All shows at Jazz at the Bistro with sets at 7:30 pm & 9:30 pm nightly

DATE                                  ARTIST                                                                        PRICE  

May 31-June 1              Two Times True with Larry Johnson                           $20 Fri/Sat

June 7-8                       Rick Haydon Group                                                     $20 Fri/Sat

June 14-15                   Willie Akins/Montez Coleman Group                           $25 Fri/Sat

June 21                        88²: Adaron “Pops” Jackson & Phil Dunlap                 $25 Fri Only

                                           with Jahmal Nichols & Marty Morrison

June 28-29                    Erin Bode Sings                                                           $25 Fri/Sat

                                          The Great American Songbook

July 5-6                         Farshid Etniko                                                              $20 Fri/Sat

                                          featuring Sandy Weltman

July 12-13                      Anita Jackson                                                              $20 Fri/Sat

July 19-20                      Tim Cunningham                                                         $20 Fri/Sat

July 26-27                      Good 4 the Soul                                                           $20 Fri/Sat

Also, don’t forget that the rescheduled date for Sonny Rollins at the Touhill is coming up: Saturday, June 22, 2013 at 8:00 pm. Tickets for that show may be purchased by calling the Touhill Ticket Office at 314.516.4949 or visiting www.touhill.org.

Molly Ringwald, best known for her starring roles in the classic ’80s movies “Sixteen Candles,” “Pretty In Pink,” and “The Breakfast Club,” will be performing at Jazz at the Bistro as a part of a national tour with stops at some of America’s top jazz clubs in support of her debut album, Except…Sometimes, which she will be selling and signing after each set.  An homage to the Great American Songbook, Ringwald has crafted a carefully chosen selection of nine standards for Except…Sometimes which she caps off with her take on “The Breakfast Club” classic, “Don’t You (Forget About Me).” Ringwald is also making select appearances in conjunction with the release of her bestselling new novel, When It Happens to You.

Because of the special nature of this engagement, no coupons, discounts, or special offers may be used.

Upcoming Shows

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On Sunday, March 18, 2012 jazz legend, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, and Chairman of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, Herbie Hancock, sent out a call from the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center stage to the St. Louis community to join him in celebrating the first-ever “International Jazz Day” on April 30.

Charged with leading the St. Louis region in advancing the uniquely American art of jazz, Jazz St. Louis heeded Hancock’s call and hosted a wildly popular jazz jam session to celebrate the newly-minted music holiday.  Jazz St. Louis welcomed scores of amateur and professional musicians as well as musicians from as far away as Chicago to the Jazz at the Bistro stage.

“Our first International Jazz Day Jam Session was met with incredible reception,” said Jazz St. Louis executive director Gene Dobbs Bradford. “The musicianship and collaboration realized that night on the Bistro stage was inspiring and unparalleled.  We look forward to welcoming jazz musicians, and the community at-large, back to the Bistro to celebrate America’s music and its diplomatic role in uniting people of all socio-economic means in all corners of the globe.”

Jazz St. Louis presents its second annual “International Jazz Day Jam Session” on Tuesday, April 30 from 7:30–10:30 p.m. at Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Avenue.  Admission is free for patrons and musicians but seating is limited.  The session will be hosted by Adaron “Pops” Jackson’s trio.  Musicians wishing to participate in the jam session are encouraged to sign-up at the Bistro beginning at 7 p.m.  The Bistro will offer bar service and a limited menu. For more information, please call Devin Rodino, Jazz St. Louis communications and operations manager at 314-289-4030.

For more information on International Jazz Day visit www.jazzday.com.

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“This annual celebration of education and performance is the only festival of its kind in St. Louis,” said Jim Widner, director of the Jazz Studies program at UMSL and artistic director of the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival. “That is because in addition to celebrating professional jazz musicians in our headline concert performances, we focus on nurturing the talent of young musicians with jazz student performances and clinics.”

The goal of the festival is to encourage the musical education and growth of the 800 participating students by interaction with internationally acclaimed jazz artists. These students perform on the same stages as the biggest names in professional jazz.

“Jazz St. Louis is proud to once again partner with UMSL and the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival,” said Gene Dobbs Bradford, executive director of Jazz St. Louis. “We all share a strong commitment to providing excellent educational opportunities for young people.  In addition, the festival allows us to share some of the world’s greatest jazz musicians with our community.”

