Jazz this week: Gateway Jazz Festival, celebrating Dennis Owsley, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a multi-artist bill of contemporary jazz and R&B, a celebration of a longtime local jazz radio personality, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, July 18
The Ambassadors of Swing return to Tin Roof St. Louis, and singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black will perform at Parkside Grille.

Also on Wednesday, Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "Broadway Open Mic" at Sophie's Artist Lounge & Cocktail Club, and Wright's Project plays jazz/fusion and funk at Al's Lounge.

Thursday, July 19
St. Louis Public Radio will celebrate broadcaster, author and photographer Dennis Owsley and his 35 years of service to the station and the local music community with a free, public event - including live music from saxophonist Paul DeMarinis, guitarist Eric Slaughter, bassist Jeff Anderson and drummer Steve Davis - at UMSL at Grand Center.

Also on Wednesday, Chicago saxophonist Greg Ward, out on the road with his trio for a brief tour, stops off for a performance at The Dark Room; guitarist Vince Varvel plays a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; and singer Feyza Eren returns to Evangeline's.

Friday, July 20
Singer/songwriter Emily Wallace (pictured, bottom left) and friends, including members of the Funky Butt Brass Band, perform for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis; and Ken Haller reprises his popular cabaret performance "The Medicine Show" for the first of two nights at the Kranzberg Arts Center

Saturday, July 21
The Gateway Jazz Festival returns for its second year at the Chesterfield Amphitheater. This time, the bill includes saxophonist Boney James, trumpeter Cindy Bradley, and singer and guitarist Jonathan Butler (pictured, top left), plus singer Will Downing, keyboardist Alex Bugnon, and two of St. Louis' own, saxophonist Tim Cunningham and keyboardist Mike Silverman of Bach to the Future. 

You can check out videos of all these performers in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, The Gaslight Squares play traditional jazz at Das Bevo, and keyboardist Mo Egeston and friends hold down the late night slot at The Dark Room.

Sunday, July 22
The St. Louis Jazz Club presents the St. Louis Stompers at the  DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel St. Louis - Westport, and Miss Jubilee plays a free concert at Oak Knoll Park,

Monday, July 23
Dizzy Atmosphere plays vintage swing and Gypsy jazz at The Shaved Duck.

Tuesday, July 24
Bassist, guitarist and singer Tonina Saputo and her band host "The Tuesday Night Hit" at The Dark Room.

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: Marco Benevento, John Scofield Trio, Matt Ulery's LOOM Trio, Bett Butler, and more

There's lots of jazz and creative music going on this weekend in and around St. Louis, including visits from a New York keyboardist, a Chicago bassist, a singer from Texas, and the return of one of the top guitarists in electric jazz. Let's go the highlights...

Tonight, keyboard player Marco Benevento brings his trio to the Old Rock House, with the Mike Dillon Band opening. (Given that Dillon also is the percussionist in Garage A Trois, which also includes Benevento, perhaps they'll jam a bit together as well.) For more about Benevento and video samples of his music, check out this post from last Saturday.

Tomorrow night, guitarist Vince Varvel and bassist Eric Stiller will play a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. Also on Thursday, bassist Dave Troncoso leads a trio at the Wine Press; and it's "Avant Garde Arts Night," featuring live improvised music, at the Tavern of Fine Arts. 

On Friday, Chicago bassist Matt Ulery's LOOM Trio plays a free concert in the Grigg Gallery at the St. Louis Art Museum. Ulery is a busy participant in Chicago's jazz and improvised music scenes, and for this gig, his band will be augmented by members of the new music ensemble eighth blackbird, some of whom were involved in Ulery's crticially acclaimed album By A Little Light, released earlier this year. (Note that although it's a free show, tickets are required, and can be picked up at the Museum's information desk.)

Also on Friday evening, guitar great John Scofield returns to town for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro. Last year, Scofield brought a quartet to St. Louis; this time around, it's his trio (pictured) with bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bill Stewart, which has been together long enough to achieve a near-telepathic level of interplay among its members.

Over on the east side on Friday, saxophonist Tim Cunningham returns to Jazz on Broadway in Alton, and guitarist Tom Byrne  will lead a trio with bassist Chris Watrous and drummer Steve Davis at the Cigar Inn in Belleville.

