Jazz this week: A tribute to Art Blakey, TAP Dynamics, Route 66 Jazz Orchestra, and more

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music events in St. Louis features a little cabaret, a little tap-dancing, a tribute to one of the most influential drummers and bandleaders in jazz, and more. Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, September 27
Singer and actor Kyle Dean Massey, a Missouri State University graduate who's appeared on Broadway and in ABC-TV's show Nashville, performs a cabaret-style show for the first of two nights at Jazz at the Bistro.

Also on Wednesday, violinist Alex Cunningham performs music from his latest release atop a bill of experimental and improvisational musicians at Foam.

Thursday, September 28
Drummer Montez Coleman and guitarist Eric Slaughter will co-lead a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; bassist Willem von Hombracht heads up a trio with guest saxophonist Freddie Washington at The Pat Connolly Tavern; and trumpeter Keith Moyer's quintet returns to The Dark Room.

Friday, September 29
Montez Coleman, saxophonist Ben Reece,  trumpeter Danny Campbell, bassist Bob DeBoo and pianist Adam Maness will join forces at Jazz at the Bistro for the first of two nights of "The Art of Blakey,"  paying tribute to the hard bop sound of the legendary drummer/bandleader and his Jazz Messengers.

Also on Friday, singer Tony Viviano and guitarist Dave Black will perform at Magpie's in St. Charles; Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes return to Evangeline's in the Central West End; and guitarist Tom Byrne leads a trio at Cigar Inn in Belleville.

Saturday, September 30
Dance St. Louis kicks off its 2017-18 season with the first of two performances of "TAP Dynamics" at the Grandel Theatre.  The show features dancers Jason Samuels Smith, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, and Derick K. Grant performing with a live jazz trio - music director and drummer Allison Miller (pictured, top left), pianist Carmen Staaf and bassist Noah Garabedian - playing original music and "favorite selections from Miles Davis." The program repeats on Sunday afternoon.

Also on Saturday, pianist Carolbeth True and Two Times True with saxophonist Larry Johnson return to the Parkside Grill, and Tropical Mood plays salsa, Latin jazz, and more at the Webster Groves Concert Hall

Sunday, October 1
Trumpeter Jim Manley and pianist Dave Venn play their monthly brunch gig at Scarlett's Wine Bar; saxophonist Tim Cunningham is back for one more matinee at Mount Pleasant Winery; and the Friends of Scott Joplin will present their monthly "Ragtime Rendezvous" at the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe.

Monday, October 2 
Singer Debby Lennon performs with the Jeremy Pfeffer Trio in a concert at Webster University's  Winifred Moore Auditorium.

Tuesday, October 3
The Route 66 Jazz Orchestra (pictured, bottom left) plays a show for the "Notes From Home" series at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

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: The Bridge Trio, Mo Egeston album release party, and more

The end of August usually is an in-between time for live jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with most summer series having wound down and Labor Day and the fall presenting season yet to come.

Even so, there still are some noteworthy events happening this weekend, so let's go to the highlights...

Thursday, 
August 24

The Bridge Trio will perform at the The Dark Room in the penultimate date of a two-week Midwestern tour.

Based in New Orleans, the trio of drummer Joe Dyson, pianist Conun Pappas, and bassist Max Moran (pictured, top left) first worked together as students at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA) under the direction of clarinetist Alvin Batiste, and currently perform as members of saxophonist Donald Harrison�s band. They've got two albums out as a group, the most recent being 2015's The Search: Departure.

You can check out their "nouveau swing� style, fusing modern dance beats with more traditional New Orleans influences, via this video of their show last year at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

Friday, August 25
Trumpeter and vibraphonist Joe Bozzi returns to Evangeline's; saxophonist Tim Cunningham plays at Troy's Jazz Gallery; singer Joe Mancuso and guitarist Dave Black will be back at The Wolf in West County; and saxophonist Kendrick Smith will lead a trio at Cigar Inn in Belleville.

Saturday, August 26
The annual Festival of Nations takes place this weekend in Tower Grove Park, and the variety of entertainment offerings at the free, family-friendly event includes some music that may be of interest to StLJN readers, including Saturday afternoon performances by Latin jazz group Clave Sol and the Brazilian-influenced Samba Bom.

Elsewhere around town, the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra will play a free concert at Kirkwood City Park Amphitheater, and the Funky Butt Brass Band returns to the Broadway Oyster Bar.

Sunday, August 27
The Festival of Nations continues at Tower Grove Park with music including sets of swing and Gypsy jazz from Dizzy Atmosphere and French pop and jazz from Elsie Parker and the Poor People of Paris.

Also on Sunday afternoon, the Folk School of KDHX will present their monthly Traditional Jazz Jam Session.

On Sunday evening, keyboardist Mo Egeston (pictured, bottom left) will celebrate the release of his debut album Groove Suites Vol. 1 with a performance at The Dark Room. You can read more about the project in this Riverfront Times story, and hear excerpts from the album here.

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.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's StLJN's latest wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:

* New Music Circle will raise money for their upcoming 59th season with "an evening of drinks and DJs" from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Tuesday, August 22 at Tick Tock Tavern, 3459 Magnolia Ave in the Tower Grove East neighborhood.

The free event will include raffles for prizes including CDs, LPs, and tickets to upcoming NMC concerts; and a preview of the upcoming season schedule.  Proceeds from drinks purchased during the event will go to support NMC.

* Speaking of season previews, Jazz St. Louis will (re)introduce their upcoming season with a free "preview party" event at 6:00 p.m. next Tuesday, August 8 at Jazz at the Bistro.

JSL's Gene Dobbs Bradford and Bob Bennett will offer their insights into the artist selection and planning process for the year, and complimentary hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar will be available. Space is limited, so they're asking those who want to attend to RSVP by emailing boxoffice@jazzstl.org or calling 314-571-6000 by tomorrow (Friday, August 4).

* Also from Jazz St. Louis, their monthly book club will resume for the 2017-18 season on Tuesday, September 12 with a discussion of Dorothy Baker's novel Young Man with a Horn.

The group, which is facilitated by Washington University professor Gerald Early, meets on the second Tuesday of each month in the first floor lounge at Jazz St. Louis headquarters, 3536 Washington Ave. There's no charge for membership, and meetings are free to attend. For more details, including the list of books that will be discussed this season, go here.

* In advance of his concert next Thursday, August 10 at Powell Hall, keyboardist Herbie Hancock (pictured) answered some questions from the Post-Dispatch's Kevin Johnson.

* Keyboardist/bandleader and writer Kevin Mitchell was profiled by the St. Louis County Arts blog

* Also new from the St. Louis County Arts blog: a brief feature story on the Route 66 Jazz Orchestra.

* Music Record Shop in Grand Center was the subject of a feature story on KSDK-TV's local newscast.

* There's still time to vote in DownBeat magazine's 82nd annual readers poll by casting your online ballot here.  Results of the poll will be published in the mag's December issue.