leading composer and performer of contemporary clarinet music, Mandat is known for his use of extended techniques, such as multiphonics and microtones. His composing is focused on solo and chamber works for clarinet, using extended techniques within a framework influenced by jazz and traditional music of non-Western cultures. You can hear samples of Mandat's music on his MySpace page.

Mandat's performance and master class is the first of four such events Saxquest has scheduled for the fall. Also on the calendar:

* Dick Oatts, a veteran jazz saxophonist, session musician and alumnus of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, October 9.

* Jeff Coffin, featured saxophonist with Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, the Dave Matthews Band and his own group, the Mu'Tet, at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday October 27.

* Victor Goines, saxophonist and clarinetist with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and director of jazz studies at Northwestern University, at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, November 13.

All events are free and open to the public, and will be held at the Saxquest shop, 2114 Cherokee St. on the south side. For more information, call Saxquest at 314-664-1234 or visit their website.