Jazz this week: Kurt Rosenwinkel; Christian Sands; J.D. Parran, K. Curtis Lyle and friends; Too Many Zooz, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features headlining appearances from a top guitarist and a rising young pianist; free improvisation from a renowned St. Louis native and friends; a rowdy trio of former subway buskers; and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, February 5
Guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel performs for the first of five nights continuing through Sunday at Jazz St. Louis.

Since his last headlining appearance here in 2006, Rosenwinkel (pictured, top left) has evolved from an up-and-coming player into a significant voice internationally among contemporary guitarists. You can see and hear some recent samples of his playing on video in this post from last Saturday.

Thursday, February 6
Multi-instrumentalist Jeff Anderson will pick up his tenor sax to lead a group in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Also on Thursday, pianist Adam Maness' trio is back at Thurman's in Shaw, and The Dark Room has a double feature with guitarist Dave Black at the dinner hour and saxophonist Scooter Brown playing the late show.

Friday, February 7
"Brasshouse" trio Too Many Zooz, featuring the flamboyant virtuoso baritone saxophonist Leo Pellegrino, will perform at Off Broadway.

In the last five years, they've gone from being literally an underground sensation, playing for tips in the NYC subway, to touring internationally and having their music featured in a national TV commercial from Google. And while Pellegrino's stage antics may get a lot of attention, he's a formidable musical presence as well.

Also on Friday, bassist Darrell Mixon and Friends will play at The Judson House; the Midwest Jazz-tette serves up West Coast cool jazz at The Abbey in Belleville; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes make their cabaret debut at Blue Strawberry.

Saturday, February 8
Pianist Christian Sands (pictured, bottom left) and his trio will be "Remembering Erroll Garner" in a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Sands, one of the top young pianists in jazz, has played here before with bassist Christian McBride but will be making his St. Louis debut as a bandleader with this show. You can find out more about Sands and see and hear some samples of his playing on video in this post from Saturday before last.

Also on Saturday, multi-instrumentalist and St. Louis native J.D. Parran, poet K. Curtis Lyle and Friends will perform improvised music with spoken word in a free show at St. Louis University's Xavier Hall.

Sunday, February 9
Bassist and singer Janet Evra plays for brunch at The Dark Room, and Genesis Jazz Project will feature a guest performance from singer Robert Nelson as part of their matinee performance at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

Monday, February 10
Dizzy Atmosphere plays for diners at The Shaved Duck, and singer Debby Lennon leads a quartet in a concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster University campus.

Tuesday, February 11
Keyboardist and singer Jesse Gannon returns to BB's Jazz, Blues and 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.)

J.D. Parran and K. Curtis Lyle to perform Saturday, February 8 at SLU's Xavier Hall

Multi-instrumentalist and St. Louis native J.D. Parran (pictured) is coming home to team up with poet K. Curtis Lyle and a group of local improvisors for a performance at 8:00 p.m. Saturday, February 8 at Xavier Hall on the campus of St. Louis University.

The concert is part of the "Jazz 'n Tongues" music-and-poetry series sponsored by SLU and the Nu-Art Series. Nu-Art's impresario George Sams will be part of the ensemble on trumpet and flugelhorn, along with bassist Darrell Mixon, violinist Alyssa Avery, and cellist Tracy Andreotti.

Admission is free and open to the public.

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Winter/spring 2020 jazz preview, part three

Today it's time for another installment of StLJN's winter/spring 2020 jazz preview, presenting videos of bands and musicians who will be visiting St. Louis over the next few months. This is part three of the series, covering those shows in chronological order; you can see part one here, and part two here.

Picking up where last week's post left off, the first video up above features Kuzu, an improvising trio from Chicago that includes guitarist Tashi Dorji, drummer Tyler Damon, and saxophonist Dave Rempis

They're coming here for a concert presented by New Music Circle on Wednesday, March 11 at Joe's Cafe, and can be seen in the video performing a full set of music in October 2018 at if ART Gallery in Columbia, SC.

