Looking Ahead: Southwest Florida jazz preview

The area jazz scene is heating up for its winter-spring season when most of the snowbirds are back in Florida. Here’s a preview of some of the more interesting jazz events in the Sarasota to Naples territory from now through February. 

• Wednesday, December 11 – Tenor saxophonist Benny Golson is guest artist with the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra. Daniels Pavilion, Naples, 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. 
• Friday, December 13 - Guitarist Nate Najar’s band featuring tenor saxophonist Harry Allen opens the Glenridge segment of The South County Jazz Club’s multi-venue, multi-city concert series, which includes a variety of Englewood and Venice venues as well. Glenridge Performing Arts Center, Palmer Ranch, Sarasota, 8 p.m. 
• Tuesday, December 17 – Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with special guest Cécile McLorin Salvant (the 2010 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition winner) perform a big band holiday concert at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota at 8 p.m. The orchestra is also at Artis Naples’ Hayes Hall on the 18th, 8 p.m.
  
• Sunday, January 5 – Get your parasols and hankies ready for the inevitable second line. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band is at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Sarasota. 7 p.m.
• Monday, January 6 – The Four Freshmen guest with The Naples Jazz Orchestra, Cambier Park, Naples. 7 p.m.
• Wednesday, January 8 – Trumpeter Tom Harrell is guest artist with the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra. Daniels Pavilion, Naples, 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. 
• Saturday, January 11 – Guitarist Larry Coryell, The South County Jazz Club’s concert series at the Glenridge Performing Arts Center, Sarasota. 8 p.m.

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  Eddie Metz

  Monday, January 13 – The Eddie Metz trio, with Rossano Sportiello, Nicki Parrott and special guest Harry Allen. The Charlotte County Jazz Society’s Artists Series, Charlotte Cultural Center in Port Charlotte. 7 p.m.
• Monday, January 13 – Trumpeter Byron Stripling guests with The Naples Jazz Orchestra, Cambier Park, Naples. 7 p.m.
• Saturday January 18 – Banjoist Cynthia Sayer’s Hot Jazz Trio. , The South County Jazz Club’s concert series at the Glenridge Performing Arts Center, Sarasota. 8 p.m., also Sunday, January 19 at 2 p.m.
• Monday, February 3 – Singer-pianist Freddy Cole (Nat’s brother) guests with The Naples Jazz Orchestra, Cambier Park, Naples. 7 p.m.
• Wednesday, February 5 – The Dukes of Dixieland, Daniels Pavilion, Artis Naples. 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
• Monday, February 10 – Naples-based singer Jebry and her band, and pianist Mike Markaverich’s trio are the double bill at this Charlotte County Jazz Society’s Artists Series concert, Charlotte Cultural Center in Port Charlotte. 7 p.m.
• Friday, February 14 – Singer Tony Bennett is at the Van Wezel in Sarasota, and at Artis Naples’ Hayes Hall on Sunday, February 16. Both concerts are 7 p.m.
• Saturday, February 22 – Ninth annual Punta Gorda Wine & Jazz Festival. This smooth jazz event features St. Petersburg native Mindi Abair (for the sixth straight year), Richard Elliott, and the closing act tandem of Gerald Albright and Norman Brown Laishley Park, Punta Gorda 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Local mainstream jazz musicians will be featured on Thursday the 20^th in conjunction with Gallery Walk downtown and at the third annual jazz brunch at the Isles Yacht Club on Sunday the 23^rd.

A few local restaurants (including J.D.’s in Port Charlotte and The Roadhouse in Ft. Myers) offer jazz steadily, and there will be a variety of varied afternoon concerts sponsored all season by the Jazz Club of Sarasota and South County Jazz Club.