On Saturday afternoon, the Bosman Twins will play a free show outdoors on the quad at Webster University, sponsored by Wesbter's African American Alumni Associations.

Then on Saturday evening, singer Feyza Eren is at the Wine Press; and the student ensemble Jazz In Outer Space takes the stage at Robbie's House of Jazz. Also on Saturday, and of special interest to those of you in West County or the western exurbs: pianist Dave Becherer brings his trio to Bugsy's, a bar and restaurant out in Union, MO that's now presenting live jazz on some weekend evenings with a booking assist from trumpeter Keith Moyer.

On Sunday evening, Texas-based singer Bett Butler will be in town to do a performance called "Words and Music" with writer Pamela Houston at the Ethical Society. Butler has an interesting sort of post-modern take on the classic style of jazz vocalizing exemplified by Ella Fitzgerald, which she'll employ in what's billed as "an evening of story, song, and adventure." 


Sunday also will bring the debut of a weekly, early evening gig at Club Klymaxx in the Ambassador Entertainment Center featuring First Call, a new band including Jeff Anderson (bass), Danny Campbell (trumpet), Marty Morrison (drums), Eric Slaughter (guitar) and Chad Evans (saxophones). $5 gets you in the door and includes your first drink.

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 at Holmes series announces Fall 2012 schedule

The Jazz at Holmes series of free concerts at Washington University will kick off its Fall 2012 series at 8:00 p.m. this coming Thursday, September 13, with a performance by the Freddie Washington Quartet.

Washington, a local favorite from the late 1960s through the early 1990s, recently reemerged on the St. Louis scene after a hiatus from performing and some time spent out of town. Though his concert will basically be just a straight-up showcase Washington's hard-bop influenced work on tenor and soprano, most of the other Jazz at Holmes concerts this semester seem to have at least a nominal theme, with several including collaborations with other artistic disciplines or University departments.

Here's the complete Jazz at Holmes schedule for Fall 2012:

Thursday, September 13: Freddie Washington Quartet

Thursday, September 27: "Intimacy in Improvisation" with guitarist Vince Varvel and bassist Eric Stiller;

Thursday, October 4: "Stories: The New Beat Generation" featuring poet Eileen Gsell reading with music from guitarist William Lenihan (pictured) and his trio;

Thursday, October 11: "Tin Pan Alley and the Music of Jerome Kern" with trumpeter Bob Ceccarini's group and an introduction by Todd Decker, assistant professor and head of musicology at Wash U;

Thursday, October 25: "New Jazz" featuring saxophonist Ron Goff's quartet;

Thursday, November 1: "Music of Cannonball Adderley and Nancy Wilson" featuring saxophonist Rob Nugent and vocalist Kim Fuller with Kara Vandiver (piano), Zeb Briskovich (bass) and Miles Vandiver (drums);

Thursday, November 8: "Turning Point: Electric Miles and Hendrix Confluence," a celebration of the 70th birthday of Jimi Hendrix, featuring "an all-star lineup" led by William Lenihan;

Thursday, November 15: "Freedom Jazz Dance" featuring dancer/choreographer Ashley Tate with the St. Louis Creative Artists Jazz Ensemble;

Thursday, November 29: "Songs of Love and Other Difficulties: Work and Protest Songs" featuring the Kim Fuller Quartet, with an introduction by Patrick Burke, associate professor of ethnomusicaology; and

Thursday, December 6: Washington University jazz studies student groups, directed by William Lenihan.

Presented most Thursday evenings when school is in session, the Jazz at Holmes concerts are free and open to the public. Concerts begin at 8:00 p.m. in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall, located on Washington University’s campus at the west end of the Brookings Quadrangle, near the intersection of Brookings and Hoyt drives.

Jazz at Holmes announces winter/spring 2010 schedule

The Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University has announced its schedule of free concerts for the winter/spring semester.

Guitarist Matthew Von Doran, backed by bassist Bob DeBoo and drummer Steve Davis, will get things started for 2010 at 8:00 p.m. this Thursday, January 21.

