The 2013 Riverfront Times Music Showcase is this weekend! Think of it as St. Louis music's own official holiday and consider this the season. Throughout May we at RFT Music have been working hard to make our cases for all 130 bands and artists nominated for an RFT Music Award this year in 26 categories. Read on and get yourself acquainted, and we'll see you at the showcase! Check out this post for the full schedule. Then, create your own showcase schedule with this handy custom scheduler, courtesy of the fine folks at Do314.com!
Vote for all categories at the official 2013 RFT Music Showcase Readers' Poll.
Previously: - Hard Rock - Hardcore - R&B - Singer/Songwriter - Pop - Indie Rock - Psych - Folk - Electronic/Dance - Experimental - Cover - Country - Blues - Chamber Pop - Metal - Americana
Dave Stone
If there's a purer musician in St. Louis than Dave Stone, he or she has yet to play as many gigs, yet to quietly shape the direction of St. Louis jazz and yet to touch as many hearts and souls as the veteran tenor saxophonist. Coltrane, Rollins, Hawkins and Dolphy are among his heroes, and though he has always had the chops to play their music straight, Stone finds a way to leave a personal mark on the great bop and post-bop songbook. His residency at Mangia Italiano is surely the longest-running residency of any jazz musician in town, and a more than a sure bet on a Friday night. We're lucky to have him still swinging among us.
—Roy Kasten
https://www.facebook.com/dave.stone
Denise Thimes
If there must be a First Lady of Jazz in St. Louis, one should look no further than Denise Thimes. With more than two decades of performing behind her, Thimes has won the respect of everyone who is anyone in jazz, both regionally and nationally. It takes a special singer not to be overpowered by the likes of Clark Terry, James Moody or Earl May, and Thimes is simply that: special. Her voice can be delicate, almost gauzy in its tone, but even when she's embracing a ballad there's always a sense of pure and playful jazz swing to her phrasing. And though she is technically flawless, Thimes is not about the technique. She's about the honest emotion that only a voice like hers can express.
—Roy Kasten
https://www.facebook.com/denise.thimes www.denisethimes.com
Hamiett Bluiett
Authority, even of the musical type, should be viewed with skepticism. But with the great baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett, authority is a matter of presence as much as it is accomplishment. One of the central forces behind the World Saxophone Quartet and a major contributor to the Black Artists' Group, Bluiett has been known to play the clarinet, flute and even monster bass saxophone. But it's with the bari sax that his talent for improvisation — with nuances, textures and tones that such a bold instrument rarely displays — has truly left an abiding mark, not just in St. Louis, but on the world of jazz writ large.
—Roy Kasten