After the jump, it's the SFJAZZ Collective, who will be playing on Saturday, March 14 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

This season's edition of the group is commemorating the 50th anniversaries of the release of Miles Davis’ In a Silent Way and Sly & The Family Stone’s Stand!, with a touring show featuring original arrangements of music from both albums. The video is a promotional clip for the tour, outlining the concept with some brief interview quotes and musical excerpts.

Next, it's keyboardist and singer Kandace Springs, who will make her St. Louis debut with shows starting Wednesday, March 18 continuing through Sunday, March 22 at Jazz St. Louis.

She's seen here in the first episode of saxophonist David Sanborn's new online video series "Sanborn Sessions," released earlier this month.

The following week, cabaret singer and pianist Billy Stritch will perform music associated with Mel Torme on Wednesday, March 25 and Thursday, March 26 at Jazz St. Louis. You can get a feel for Stritch's style by checking out the video excerpt from his show "Lucky To Be Me" recorded in 2018 at Birdland in NYC.

Today's fifth video features guitarist Dweezil Zappa, who's returning to St. Louis to perform on Saturday, March 28 at The Ready Room.

While he's currently forbidden from using his father's name and image, Dweezil still is keeping Frank Zappa's music alive for a new generation of listeners, as seen in this performance of the complete Hot Rats album recorded in September, 2019 at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ.

The final video showcases harmonium player Amirtha Kidambi’s group Elder Ones, who will perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, March 28 at Xavier Hall on the St. Louis University campus. It shows a complete set recorded on March 25, 2019 at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC,

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump. Look for part four of StLJN's 2020 winter/spring jazz preview next week in this space...

Jazz this week: Jazzmeia Horn, a master class with Nate Smith, "A Retrospective on Langston Hughes," Denise Thimes, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes the local debut of one the top young vocalists in jazz, a master class from a first-call drummer, a musical look at the works of a world-famous poet and playwright with Missouri roots, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, May 8
Singer Jazzmeia Horn (pictured, top left) performs for the first of five nights at Jazz St. Louis.

One of the most talked-about and critically acclaimed jazz vocalists to emerge in recent years, Horn will be making her St. Louis debut with these shows. You can find out more about her and see some videos of recent performances in this post from last Saturday.

Also on Wednesday, drummer Nate Smith, who's worked with bassist Dave Holland and saxophonist Chris Potter, will present a master class and solo performance at Gaslight Studios.

Thursday, May 9
Guitarist Vincent Varvel's trio will perform at The Dark Room; saxophonist Tim Cunningham plays at Jazzy 159 Lounge & Bar in Fairview Heights; and percussionist Joe Pastor will lead his St. Louis Legacy Ensemble in hosting a jam session at Evangeline's.

Friday, May 10
The Nu-Art Series wraps up its Spring 2019 poetry-and-jazz series with "A Retrospective on Langston Hughes," featuring poets Roscoe Crenshaw, Cheeraz Gormon, Shirley LeFlore, Eugene Redmond, Abdul Waahid Jones, and Claude Montgomery along with trumpeter George Sams and saxophonist Kendrick Smith at Xavier Hall on the St. Louis University campus.

Also on Friday, new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound plays their final concert of the season at the Sheldon Concert Hall, and singer Anita Jackson performs for the late show at The Dark Room.

Saturday, May 11
The St. Louis Jazz Club presents their monthly jam session, hosted by keyboardist Bob Row and drummer John Gillick at J P's Corner.

Also on Saturday afternoon, the electronic jazz-fusion ensemble Koplant No will play a free show at Saxquest, and the annual Art Fair at Laumeier Sculpture Park will feature sets from musicians including guitarist Dave Black and the Funky Butt Brass Band.

Saturday evening, Chicago-based jazz-rock band Marbin returns to BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Sunday, May 12
If you're headed out for brunch, musical options to accompany your meal include Miss Jubilee at Evangeline's and singer and bassist Janet Evra at The Dark Room.
 
Later on Sunday afternoon, Denise Thimes will present her annual Mother's Day concert raising money to fight pancreatic cancer at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, with some help from friends including vocalist Jermaine Smith and keyboardist Matthew Whitaker.