The big jazz performances in 2013 begin with Anat Cohen and Matt Wilson at Jazz at The Bistro on Thursday and continue at the Touhill with Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour and Doc Severinsen and His Big Band on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Both concerts at the Touhill feature opening-act performances by the UMSL Jazz Ensemble, directed by Jim Widner.

2013  FESTIVAL  HEADLINERS:

Thursday, April 18:

Virtuosic reed artist Anat Cohen and New York-based drummer and Grammy-nominee Matt Wilson open the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival. Jazz St. Louis presents two shows on Thursday, April 18, at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. at Jazz at the Bistro.

Cohen, who will be playing both clarinet and tenor saxophone says, “The music we perform…comes from the jazz tradition, but it’s very playful – we have fun with sounds and melodies, following our instincts, without over-analyzing. Matt Wilson is like a kid onstage, and that’s what I like to be – it’s great to have a partner in crime like him. Matt gets these incredible sounds from the drums…”

Tickets are $32 and are available through the Jazz St. Louis Box Office at 314-289-4030, MetroTix at 314-534-1111, or online at www.metrotix.com.

Friday, April 19:

Jazz St. Louis presents the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour 55^th Anniversary Celebration on Friday, April 19, at the Touhill. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall with an opening set by the UMSL Jazz Ensemble, directed by Jim Widner.

Featuring critically acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning jazz artists, this all-star band consists of bassist and musical director Christian McBride, vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, saxophonist Chris Potter, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, pianist Benny Green and drummer Lewis Nash. Embracing the past, present, and future of jazz, the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour will perform an assortment of classic jazz repertoire as well as original compositions.

The Monterey Jazz Festival, the longest continuously-running jazz festival in the world, has presented nearly every major jazz star—from  Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong to Esperanza Spalding and Trombone Shorty—since it was founded in 1958.

Tickets for Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour, sponsored by Worldwide Technology, Inc., are $35, or $75 for VIP tickets which include a backstage post-concert reception to which the musicians have been invited. They are available through the Touhill Performing Arts Center Ticket Office, online at www.touhill.org, or by phone at 314-516-4949.

Saturday, April 20:

Doc Severinsen and His Big Band will close out this exciting weekend of jazz on Saturday, April 20, at the Touhill.  The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall with an opening set by the UMSL Jazz Ensemble, directed by Jim Widner.

“The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson bandleader Doc Severinsen is best known as the legendary horn player who welcomed millions of viewers with the familiar theme song for nearly three decades.  The Doc Severinsen repertoire includes Ellington and Basie standards, pop, jazz, ballads, big band classics and, of course, “The Tonight Show” theme. Severinsen can blow the roof off with a trumpet solo, and his band members get their well-deserved turns in the spotlight.

Tickets are $35. They are available through the Touhill Performing Arts Center Ticket Office, online at www.touhill.org, or by phone at 314-516-4949.

About the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival:

The goal of the four-day festival is to encourage the musical education and growth of the participating students by interacting with internationally acclaimed jazz artists.  Now in its 10^th year, the festival has grown to accommodate as many as 800 students from more than 30 schools from across Missouri, Kansas, Illinois and Texas. For two days, students participate in adjudicated performances and clinics. The clinics include one-on-one sessions and critique from jazz’s finest. In past years, budding musicians learned from such jazz greats as Clark Terry, Lou Marini, John Pizzarelli, Ron Carter, Russell Malone, Marilyn Maye, Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, Buddy DeFranco, Tom Scott, Mulgrew Miller, Jon Faddis, Conrad Herwig, Shelly Berg, Peter Erskine, Chris Vadala, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and many others. Daytime performances and artist clinics are free and open to the public. For more information, please visit www.touhill.org/jazzfestival.

This video, which was shown at the 2013 Jazz St. Louis Gala “Hot Sax, Cool Night,” was generously produced by 2013 Gala Co-Chair Josephine Weil.

Join the Young Friends groups of the Saint Louis Science Center, Jazz St. Louis and St. Louis Public Radio for a night of incredible music under a dome of 9,000 brilliant stars. This year’s program Fly Me to the Moon celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the James S. McDonnell Planetarium.

