KWUR will team up with Jazz at Holmes for a night of avant-garde jazz on Thursday at 7 p.m. featuring the Jazz X-Tet with David Stone and Peter Schlamb. The Jazz X-Tet, based at the University of Chicago, is a loose collective of a dozen or so musicians renowned for their wide-reaching understanding of jazz; their genre-bending shows feature everything from standards to hip-hop. They will be joined by saxophonist David Stone and vibraphonist Peter Schlamb. For the uninitiated, a vibraphone is the xylophone’s trippier, echoing, electric little brother.

Saturday night will bring electronic artists Paper Diamond, Robotic Pirate Monkey and up-and-coming student disc jockey Peter Kaufmann, creator of the blog “Bright Shiny Music.”

“We wanted to bring crowd pleasers,” said Matt Curry, events director for KWUR. Curry notes the performers’ dance ability and points to Paper Diamond’s recent EPs, which have earned a dedicated online following. Though many students, even some within KWUR, are unfamiliar with Paper Diamond and RPM, the night is sure to win them some new fans.

The week will come to an exciting close with Saturday’s Wave Night at the Gargoyle featuring Thee Oh Sees, Fergus & Geronimo and Flaming Death Trap. First up: Flaming Death Trap, one of the biggest rock bands in St. Louis, who recently opened for Oberhofer at Saint Louis University’s Billiken Club and even recorded in the KWUR studios last June, combine a folk sensibility with surf-rock sound. Next, Fergus & Geronimo will bring their eclectic blend of lo-fi, ’60s soul, garage rock and psychedelic-pop sound in what’s sure to be a fiery St. Louis debut. Finally, after years of refusing to perform in St. Louis, Thee Oh Sees will unleash their mix of reverberating psychedelic-garage rock to close out the night and the festival. If you want to dance, rock out, hear some fantastic music and support KWUR’s great efforts, this night is not to be missed.

All shows are free with a student ID or $5 for the public. Public tickets are available for purchase online at http://www.metrotix.com/search.php?method=search&keyword&category&venue=255&page=1, or you may pick them up in person at the Edison Theatre box office in Mallinckrodt Center.

The jazz music series took off informally in July 1996 as part of the first Arts & Sciences summer weekend program, bringing St. Louis’ finest jazz musicians to campus, according to Steve Erlich, associate dean for undergraduate and special programs and co-coordinator of the Jazz at Holmes committee.

The committee has undergraduates, graduates, University College students, faculty and other administrators.

Jazz at Holmes offers about 10 performances each semester, in addition to four to six performances in the summer.

This fall’s first performance will be outdoors, unlike subsequent performances that will be held in Holmes Lounge. It is scheduled for Sept. 10 on the Brookings Quad under the Ridgley Arcade. Holmes Lounge has been designated as the alternative location in the event of rain.

All the performances are free of charge for University students, faculty and staff. The Jazz at Holmes committee depends on monetary contributions from a number of sources, including the College of Arts & Sciences, the Office of Campus Life and Student Activities, and the music department.
Student Union and the Congress of the South 40 also annually support the weekly jazz program, said junior Aeron Small, an undergraduate representative on the planning committee for Jazz at Holmes.

Small, who is majoring in biochemistry and minoring in jazz studies, is thrilled to be listening to live music on campus.

“I am very excited to see the Birth of the Cool event in October and the Miles Davis event in November,” he said. “Both events play the music of albums that I very much enjoy.”

Junior Zach Moscicki has attended Jazz at Holmes almost every week in the past two semesters.

“It’s a nice place to relax after classes and provides a good atmosphere to sometimes do homework,” Moscicki said.

Though the planning committee brings in mostly local St. Louis musicians, it often solicits nationally well-known artists as well. In the past semesters, famous jazz musicians including artists Gary Peacock, Bill Stewart and Marc Copeland have agreed to perform.

The program is also known for staging a wide variety of jazz music from across different styles and generations.

“It might seem that music such as that of Scott Alberici, who performs music of the Swing Era, and music from Miles Davis cannot comfortably fit into one category of music, but both have played a part in the history and evolution of jazz music,” Small said. “Jazz at Holmes allows students to experience many styles of jazz from swing to bebop to modern.”

Students respond favorably to Jazz at Holmes every year.