Monday, May 13
Dizzy Atmosphere plays vintage swing and Gypsy jazz at The Shaved Duck.

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: Ralph Towner, MarchFourth, Oliver Lake, Bonerama, Michael Bublé, Oz Noy, Dave Weckl & Jimmy Haslip, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis is jam-packed with so many noteworthy shows that it defies easy summary, so in the interest of getting to the good stuff as soon as possible, let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, 
March 20
Guitarist Ralph Towner returns to play a solo concert at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus. (For more about Towner and some video samples of his work, see this post from before his last appearance here in 2017.)

Also on Wednesday, the eclectic mutant-marching-band MarchFourth returns for a performance at the Old Rock House; Cabaret Project St. Louis presents their monthly "Singers Open Mic" at Sophie's Artist Lounge; and pianist Reggie Thomas and the Jazz St. Louis Big Band celebrate the "Nat "King" Cole Centennial" with a free performance as part of the the "Whitaker Jazz Speaks" series at Jazz St. Louis.

Thursday, March 21
The 442s play original instrumental music at Joe's Cafe, and guitarist Billy Barnett will perform in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University.

Friday, March 22
The Nu-Art Series and St. Louis University  present saxophonist Oliver Lake (pictured, top left) in concert at Xavier Hall on the SLU campus.

The former St. Louisan and co-founder of the Black Artists Group and the World Saxophone Quartet will be reciting some of his poetry as well as playing music, with some help from pianist Greg Mills, trumpeter and Nu-Art Series impresario George Sams, and dancers Antonio Douthis-Boyd and Kirven Douthis-Boyd.

For more about Lake and his artistic pursuits in music, poetry, and painting, see this post from last Saturday. 

Also on Friday, Bonerama (pictured, center left) presents their Led Zeppelin tribute show at The Bootleg at Atomic Cowboy; pop-jazz crooner Michael Bublé will perform at the Enterprise Center; and the Funky Butt Brass Band plays for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis.

Saturday, March 23
NYC-based band The Bailsmen will play vintage swing and Gypsy jazz at Focal Point, and a series of shows celebrating the release of the new book St. Louis Sound kicks off with "St. Louis Sound: Experience Jazz," featuring sets from Tonina, the Adam Maness Trio, and trumpeter Danny Campbell with guest vocalist Anita Jackson, at the Grandel Theatre.

Also on Saturday, pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True return to the Parkside Grille, and trumpeter Jim Manley leads a quartet at Evangeline's.

Sunday, March 24
Israeli-born jazz-fusion guitarist Oz Noy wraps up his current tour with drummer and St. Charles native Dave Weckl (pictured, bottom left) and bassist Jimmy Haslip with two shows at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups.

Monday, March 25
Singer and impressionist Dean Christopher returns with his "Rat Pack and More" show to One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar; and Webster University's Student Jazz Combos perform at Webster's Community Music School.

Tuesday, March 26
Nashville-based ensemble The Cosmic Collective plays 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: Kurt Elling, Nicole Mitchell, Lubambo, Alves & Ribeiro, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis brings sounds from all over, including two prominent performers who each got their start in Chicago, one who made his name on Broadway, and three coming from Brazil via NYC. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, March 13
Singer Kurt Elling - one of the aforementioned Chicagoans, though he now lives in New York - performs for the first of five nights, continuing through Sunday at Jazz St. Louis.

Elling (pictured, top left) returns here for the first time since the release in 2018 of his most recent album The Questions, so it seems likely that a good portion of material from that recording will be part of his sets here. You can see videos of live performances of several of those tunes, and find out more about what Elling has been up to more recently, in this post from last Saturday.

Elsewhere around town, clarinetist and former St. Louisan Chloe Feoranzo, now residing in New Orleans, will be back in town for a concert with her quartet at Focal Point, and guitarist Brian Vaccaro leads a trio at Evangeline's.

Thursday, March 14
Pianist Jim Hegarty returns with his quintet to the The Dark Room; guitarist Dave Black and singer Erika Johnson perform at The Pat Connolly Tavern; and pianist Adam Maness' trio is back at Thurman's in Shaw.