In keeping with the pattern of the last several semesters, the Jazz at Holmes series this spring also will feature a visiting performer along with the lineup of St. Louis talent: singer Jan Shapiro (pictured), a former St. Louisan who now heads the vocal department at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and who will perform on Thursday, April 8.

The Jazz at Holmes series presents concerts at 8:00 p.m. most Thursdays while school is in session. This semester's schedule also includes a concert on Saturday, February 27 by pianist Jay Oliver's quartet. Here's the complete Jazz at Holmes winter/spring 2010 schedule:

Thursday, January 21: Matthew Von Doren Trio
Thursday, January 28: Ptah Williams Trio

Thursday, February 4: Jason Swagler
Thursday, February 11: Dave Stone & Randy Holmes play the music of Don Cherry & Ornette Coleman
Thursday, February 18: Curt Landes Quartet
Saturday, February 27: Jay Oliver Quartet

Thursday, March 4: Paul DeMarinis
Thursday, March 18: Bensid Thigpen
Thursday, March 25: Kara Baldus

Thursday, April 1: Vince Varvel
Thursday, April 8: Jan Shapiro
Thursday, April 15: Larry Johnson and Two Times True

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.

(Edited 1/24/10 because Jazz at Holmes switched the originally announced dates for the Curt Landes and Dave Stone/Randy Hplmes concerts, and to add tags.)

Washington University concert to explore chance via music from Cage, Riley

Musicians and dancers affiliated with Washington University will explore the use of chance in contemporary music in a concert at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, October 7 at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Ave. in University City.

The concert program will begin with "Music of Changes Book IV: New York, December 13," a piece for solo piano composed by John Cage by consulting the I Ching, as performed by pianist Peter Henderson. Next on the program will be "The Oracle," an improvisation featuring guitarist William Lenihan, percussionist Henry Claude, cellist Tracy Andreotti and dancers Mary-Jean Cowell, David Marchant and Ting Ting Chang.

The program will conclude with a performance of Terry Riley's "In C" by an ensemble including Claude, Lenihan and Andreotti, plus cellist Elizabeth Macdonald, guitarist Vince Varvel, pianist Amanda Kirkpatrick, saxophonist Adrianne Honnold, violist Laura Reycraft, and clarinetist Dana Hotle.

The performance is held in conjunction with the current "Chance Aesthetics" exhibit at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, and will preceded by introductory remarks by Meredith Malone, assistant curator of the Kemper Art Museum, who organized the Chance Aesthetics exhibition; and Bruce Durazzi, assistant professor of music theory.

Admission is free and open to the public. A reception will immediately follow the concert in the Music Center's Ballroom Theatre. For more information, call 314-935-5566.

Jazz this week: JALC Band Director Academy Faculty, free summer concerts, and more

Some non-StLJN deadlines are pressing yr.humble editor this week, so this post will have to be a relatively brief look at what's going on with jazz in St. Louis over the next few days. Let's go to the highlights, presented in chronological order:

There are two free shows of possible interest to jazz fans tonight, as singer Kim Massie performs at the Missouri Botanical Garden as part of the Whitaker Music Festival, and the Sentimental Journey Dance Band plays at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey as part of that city's series of summer concerts

On Thursday, there's another free concert, as guitarist Vince Varvel performs for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University. The Jazz at Holmes email list message for this week says Varvel will be joined by Paul DeMarinis on saxophones, Eric Stiller on bass and Miles Vandiver on drums.

On Friday, singer Jeanne Trevor brings her song stylings to Brandt's, while Two Times True with Larry Johnson are at Cookie's Jazz and More, the Second Generation Swing Band plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom, and the funk/hip-hop/jazz group Fresh Heir takes the stage at The Gramophone.

On Saturday, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Band Director Academy Faculty will perform at Jazz at the Bistro. This is a one-time-only gig from an all-star ensemble of musicians and educators featuring Alvin Atkinson (drums), Ronald Carter (saxophone, pictured), Rick Haydon (guitar), Steve Sveum (saxophone and clarinet), Reggie Thomas (keyboards) and Rodney Whitaker (bass). Also on Saturday, Wild Cool and Swingin' will present their brassy, old school Vegas-style blend of jazz and pop in a free concert at Lafayette Park

Looking beyond the weekend, trumpeter Keith Moyer brings his group to BB's Jazz Blues and Soups on Monday night, and on Tuesday, keyboardist Ryan Marquez' trio will perform at The Gramophone as part of the free Tuesday night jazz series that the club is co-sponsoring with Jazz St. Louis..

