It's still #JazzAppreciationMonth, plus April 30th is @IntlJazzDay !

That's right. April is Jazz Appreciation month. We still have time to appreciate. Also, April 30th is International Jazz Day! So, in that spirit let's also highlight STL Jazz Notes. One of the the longest running music blogs in the Saint Louis area that just turned another year old. Posted below is one of their latest tweets with a link to this week's highlights on jazz events in our area. This music article is focusing on events taking place from April 28th - 30th that also include video on each artist. Be sure to check out the blog there for extended insights and knowledge on these events and much more. HERE is a feature on the history behind the celebration of jazz also.

Jazz this week: SFJAZZ Collective, Bill Frisell, Tomas Fujiwara's The Hook Up, and more: https://t.co/ftvm4hCKx9 pic.twitter.com/4FzZzbszOg

— St. Louis Jazz Notes (@StLJazzNotes) April 26, 2017

https://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes/status/857097406978052096

Friday, April 28th:

Guitarist Bill Frisell will lead a trio with his frequent collaborators, bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen, in a performance at The Ready Room. Visit HERE for the official Facebook event page.



https://youtu.be/dzZpqlfkwvU

Friday, the STL Free Jazz Collective will present a free concert at the 14th Street Artist Community in the Old North neighborhood. HERE is the Facebook event page for the show.



https://youtu.be/-FQUbWzUaHM



https://youtu.be/sztlvuJFN7k

Saturday, April 29th:

Drummer Tomas Fujiwara’s The Hook Up will perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle at The Stage at KDHX. Visit HERE for the official event page on Facebook.



https://youtu.be/-dIg3z6gz70

Also on Saturday, trumpeter Randy Holmes' quintet will celebrate the birth of Duke Ellington with a free concert of his music at the Ozark Theatre; and Evangeline's has a day-night double-header of live jazz, with The Sidemen performing at lunch and Wack-A-Doo during the evening,

https://youtu.be/9rPJhtgOSgk



https://youtu.be/CU5un7fewek



https://youtu.be/n1teueJ4ajY

Sunday, April 30:

The St. Louis Record Collector and CD Show will present their spring event at the American Czech Educational Center, and Folk School of KDHX will host their monthly traditional jazz jam session.

A little later in the day, the student performers of the North County Big Band will team up with the pros in the Gateway City Big Band for a joint concert at the The Sheldon. Visit HERE for the official Facebook event page for that. Meanwhile, out in St. Charles County, the Dave Dickey Big Band will play an early evening show at Brewskeez in O'Fallon, with the Pattonville High School Jazz Ensemble performing at intermission. HERE is the event page for this last show also on Facebook.



https://youtu.be/oKBNB2VFXGM



https://youtu.be/DBacgn35CtU



https://youtu.be/pWDgZashiCM

Thursday 4/27 @mikejudyprsnts : @saintmesamusic w/ @nightly @firebirdstl

This Thursday, April 27th Mike Judy Presents: Saint Mesa (CA) on tour with Nightly (TN) from 8 pm to 11 pm at The Firebird. Visit HERE for the official Facebook event page. No Country For Nashville had this to say on their website about Nightly, "ALT 98.3 may be owned by iHeartMedia, but the Nashville station is developing a reputation for having an ear to the ground of our city’s local alternative music community. Case in point: the debut single from rising alt pop band Nightly. “Xo” features handclaps, pounding percussion, and a light, bouncy topline that describes dipping out of an unhealthy relationship."



https://youtu.be/8glYohMy-tg



https://soundcloud.com/thisisnightly/talk-to-me

After suffering from a rare disease at a young age and being hospitalized innumerable times over a span of two years, 21-year-old Danny McCook embraced his forced-isolation to sketch some ideas that would eventually become the sonic cornerstone and vision for Saint Mesa and his spiritual debut EP, Jungle. Thankfully now healthy, Saint Mesa’s tracks reflect lyrics of hardship, yet personal triumph, with uplifting melodies and choir-like vocals that help define his songs’ dream-pop atmosphere. Soon after releasing a single and rapidly garnering licensing synchs with brands like Wayfair, Puma, H+M, and Electronic Arts, McCook signed with Interscope Records, and infamous booking agent Carole Kinze of CAA (Radiohead, Maroon 5, Tori Amos, etc.). The Southern Californian, fashion-forward and self-taught musician has been making waves ever since with his EP title track “Jungle,” which has garnered over 1 million streams on Spotify, over 170 thousand plays on YouTube and landed TOP 10 on Spotify’s Viral Chart and TOP 10 Hype Machine’s Popular Chart.

