Jazz this week: Anita Rosamond with the Tom Kennedy Trio, Creative Forces Ensemble and more

With no major touring jazz musicians in St. Louis this week, it's an opportune time to get out and hear some of our city's homegrown talent.

Among the notable gigs this weekend is singer Anita Rosamond's debut at Jazz at the Bistro. She'll team with the Tom Kennedy Trio, featuring Kennedy on bass, Miles Vandiver on drums and Nathan Jatcko on piano, for two performances per night on Friday and Saturday.

Elsewhere in town, singer Jeanne Trevor (pictured) will be at Brandt's on Thursday, and smooth jazz saxophonist Tim Cunningham returns to Finale Music and Dining on Friday. On Saturday, Black Arts Group presents the Creative Forces Ensemble in a free concert at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site, and the Carolbeth True Trio performs at Crossings Taverne and Grille.

For more, please see 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. No attachments, please.)

Art Museum to present jazz performances

The Saint Louis Art Museum is continuing its "Art After 5" series in 2007, presenting free musical performances in the museum one Friday a month, and several of the upcoming performers are of interest to jazz fans.

• Friday, January 26: The Willie Akins Quartet will perform from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Grigg Gallery.
• Friday, February 23: The Samba Bom trio will play Brazilian music from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Sculpture Hall.
• Friday, March 23: The Carolbeth True Trio performs from 6 p.m. to 8:3o p.m. in the Grigg Gallery.

All three performances are free and open to the public. And in addition to the events in the "Art After 5" series on Fridays, SLAM is presenting a performance by singer Erin Bode from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 3 in the Grigg Gallery. That show is also free, though the museum warns that "seating is limited."

JSL sets conversations with Carter, Jamal

In other news from Jazz St. Louis, the organization has also announced a pair of public "conversations" with artists who will be performing at Jazz at the Bistro. Saxophonist and jazz educator Ron Carter (aka Ronald Carter, the former East St. Louis band director now at Northern Illinois University, and not Miles Davis' former bass player) will be the guest of honor on Tuesday, February 27, and pianist Ahmad Jamal (pictured) will be the center of attention on Tuesday, April 24.

Both receptions will be held at 6 p.m.on the fourth floor of the Centene Center for the Arts, 3547 Olive Street, Suite 410. These events, which are co-sponsored by Washington University, are free and open to the public, but because space is limited and refreshments will be served, to attend you must RSVP by calling Sally Dunne at 314-289-4036 or emailing her at sally(at)jazzstl(dot)org.

(Edited after posting to add photo.)

Bistro to host big band performances

Jazz St. Louis has announced that the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Jim Widner will begin a series of performances at Jazz at the Bistro on Wednesday, February 7. The band, which will also feature guest vocalist Mardra Thomas, will perform sets at 8:30 and 10:15 p.m.

Subsequent appearances by the SLJO are scheduled for Thursday, March 8; Thursday, April 5; and Thursday, May 3. You can read more and hear some sound samples of the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra here.

With regular big band performances in relatively short supply here locally, it's good to see JSL doing this. It's another performance opportunity for the musicians, another chance for big band aficionados to enjoy their favorites sounds and for those who have never heard a big band to experience one live, and a way to keep the Bistro itself active on nights when it might otherwise be dark. Here's hoping the audience response is sufficient to justify making it a long-lived, continuing series.

Ain't Misbehavin' now playing at the Grandel Theatre

Musical theater isn't usually on StLJN's beat, but it seems worth at least a mention that a production of Ain't Misbehavin' from the St. Louis Black Repertory Theater Company is now playing at the Grandel Theatre. The show, which features a five-person cast and live band performing about three dozen songs written by or associated with legendary jazz pianist, singer and songwriter Thomas "Fats" Waller (pictured), runs through February 4.

Ain't Misbehavin' was originally a hit on Broadway in 1978 with a cast that included St. Louis native Ken Page, and has since enjoyed a long and profitable life in revivals, regional theater, bus-and-truck companies, community and school productions, and just about every other imaginable venue for a stage musical. It's an entertaining selection of some of Waller's most memorable material, and though it's not a "jazz musical" per se, jazz fans may enjoy it as an introduction to and/or celebration of Waller, the songwriter, singer and entertainer. I haven't seen the Black Rep's current production, though I have seen cast members Drummond Crenshaw and Anita Jackson in other contexts, and both are fine performers. Another promising sign is that the band is directed by pianist Charles Creath and includes such local jazz notables as saxophonist Willie Akins and bassist Raymond Eldridge.

The Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson went to the show's opening last weekend, and you can read his review of the production here. And if you'd like to see the original inspiration for Ain't Misbehavin' in action, check out the embedded video below - it's a "soundie" recorded in 1943 that features Fats Waller performing "Your Feet's Too Big," a song which is, conveniently enough, also part of the score of the musical.

City of Gabriels nominated for award

City of Gabriels, the book on the history of jazz in St. Louis written by DJ and historian Dennis Owsley, has been nominated for a 2006 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research:

"Published by the Sheldon Art Galleries and Reedy Press, the book is a companion piece to an exhibit by the same name on view at the Sheldon Art Galleries through August 2007.

To be eligible for this annual award, the material must have been published for the first time in 2006; the subject matter must concern records, record labels, or recording artists in any field of music or speech; it must focus on a historical time period (pre-1995) and must be made available in printed form. Founded in 1966, the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to research, study, publication, and information exchange surrounding all aspects of recordings and recorded sound."

For more information on the ARSC, visit www.arsc-audio.org.

Mae Wheeler benefit concert set for Sunday, January 28

A special concert to help raise funds for longtime St. Louis jazz vocalist Mae "Lady Jazz" Wheeler has been scheduled for 6 p.m., Sunday, January 28 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Wheeler was hospitalized late last year to be treated for cancer, and while she continues to recover, expenses continue to mount. So, her musician friends are banding together to stage this benefit show, with singer Denise Thimes organizing the event. According to an email from Jay Brandt of Brandt's (Wheeler's unofficial performing headquarters), Thimes is in the process of lining up an star-studded lineup of musicians and singers eager to pay tribute to Wheeler. StLJN will have more details for you as soon as they're available.

Voisey and Vida reviewed

If you couldn't make it to this past Sunday's New Music Circle event featuring performances by Rob Voisey and Andre Vida, and would like to know what went down, Avant Front, a relatively new, apparently St. Louis-based blog about creative music, has a brief review here.