Jazz this week: Fourth annual Richard McDonnell Scholarship Concert, Gerald Albright, No BS! Brass Band, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a concert raising funds for music scholarships in honor of a much-loved local jazz supporter; gigs from a popular, groove-oriented saxophonist and a New Orleans-style brass band, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, June 14
The third annual Richard McDonnell Scholarship Concert will take place at Jazz at the Bistro, featuring drummer Matt Wilson, members of Good 4 The Soul and the Funky Butt Brass Band, and various other guest musicians.

The event raises money for music scholarships for St. Louis area students in the name of Richard McDonnell, the late founder of MAXJAZZ Records who also was a board member of Jazz St. Louis and an enthusiastic, well-liked supporter of the local jazz scene before his sudden death in 2014.

Also on Wednesday, The Gaslight Squares will play a free outdoor concert for the Whitaker Music Festival at Missouri Botanical Garden.

Thursday, June 15
The Dark Room is changing up their regular music offerings a bit starting this week. Going forward, they're booking a different band every week on Thursdays, with pianist Ptah Williams moving to a regular weekly trio show at "happy hour" on Fridays. This week's debut of the "Thursday Night Revue" will feature drummer Kaleb Kirby's band Animal Children.

Also on Thursday, Cabaret Project St. Louis will present their monthly "Broadway Open Mic" at the Curtain Call Lounge.

Friday, June 16 
Saxophonist Gerald Albright (pictured, top left), will headline a "Salute to Fathers/Mentors" at the Sheldon Concert Hall, with support from saxophonist Tim Cunningham, comedian James Stephens III and singer Denise Thimes. For more about what Albright has been up to lately, and some videos of recent live performances, check out this post from last Saturday.

Also on Friday, guitarist Farshid Etniko Soltanshahi brings his multi-ethnic "world music" sound to Jazz at the Bistro; drummer Steve Davis leads a group with singer Feyza Eren in a free show at the Webster Groves Concert Hall; and Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to the Venice Cafe.

Over on the east side, Gypsy jazz/swing trio The Bonbon Plot will play a concert at Jacoby Arts Center; and drummer Marty Morrison leads a trio at Cigar Inn.

Saturday, June 17
The Gaslight Squares will play a matinee at the Blues City Deli; and keyboardist and singer Jesse Gannon and his band The Truth will perform at Jazz at the Bistro.

Sunday, June 18
The Grand Center district will be the site of not one, but two different Frank Sinatra tributes for Father's Day, as singer/impressionist Dean Christopher will do his "Sinatra...and Other Stuff" show for brunch in the relatively intimate confines of The Dark Room, while singer Steve Lippia will be featured with the St. Louis Symphony for a matinee of "Sinatra: 100 Years and Beyond" at the spacious Powell Symphony Hall.

Sunday night, the No BS! Brass Band (pictured, bottom left), a Virginia-based group offering their own contemporary take on the traditional New Orleans ensemble sound, will play at the Old Rock House.

Monday, June 19
A triple bill of free-improvising musicians featuring guitarist Shane Parish, the duo of Christopher E. Trull and Mabel Suen, and the Vernacular String Trio will play at Foam.

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: Spotlight on Gerald Albright

This week, StLJN's video spotlight shines on saxophonist Gerald Albright, who will be back in St. Louis to perform on Friday, June 16 at the Sheldon Concert Hall as part of "A Salute to Fathers and Mentors," also featuring singer Denise Thimes, saxophonist Tim Cunningham, and comedian James Stephens III.

A native of Los Angeles, Albright first gained public attention as a solo artist in the mid-1980s after touring as a sideman with Patrice Rushen and Alphonse Mouzon. With a bluesy sound on alto sax and a penchant for covering popular soul and R&B songs, he has released 18 albums as a leader, the most recent being 2016's G, and also has toured and/or recorded with Anita Baker, Ray Parker, Jr., The Temptations, Olivia Newton-John, Jeff Lorber, Teena Marie, Quincy Jones, Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, and many others.

In addition to leading his own band, Albright in recent years has been part of a series of tours under the "Jazz Explosion" banner, co-headlining with Will Downing, Jonathan Butler, Hugh Masekela, Chaka Khan, Rachelle Ferrell, and others. He was last in St. Louis in December 2015 at the Friendly Temple as part of saxophonist Kirk Whalum's "Gospel According to Jazz" Christmas show.

Though he's best known for a contemporary R&B style, Albright also is a capable interpreter of jazz standards, as demonstrated in the first video up above, a version of Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" recorded in 2016 at The Villa in Sandy, Utah.

After the jump, you can see two clips shot by an audience member at a 2013 show at Thornton Winery in Temecula, CA, in which Albright plays a medley of two of his most popular songs, "So Amazing" and "My My My," followed by a version of Grover Washington Jr's "Winelight."

Next up are two clips recorded at Spaghettini Grill & Jazz Club in Seal Beach CA, which feature Albright in 2013 covering "Georgia On My Mind" and in 2016 digging into James Brown's "Its a Man's, Man's, Man's World".

The last clip is a brief video interview from March 2017, in which Albright talks with journalist Roland Martin about his most recent album and more.

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