Jazz this week: Rebirth Brass Band, Shotgun Jazz Band with Charlie Halloran, and more

With the start of the fall presenting season still a couple of weeks away, the schedule of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis is a bit light this weekend, but it does feature two bands bringing a bit of New Orleans to our town, plus some other noteworthy shows.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, August 30
Pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson will perform at Evangeline's, and this week's "Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe, a jam session with bassist Bob Deboo and friends at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room.

Thursday, August 31
Up for the weekend from New Orleans, the Shotgun Jazz Band - with St. Louis native Charlie Halloran on trombone - will play the first show of their visit at Joe's Cafe & Gallery.

Also on Thursday, Animal Children will perform at The Dark Room, and pianist and singer Jesse Gannon plays solo at The Monocle.

Friday, September 1
Also visiting this weekend from New Orleans, the Rebirth Brass Band (pictured, top left) returns to headline an outdoor show at the Atomic Cowboy Pavilion,  with support from fellow New Orleans denizens Dumpstaphunk. You can get a taste of Rebirth's contemporary spin on the traditional brass band sound via video in this post from a couple of weeks ago.

Elsewhere around town, singer-guitarist Tommy Halloran's Guerrilla Swing will play a free show at Eckert's Country Store & Farms in Belleville; singer Meghan Kirk performs her cabaret show "Out of My Head" at The Stage at KDHX; and Cafe Danza, featuring guitarist Farshid Etniko and multi-instrumentalist Sandy Weltman. will promote their new recording with a concert at Focal Point.

And although it's not a jazz event per se, StLJN readers also may be interested in the Big Muddy Blues Festival, which gets underway on Friday and will feature performances from dozens of local acts throughout the weekend.

Saturday, September 2
Shotgun Jazz Band plays their second show of the weekend, this time at Focal Point; and keyboardist Mo Egeston and friends will keep up the late night grooves at The Dark Room.

Sunday, September 3
The Friends of Scott Joplin present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" matinee at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe; Wright's Project play jazz-fusion and funk at Patois Eatery & Social Lounge (in the space formerly occupied by the Rustic Goat at 2617 Washington Ave downtown), and the Genesis Jazz Project with guest vocalist Joe Mancuso will play straight-ahead and modern jazz at BB's Jazz, Blues & 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.)

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The return of Rebirth Brass Band

This week, let's take a look at some videos of New Orleans' Rebirth Brass Band, who will be coming back to St. Louis to perform on Friday, September 1 at the Atomic Cowboy Pavilion.

Formed in 1983 by brothers Keith and Phillip Frazier, Rebirth Brass Band is, along with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, one of the longest running of the contemporary groups re-inventing the New Orleans brass band tradition. Their most recent recording is 2014�s Move Your Body on the Basin Street Records label, which was the follow-up to their 2012 Grammy Award-winning album Rebirth of New Orleans, and they were here in St. Louis last in September 2016 for a show at the same venue.

Today, you can see a half-dozen videos featuring some fan favorites from RBB's repertoire, starting up above with a version of one of their signature songs, "Do Whatcha Wanna," recorded in 2014 in New Orleans for the web series Jam in the Van.

After the jump, there's a video of "Move Your Body" recorded at the same session, followed by a full set of music recorded in 2012 at the Howlin' Wolf in New Orleans.

The fourth video shows the RBB doing their version of the New Orleans standard "Big Chief," recorded in 2011 at the Maple Leaf Bar in New Orleans.

Next is a medley of two more of their best-known tunes,  "Rebirth Groove" and "Feel Like Funkin It Up," recorded in February 2014 at The Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton, FL.

The final clip is a riff on another New Orleans classic, "I Like It Like That," recorded in 2011 for the radio program "Soundcheck" on WNYC in New York City.

For more about the Rebirth Brass Band, check out Keith Frazier's 2015 interview with HollywoodSoapbox.com and this 2012 feature from Gambit.

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

Rebirth Brass Band to perform Friday, September 1 at Atomic Cowboy Pavilion

New Orleans' Rebirth Brass Band will return to St. Louis to perform (with special guests TBA) on Friday, September 1 at the Atomic Cowboy Pavilion.

Formed in 1983 by brothers Keith and Phillip Frazier, Rebirth Brass Band (pictured) has grown over the years from a local act playing bar gigs into a touring attraction recognized internationally for their contemporary re-imagining of the classic New Orleans brass band sound.

Their most recent recording is 2014�s Move Your Body on the Basin Street Records label, which was the follow-up to their 2012 Grammy Award-winning album Rebirth of New Orleans. RBB's last St. Louis performance was in September 2016, also at the Atomic Cowboy Pavilion.

Tickets for Rebirth Brass Band will go on sale next Thursday, July 13 via Ticketmaster, prices TBA.