This week's busy calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a return engagement from one of the most popular female vocalists in jazz; a couple of shows featuring adventurous woodwind players; the first few of what will be many holiday-themed concerts for the season; and more.
Let's go to the highlights...
Wednesday, November 29Singer
Jane Monheit returns to St. Louis for the first of four nights at
Jazz at the Bistro. Monheit
(pictured, top left) last performed here in 2015 with singer and guitarist John Pizzarelli at the Sheldon's annual benefit gala, and before that in 2014 at the Bistro.
She first won wide public attention shortly after the turn of the century, applying a plush vocal tone and a sure sense of swing to mostly standards from the Great American Songbook. Since then, Monheit has released a dozen albums as a leader, and also made guest appearances on record with a wide variety of performers, from fellow singers such as Sara Gazarek and Tony DeSare to instrumentalists including David Benoit, Ray Brown Jr., and many others.
After recording for five different labels, including Sony, Concord, and Decca/EmArcy. Monheit in 2016 started her own record company, Emerald City Records, inaugurating the imprint with the release of
The Songbook Sessions, a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. Listeners this week at the Bistro can expect an emphasis on that material, though the multi-night gig also should give Monheit a chance to dig into her back catalog as well.
Also on Wednesday, singer
Joe Mancuso continues his weekly gig at
Taha'a Twisted Tiki in The Grove; the
Cary Colman Jazz Trio plays at
Evangeline's; and this week's
"Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features Jacob Alspach at Squatters Cafe/The Stage at KDHX, the jam session led by bassist Bob DeBoo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's band at The Dark Room.
Thursday, November 30Guitarist
Vincent Varvel leads a quartet in a free concert for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University; the
Liberation Organ Trio plays at Evangeline's; singer
Feyza Eren and her quartet will perform at
Joe's Cafe; and saxophonist
Ben Reece's Unity Quartet returns to
The Dark Room.
Friday, December 1Pianist
Carolbeth True and Two Times True with guest vocalist
Kim Fuller will perform at the
Webster Groves Concert Hall; singer/guitarist
Tommy Halloran continues his weekly residency at
Das Bevo Underground; and saxophonist
Tim Cunningham is at
Troy's Jazz Gallery.
Saturday, December 2Freddie Washington will be the latest local saxophonist to be featured in
Saxquest's series of free Saturday matinee performances, while just down the street at Dead Wax Records,
Battle Trance will be promoting their Saturday evening show for
New Music Circle with a free in-store performance.
Then, as fate would have it, Saturday evening offers a tough choice for fans of woodwinds and/or creative music, with two shows of interest happening simultaneously.
Battle Trance
(pictured, center left), who will be making their St. Louis debut in their Saturday evening concert at
The Luminary, is an ensemble of four tenor saxophonists who use extended techniques to play music that's a mix of composition and improvisation, though it can be hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. You can find out more about them, and see videos of some sample live performances, in
this post from a couple of Saturdays ago.
Meanwhile, across town in the Old North neighborhood, multi-instrumentalist
Douglas Ewart will be in town to join the
STL Free Jazz Collective for a free concert at the
14th St. Artist Community.
Ewart
(pictured, bottom left), who plays a whole arsenal of woodwinds, percussion, and self-made instruments, was one of early members of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and has performed and/or recorded with many of the most important creative musicians of the past half-century. There's more about Ewart, including videos of some of his live performances, in
this post from last Saturday.
Sunday, December 3It's another day for matinees, as the
St. Louis Jazz Club presents
Cornet Chop Suey playing traditional jazz and swing at the
Moolah Shrine Temple, while the
Friends of Scott Joplin present their monthly
"Ragtime Rendezvous" at the
Scott Joplin House State Historic Site's Rosebud Cafe.
Also on Sunday afternoon, the UMSL Jazz Ensemble directed by Jim Widner, Vocal Point, and University Orchestra will present their annual free concert,
"UMSL's Jazz For The Holidays," at the
Touhill Performing Arts Center; and trumpeter
Randy Holmes, singer and impressionist
Dean Christopher, and a mini-big band will pay tribute to Frank Sinatra and Hoagy Carmichael at the Webster Groves Concert Hall.
Monday, December 4Trumpeter
Jim Manley is back at
Momo's Greek Restaurant, and
Washington University's student jazz combos will show off what they've learned this semester in a free performance at the
560 Music Center.
Tuesday, December 5Dean Christopher, having a busy week, headlines
"A Vegas 'Rat Pack and More' Christmas" 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.)