Friday, March 15
Pianist, singer and Tony Award-winning musical theater composer Jason Robert Brown performs in concert at the Grandel Theatre; and the Original Knights of Swing play for dancers at Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, March 16
Flute player and composer Nicole Mitchell’s Liberation Narratives, featuring poet Haki Madhubuti, performs in a concert presented by New Music Circle at Xavier Hall on the St. Louis University campus.

A composer and conceptualist with wide-ranging interests, Mitchell (pictured, bottom left) is a past president of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and recently was appointed head of the jazz program at the University of Pittsburgh, succeeding the late Geri Allen.

Mitchell has been involved in a constantly evolving variety of musical projects over the years, with her latest collaboration with poet Haki Madhubuti offering "an unabashed take on the state of the nation" via her compositions and the poet's spoken word performances.  For a bit more about that, plus some videos of Mitchell performing in various contexts, see this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.

Elsewhere around town, pianist Peter Martin's Open Studio will present a concert of Brazilian jazz featuring guitarist Romero Lubambo, pianist Helio Alves, and drummer Edu Ribeiro, along with St. Louis' own Bob DeBoo on bass.

Also on Saturday, the Coleman Hughes Project celebrates six years as a band with a gig at Lowes Entertainment; and trumpeter Jim Manley and keyboardist Chris Swan will play at One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar.

Sunday, March 17
Friends have organized a benefit for saxophonist Fred Walker, who no longer can perform due to recent health issues, for late Sunday afternoon at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, with announced performers including Walker's former band Mystic Voyage, saxophonist Kendrick Smith, blues singers Kim Massie, Eugene Johnson, and Lady J Huston, and more.

Monday, March 18
Pianist Carol Schmidt and saxophonist Paul DeMarinis will team up for a concert of duets at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster University campus.

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: Grace Kelly, J.D. Parran & K. Curtis Lyle, Eighth Blackbird, and more

It's another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with several noteworthy headliners in town, plus a whole bunch of shows from our hometown musicians, including a jam-packed Valentine's Day evening.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, February 13
Saxophonist and singer Grace Kelly (pictured, top left) begins a five-night engagement at Jazz St. Louis, continuing through Sunday. Kelly's most recent album Go Time: Brooklyn 2, which came out last October, expands her musical palette a bit, with more pronounced influences from pop, electronic music, and more. For more about that, plus some videos of recent performances by Kelly, check out the video showcase post from last Saturday.

Also on Wednesday, JSL's "Whitaker Jazz Speaks" series continues with "Miles and Me: An Evening with Quincy Troupe," a free event at the St. Louis County Library's main branch on South Lindbergh. The poet, author, professor, St. Louis native, and Miles Davis biographer will speak about his work, his relationship with Davis, and more. For a preview, see Troupe's interview with Dan Durchholz for the Post-Dispatch.

Thursday, February 14
The evening of Valentine's Day offers more than dozen options for live jazz, so you'll probably want to visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes calendar to see the full range of options. 

If you're on a budget, the pick show might be the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University's presentation of "My Funny Valentine - Music of Miles Davis," a free concert featuring trumpeter Randy Holmes, saxophonist Paul DeMarinis, bassist/guitarist William Lenihan, pianist Ken Kehner, and drummer Steve Davis. As a bonus, author and scholar Enrico Merlin will give a talk about Davis before the concert, starting at 7:30 p.m.

Also of note, singer Jan Shapiro and pianist Dave Venn, both of whom gig less frequently than many local listeners might like, will be performing along with bassist Ben Wheeler at Bar Italia.

Meanwhile, singer Erin Bode will meet the demand from her fan base with the first of two nights at Cyrano's, and saxophonist Tim Cunningham will be on a similar schedule playing Thursday and Friday at Gauge Cigar Club (the latest re-branding of what originally was Troy's Jazz Gallery.)

Friday, February 15
Chicago-based new music ensemble Eighth Blackbird returns for a concert at 560 Music Center.