PRESS HERE to watch to “Jungle” via MiLK



https://soundcloud.com/saintmesamusic/imagination

*Double-Feature* @theknucklesband w/ @calliopemusical on 4/25 @offbroadwaystl & @coin_music w/ @arizona_music on 4/26

Tonight at Off Broadway The Knuckles and special guests Calliope Musicals will be performing some exciting music. This is an all-ages show and happens from 8 to 11 pm. Doors are at 7:30 pm. All ages with a $3 minor surcharge. Tickets are available HERE. Visit HERE for the official Facebook event page. Below is plenty of content on both acts playing the show. Also, featured below this show is part two of this double-feature on the band Coin playing Off Broadway along with Arizona this Wednesday. Enjoy.

2017 is proving to be a great year already for Calliope Musicals: the group was named "Band of the Year" at the 2017 Austin Music Awards during SXSW, and the Austin Chronicle gave them the cover. They've received national recognition from NPR ("Spectacles Of Concentrated Celebration," and "Modern Space Rock Done Right"), Billboard.com (Best Moments Of ACL Fest), USA Today, Paste Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal.



Here's a live performance trailer of the band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwIUD28nXng

Here's their most recent album "Time Owes You Nothing" https://soundcloud.com/calliopemusicals/sets/time-owes-you-nothing/s-8m7lp

The powerful hip-hop, pop duo known as The Knuckles have received some good press on sites like Saint Louis Magazine and STL Today over the past year. Also, posted below is their latest video that is on their website/facebook page and another from their appearance on STL Up Late. You can also find the latest track uploaded on their SoundCloud 'Ugly People' and a link to their other music there too.



https://www.facebook.com/theknucklesband/videos/1420906987954245/



https://youtu.be/otHoutvsZsE



https://soundcloud.com/theknucklesband/ugly-people

https://soundcloud.com/theknucklesband/sets/set-1

The bands Coin (Nashville)and Arizona (Boston) roll through Off Broadway this Wednesday, April 26th. Tickets are available online HERE.

Named one of TIME’s “21 Musicians We Want to Hear From in 2017,” COIN will launched a national headlining tour on April 21 running through the end of June. In addition to major markets such as Chicago, Boston, New York and Los Angeles, the band will be rounding the festival circuit including performances at Hangout Fest, Bonnaroo and Forecastle. A complete list of tour dates are below. For additional purchase information, please visit http://thisiscoin.com.

Reaching over 12 million streams on Spotify, “Talk Too Much” was Top 10 on the Alternative radio chart for 6 weeks and landed the #6 spot overall on Alt Nation’s Year End Countdown. COIN is Chase Lawrence (vocals/keys), Joe Memmel (guitar/vocals), Ryan Winnen (drums) and Zach Dyke (bass). The Nashville-based foursome recorded their self-titled debut album in Nashville with Grammy nominated producer Jay Joyce (Cage the Elephant, Sleeper Agent). COIN has toured non-stop with acts such as The 1975, Bad Suns, Walk The Moon, Passion Pit, Young The Giant, and Neon Trees.



https://youtu.be/842_hv_HNrs

For all the climates and cities that bring people together, the boys in A R I Z O N A came together as a trio in an apartment in Boston, their makeshift studio the counterweight to the lofty halls of East Coast music scholarship. In a string of infinite sessions during their time at both Berklee College of Music and Emerson College, Nate (guitar) hopped on a session with David (keys) and Zach (vocals), and all the moving pieces came together in a way that would reincarnate itself in many different fashions before eventually becoming the group now known as “A R I Z O N A”.


The three songwriter/producers from Jersey shared an obsession with the far left, sometimes even obscure side of music, but were even more romanced by the brutal honesty of pop topline and lyrics. Their music - including “I Was Wrong,” “Where I Wanna Be,” “Let Me Touch Your Fire,” and “People Crying Every Night” - creates new shapes and boundaries to span genres, time periods and styles, all focusing on the naked human tropes contained in the traditional pop narrative: love, loss, the need for raw unhinged expression.



The years and cities came and went, and it took until just last year for these old friends to point their focus finally inward. Thus, the band was formed, and they were no longer just the writers or producers; they were the performers. Over the past few months, the trio’s music has incited an exponentially upward curve of massive fan engagement and early success with tens of millions of streams across Soundcloud, Spotify, YouTube and more. A R I Z O N A joined the social savvy co-conspirators at Atlantic Records and Artist Publishing Group at the close of 2015 and are currently working on the release of debut album on May 19th. Visit HERE to pre-order.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys5LavVG7Ok