For more St. Louis jazz-related events 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 at Holmes announces summer 2008 schedule

The Jazz at Holmes series of free concerts at Washington University is presenting a summer schedule again this year, and they released information on the lineup for summer 2008 to the public today:

The series kicks off next Thursday, June 12 with the French cabaret and jazz sounds of vocalist and woodwind player Elsie Parker (pictured) and The Poor People of Paris. The rest of the schedule is as follows:

Thursday, June 19 - Pianist Curt Landes
Thursday, July 10 - Drummer Bensid Thigpen & group play the music of Wayne Shorter
Thursday, July 17 - Guitarist Vincent Varvel
Thursday, July 24 - Drummer Miles Vandiver
Friday, August 8 - Trumpeter Randy Holmes and his sextet
Thursday, August 14 - Pianist Ptah Williams (outdoors in Brookings Quadrangle.)

All performances are free and open to the public and take place from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. in Holmes Lounge, unless otherwise noted. Holmes Lounge is located in Ridgley Hall, on the western side of Brookings Quadrangle. For more information, you can call 314-862-0874 or send an email to staylor@wustl.edu.

Jazz at Holmes announces Fall 2007 concert schedule

Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series, which puts on free jazz concerts most Thursday nights during the school year, has announced the rest of their schedule for for the Fall 2007 semester.

Although, as usual, most of the lineup consists of St. Louis-based musicians, the series will also present a couple of touring acts, namely Austrian pianist Wolfgang Seligo and the Los Angeles-based group Power Trio, which features Yosef Dosik on alto sax, bassist Nick Rosen, and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson on viola. Here's the schedule:

September 27: Paul DeMarinis
October 4: Brett Stamps
October 11: Vince Varvel
October 25: Reggie Thomas
November 1: Steve Schenkel & Open Strings
November 8: Wolfgang Seligo
November 15: Dave Stone
November 29: Power Trio
December 6: Kim Portnoy
December 13: Tom Byrne

All concerts take place from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. in Holmes Lounge, located in Ridgely Hall on the Washington University campus, and are free and open to the public.

Jazz this week: Tony DeSare at the Bistro, Erin Bode at SLAM, and more

This week in St. Louis jazz isn't nearly as busy as the last couple have been, but there are still some shows worth bringing to your attention.

For starters, singer/pianist Tony DeSare (pictured) is this week's featured attraction at Jazz at the Bistro, doing two sets a night through Saturday. DeSare started in musical theater, performing in, among other things, a show celebrating the music of Frank Sinatra. And the Sinatra influence remains present in what I've heard of DeSare's music, along with hints of Bennett, Torme and other Italian-American crooners, Harry Connick, Jr., and other jazz-pop performers.

Those influences may still be somewhat unassimilated at this point, but then again, DeSare is young and still evolving, and few, if any of the other artists mentioned above would do some of the material DeSare covers, such as songs from Carole King and Prince. DeSare made his St. Louis debut with a two-night engagement at the Bistro last season, and now merits a four-night stand, which tells me that he must have made a positive impression in terms of both musical quality and audience response.

You can see and hear a sample of DeSare by checking out the YouTube clip below, which was recorded in January 2007 and shows him doing a solo version of an original tune called "Mundy on Tuesdays".

UPDATE - 3/1/07 - The Post-Dispatch's Calvin Wilson has a brief interview with DeSare in today's paper, available online here.

Speaking of singers, St. Louis' own Erin Bode is performing a free concert at 6 p.m. Saturday night in the Griggs Gallery of the Saint Louis Art Museum. And speaking of free shows, guitarist Vince Varvel is doing one Thursday night for Washington University's Jazz at Holmes series.

There's more at the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, with updates for March in progress over the next couple of days as band and club schedules come in and data gets entered. Or if you're interested in finding out who's at a specific venue, please see the sidebar, where an extensive selection of fine links is available for your clicking and reading pleasure.

(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. No attachments, please.)