Also on Friday, singer Chuck Flowers performs at 50/Fifty Kitchen; the Joe Bozzi Band returns to Evangeline's; and Cornet Chop Suey plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, February 16
Multi-instrumentalist and St. Louis native J.D. Parran (pictured, bottom left) will team up up with poet K. Curtis Lyle and trumpeter George Sams for a performance at Xavier Hall on the SLU campus.

Sunday, February 17
Miss Jubilee will perform for brunch at Evangeline's, while guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran is at The Dark Room.

Monday, February 18
The Webster University Jazz Collective, featuring faculty members from Webster's music department, performs at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster campus.

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: Lea DeLaria,"Music for Piano, Percussion & Drums," and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features visits from a couple of local natives turned expats - one quite famous, the other up-and-coming - plus an assortment of performances in a variety of jazz styles from hometown performers. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, January 23
Singer Emily Wallace presents a one-night-only performance at Jazz St. Louis, backed by pianist Adam Maness' trio.

Also on Wednesday, the weekly "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features guitarist Jacob Weisman and friends at The Stage at KDHX, the weekly jam session hosted by bassist Bob DeBoo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Thursday, January 24
Saxophonist Stephen Martin is back home from Kansas City to lead a quartet at The Dark Room, and singer Joe Mancuso will welcome singer Jan Shapiro and pianist Dave Venn as the guests for his gig this week at 50/Fifty Kitchen.

Friday, January 25
Belleville native Lea DeLaria (pictured, top left) may be best known as an actor and one of the stars of the Netflix series Orange Is The New Black, but she also has extensive credits in cabaret, musical theater and stand-up comedy. All those skills likely will be on display when DeLaria takes the stage for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis as part of the series JSL is co-presenting this year with Cabaret Project of St. Louis.

Also on Friday, singer Tony Viviano presents a tribute to the music of Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin for the first of two nights at Table Three; soul/jazz quintet Hip Grease returns to The Dark Room; trumpeter Jim Manley performs at One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar; and Miss Jubilee plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday, January 26
Pianist Greg Mills and percussionist Glen "Papa" Wright will present a free concert of "Music for Piano, Percussion & Drums" at St. Louis University's Xavier Hall; and The Gaslight Squares play vintage jazz at The Frisco Barroom, a recently opened spot in the Old Orchard neighborhood of Webster Groves.

Sunday, January 27
The Folk School of KDHX will host their monthly traditional jazz jam session, and DJ Pockets will present his monthly "1950s/60s Jazz Record Spin" at The Royale.

Monday, January 28
Bassist Willem von Hombracht leads a trio in a concert at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium, and singer/impressionist Dean Christopher brings his "Rat Pack & More" show back to One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar.

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: Winter/spring 2019 jazz preview, part four

Today, it's part four of StLJN's winter/spring 2019 jazz preview, featuring videos of noteworthy jazz and creative music performers who will be coming to St. Louis in the first part of 2019. You can see part one of the series here, part two here, and part three here.

First up is a show that, chronologically speaking, should have been part of last week's post, but was left out due to a clerical error. That would be the upcoming appearance by trumpeter Jaimie Branch, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Ståle Liavik Solberg presented by New Music Circle on Saturday, February 9 at The Stage at KDHX.

Branch, a Chicago native who has gained international attention since moving to NYC a few years back, has her own working band, Fly or Die. But she's also played with a variety of other ensembles, including with Lonborg-Holm and Solberg (billed here as "The Party Knüllers") as seen in the first video up above, an excerpt from a show in June 2018 at Da Vinci Art Alliance in Philadelphia.

After the jump, we get back on schedule with Marilyn Maye, known as "the grand dame of cabaret," who will present her show "It's Better with a Big Band" on Wednesday, March 6 and Thursday, March 7 at Jazz St. Louis. The video is an excerpt from Maye's 90th birthday party (!) last April at Feinstein's/54Below in New York City, in which she sings "Guess Who I Saw Today" and "Fifty Percent."

Maye will be followed at Jazz St. Louis by another distinctive vocalist, Kurt Elling, who will check in for a five-night run at the Bistro starting Wednesday, March 13 and continuing through Sunday, March 17.