Enjoy the flare and flavors from local restaurants, hometown brews, and area distilleries while listening to live performances by the Eric Slaughter Trio featuring Marty Morrison and Bob DeBoo with Special Guests Willie Akins, veteran jazz saxophonist, and Jesse Gannon. Véronique LaCapra, science reporter for St. Louis Public Radio, will serve as the evening’s emcee.

The evening festivities also include an entertaining and informative Planetarium Show, a silent auction with gift baskets from the St. Louis Cardinals, the Gateway Grizzlies, California Pizza Kitchen, and more, plus a 50/50 raffle. There will also be a photo booth from Pic Me Pictures and chair massages from Massage Envy.

Dressy Casual attire is preferred. Valet parking is available.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit slsc.org or call 314.289.4424.

Upcoming Shows

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Dawn Weber

We are pleased to announce several additional concerts scheduled for the 2012-13 Season. Tickets for all of these shows go on sale to the general public on Saturday, December 1, 2012. All shows are at Jazz at the Bistro with two sets at 7:30 & 9:30 pm except where noted. To purchase Jazz at the Bistro tickets, call the Jazz St. Louis Box Office during normal business hours (M-F, 9-5) at  314.289.4030 or Metrotix at 314.534.1111 or visit www.metrotix.com. To purchase Touhill tickets, call the Touhill Ticket Office at 314.516.4949 or visit www.touhill.org.

Javier Mendoza’s Latin Jazz Experiment – January 11-12

Lamar Harris with Dawn Weber - January 25-26

Wee Trio (live CD recording) – February 8-9

Willie Akins / Montez Coleman Group CD Release Party for The St. Louis Connection - February 23

Funky Butt Brass Band – March 22

Anat Cohen & Matt Wilson – April 18
Part of the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival

Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour 55th Anniversary – April 19
featuring Dee Dee Bridgewater, Christian McBride, Benny Green       
Lewis Nash, Chris Potter, & Ambrose Akinmusire
Sponsored by World Wide Technology, Inc.
Part of the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival
7:30 pm at the Touhill Performing Arts Center
- opening set by UMSL Jazz Ensemble, Directed by Jim Widner

Doc Severinsen & His Big Band – April 20
Part of the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival
7:30 pm at the Touhill Performing Arts Center
- opening set by UMSL Jazz Ensemble, Directed by Jim Widner

There is no charge for this event but reservations are required. Call 314.444.1827 and reserve a spot today.

The John Pizzarelli Quartet will be performing at Jazz at the Bistro from Wednesday, November 28th – Saturday, December 1st. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 314.289.4030 or click here.

The principal venue of not-for-profit presenter Jazz St. Louis, Jazz at the Bistro shows up on just about every list of best jazz clubs compiled anywhere, from USA Today to the jazz trade magazine Down Beat. And while the RFT doesn’t just go along with the journalistic pack as a matter of course, in this case, we have no choice but to agree. The Bistro isn’t just the best of St. Louis; it’s one of the best in the country and, arguably, the world. The club’s basic formula — nationally known touring musicians alternating weeks with selected local acts, presented in an uncluttered “listening room” atmosphere — has remained consistent. But as the Bistro’s reputation has grown, Jazz St. Louis has been able to attract a number of musicians capable of filling much larger halls, including bassist Stanley Clarke, pianist Ramsey Lewis and bassist Marcus Miller, who opened the 2012-13 season in September. The Bistro also has presented some interesting, one-off combinations of musicians custom-configured under the guidance of artistic and operations director Bob Bennett. This season’s examples include the pairings of saxophonist James Carter and organist Dr. Lonnie Smith and saxophonist Harry Allen with pianist and singer Freddy Cole. For world-class jazz in St. Louis, the Bistro remains difficult, if not impossible, to beat.

August 31, 2012

If you and your partner miss those fun concerts of your dating days, bring them back from the backseat. St. Louis offers a wide variety of musical venues featuring all kinds of talented artists, but nothing beats the unique ambiance at Jazz [at the] Bistro in the Grand Center Arts District. Reserve a ticket to a show and your dinner reservation is automatic. Experience some of today’s greatest jazz artists up close and personal in a warm, intimate setting while dining on delicious food.