Elling can be seen in the second video after the jump singing the Julian Priester/Tommy Turrentine composition "Long As You're Living" at the International Jazz Day 2018 All-Star Global Concert in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Though he'll have his regular working band in St. Louis, here he's backed by a group including Branford Marsalis (tenor sax), Terri Lyne Carrington (drums), Antonio Farao (piano), and Ben Williams (bass).

That same week, New Music Circle will present flute player and composer Nicole Mitchell’s Liberation Narratives, featuring poet Haki Madhubuti, on Saturday, March 16 at Xavier Hall on the St. Louis University campus.

"Liberation Narratives" also is the title of Mitchell's 2017 album featuring Madhubuti, but since there doesn't seem to be any live-performance video of the two of them available online, the next clip offers a look at Mitchell, her Black Earth Ensemble, and poet Jamila Woods doing a set in 2017 at "Centennial Brooks," a gathering in Chicago of scholars, writers, musicians, and fans paying tribute to Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African-American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize.

Next up, it's guitarist Ralph Towner, who will be doing a solo performance on Wednesday, March 20 at Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus. Towner is featured in the fifth video playing his original composition "The Reluctant Bride."

Also on Wednesday, March 20, the eclectic ensemble MarchFourth will make their return to St. Louis with a show at the Old Rock House. You can see a representative example of their syncretic style, which draws on everything from marching bands to Afrobeat, jazz, rock and more, in the penultimate video, a mashup of The Doors' "Roadhouse Blues" and the JBs' "Doing It To Death" (misidentified as 'James Brown's "Funky Good Time"') recorded in 2017 at the Sioux Falls Jazz Fest in Iowa.

Today's final video feature singer Michael Bublé, who will be performing on Friday, March 22 at the Enterprise Center. While there's an argument to be made that Bublé at this juncture is more of a pop performer that a jazz singer, he still touches enough different stylistic bases to merit including a clip of him singing "Haven't Met You Yet," recorded in October 2018 on the Australian TV show Sunrise.

Look for part five of StLJN's winter/spring 2019 jazz preview next week in this space. You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Jazz this week: Chris Botti; Eddie Henderson; Rogers, Owens & Ellis; Faith Prince and more

This week's jam-packed calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features performances from two top trumpeters, a cavalcade of cabaret, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 24
Singer Darius de Haas will present the first of two nights of performances of his cabaret show "A Bernstein Thing" at Jazz St. Louis.

Also on Wednesday, the "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features pianist Jim Hegarty's trio at The Stage at KDHX, along with the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor and band at The Dark Room.

Thursday, October 25
Singer Denise Thimes will be back from her new home in Chicago to headline the "Mildred Thimes Foundation 14th Annual Benefit Concert" at the Sheldon Concert Hall. This year's show will feature Thimes and friends interpreting material associated with singers Luther Vandross and Chaka Khan. .

Also on Thursday, Italian drummer Lecrezio de Seta will be joined by bassist/guitarist William Lenihan and keyboardist Jay Oliver for a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; saxophonist Ben Reece's Unity Quartet returns to The Dark Room; and trumpeter Jim Manley and guitarist Randy Bahr will head to O'Fallon, MO for a gig at the Rendezvous Cafe & Wine Bar.

Friday, October 26
Trumpeter Chris Botti (pictured, top left) returns to St. Louis for the first time since 2015 to perform once again with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Hall.

Also on Friday, the revived Nu-Art Series gets underway with a concert featuring trumpeter Eddie Henderson (pictured, bottom left) with poet Lyah LeFlore, pianist Ptah Williams, and fellow trumpeter and Nu-Art impresario George Sams at Xavier Hall on the St. Louis University campus.

For more about Henderson, who turns 78 the day of his St. Louis show, plus some videos of recent performances, check out the post from last Saturday.

Elsewhere around town, bassist Reuben Rogers, drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. and saxophonist John Ellis, joined by St. Louis' own Peter Martin on piano, will wrap up a week-long educational residency for Jazz St. Louis with the first of two nights of performances at the Bistro; and the Gaslight Cabaret Festival resumes with Tony Award winning actress and singer Faith Prince performing for the first of two evenings at the Gaslight Theater/

Saturday, October 27
Singer Barb Jungr and singer, pianist and St. Louis native John McDaniel return with a one-night-only performance of their latest cabaret show, "1968 - Let The Sunshine In," at the Kranzberg Arts Center; and pianist Mo Egeston is back at The Dark Room.

Sunday, October 28
Though singer/songwriter Jimmy Webb's two performances for the Gaslight Cabaret Festival are sold out, Sunday offers several other noteworthy musical options, as pianist David Thomas Roberts will perform at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe, and the eight-piece, Seattle-based Afrobeat band Polyrhythmics will play at the Old Rock House

Also on Sunday, trumpeter Randy Holmes has his Hard Bop Heritage band back in action at the Ozark Theatre; and the Bosman Twins with guest vocalist Marsha Evans will provide the music for the "Royal Vagabonds Foundation Scholarship Benefit" at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Monday, October 29
The Usual Suspects play at BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups, and drummer Nick Savage leads a quartet in a concert at Winifred Moore Auditorium on the Webster University campus.

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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Eddie Henderson

This week, StLJN's video spotlight is focused on trumpeter Eddie Henderson, who's returning to St. Louis to perform next Friday, October 26 at St. Louis University's Xavier Hall.

Presented in conjunction with SLU as the first production of the revived Nu-Art Series, the concert also will feature poet and author Leah LeFlore (daughter of the late trumpeter and Black Artists Group co-founder Floyd LeFlore), pianist Ptah Williams, and trumpeter George Sams, the founder and head of Nu-Art.

Henderson, who will celebrate his 78th birthday the day of his St. Louis show, recently has enjoyed renewed public attention, performing and recording with the "supergroup" The Cookers and earlier this year releasing a new quintet album, Be Cool, on the Smoke Sessions label.

Probably still best known for his work with Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band in the early 1970s, Henderson for years pursued dual careers in music and in medicine, working as a practicing psychiatrist in San Francisco when not touring.

Even so, he's managed to release 30 albums as a leader over the course of his career, ranging in style from fusion and funk to straight-ahead, while also accumulating performance and recording credits with Pharoah Sanders, Mike Nock, Norman Connors, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Charles Earland, Azteca, and more.

To give you an idea of Henderson's style and repertoire, we've collected videos of some relatively recent live performances, starting up above with a full set of Henderson leading a quintet in 2016 at the Jazz Kitchen in Indianapolis.

After the jump, you can see him playing the Kenny Barron composition "Phantoms," a frequent part of his live shows, with a quartet in March of last year in Zagreb, Croatia,

That's followed by two clips featuring Henderson as a guest performer with a band led by trumpeter Jesse Fischer, performing his own composition "Sunburst" and Hancock's "You'll Know When You Get There" in December 2013 at ShapeShifter Lab in Brooklyn, NY.

Next is a video from one of Henderson's previous appearances in St. Louis, at a concert in March 2012 presented by the Nu-Art Series at the now-closed Metropolitan Gallery downtown. Along with the trumpeter, the band includes Freddie Washington on tenor sax, Ptah Williams on piano, Bob DeBoo on bass, and Gary Sykes on drums.

The sixth and final video is an episode of the web series "The Pace Report" from 2012, which includes some performance footage as well as an interview with Henderson by host Brian Pace.

For more about Eddie Henderson, listen to the interview he did in March 2018 with 21CM.org; read DownBeat's feature on him from earlier this year, occasioned by the release of Be Cool; and check out his 2012 radio interview on the Tucson, AZ-based "The Jake Feinberg Show."

One last thing: Observant readers will note, for the first time in many years, the presence of titles and various other typographical bric-a-brac superimposed over the YouTube embeds in this post. Unfortunately, this is a result of YouTube permanently changing its embed code so that those items no longer can be hidden, claiming that they are "an integral part of the YouTube experience."

While yr. humble editor will continue to search for another way to remove the superfluous material (which, often as not, contains misspellings and errors), it looks like all sites that embed YouTube videos are stuck with the new formatting limitations for now.

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