Florida meets jazz singer Tess Collins

Tess Collins

Tess Collins took a circuitous route for her first concert before a Florida jazz audience. It began in her native Maine, wove through several major cities in China where she appears regularly (including Beijing and Shanghai) and her new home base, London. 

The Southwest Florida stop coincided with a vacation visit with relatives on Florida's east coast. She came to the Gulf Coast on Thursday, February 26, to perform as a special guest of pianist Mac Chrupcala's trio at the Venice Art Center. The concert was part of the South County Jazz Club's matinee series.

The band's music was exceptional all afternoon - and Collins stole the show - earning standing ovations at the end of each set. This young singer has great chops, a very strong ability to engage her audience, and a wide-ranging jazz repertoire. 

RIP Clark Terry

Clark Terry

The jazz world lost Clark Terry yesterday at age 94 after more than a decade of declining health. He was a jazz giant whose legacy extends far beyond being a trumpet player. 

Terry was a true NEA Jazz Master, bandleader and educator. He worked as a sideman in both the Count Basie and Duke Ellington Orchestras at varying times. In the 1960s, he became the first black staff musician at NBC, playing for 12 years in The Tonight Show band. And he was a humorist, best known for his creative and hilarious "Mumbles" versions of scat singing. 

I remember another side of his humor, a moment in which he described what we might call his earliest encounter with "ear training." Educators use the term to refer to the way musicians - solely by hearing - learn to identify the pitches, intervals, melody, chords and rhythms that are part of music. Clark Terry was talking about something quite different as he described  growing up in the St. Louis music scene. 

A rare dose of jazz talent on display

Dean, McCants, Gallante, Bruce

Trumpet prodigy Geoff Gallante was back at JD's Bistro in Port Charlotte FL on Friday night, February 20, sitting in for two sets with singer-pianist Danny Sinoff's trio. Gallante, now 14 (but sounding like a wily jazz veteran in his 40s),  is an interesting talent.

The Fairfax County, Virginia resident started playing the horn at age 4 and mastered it very quickly. Before he turned 6, he sat in with trumpeter Maynard Ferguson at Blues Alley in Washington DC. At age 6, he became the youngest musician to perform at the White House and at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He has appeared with a wide range of high-level jazz artists, big bands, concert bands and symphonies across the U.S.

Jazz with an R&B-3 twist

Katt Hefner

The rhythm and blues feel is inescapable when you've got a Hammond B-3 organ in the house, and that was the case at Friday's South County Jazz Club matinee concert at the Englewood FL Art Center.

Siblings Katt Hefner and Stan Heffner (yes, they spell their last names differently) teamed up for the first time with saxophonist and flutist Tom Ellison. But you wouldn't have known by the performance that it was their first time blending their talents with the Venice-based reed player.

CDs of Note - Short Takes

Taking a closer look at CDs by Harry Allen and Jan Lundgren, Jon Davis, George Robert and Joanna Wallfisch….

Uncommon jazz trio is spellbinding

Peter Anderson

There is a notable, and rather robust, roster of jazz-playing siblings through the years. A much leaner list of identical twins playing jazz shows that most play different instruments. That makes sense. If you are working together a lot as budding musicians, you need a variety of position players in a band.

Peter and Will Anderson are identical-twin rarities because they play the same instruments.* The saxophone- and clarinet-playing brothers brought their finely honed skills to the Charlotte County Jazz Society’s Artists Series on Monday, February 9. They performed in a non-traditional trio format with guitarist Alex Wintz.

Will Anderson

The Andersons, now 27, dig into the standard jazz songbook with virtuosic skill and an uncanny ability to carry each other’s melodies and improvisations forward. The trio format worked well because the Bethesda MD natives alternated instruments most of the night (Peter on tenor sax or clarinet, Will on alto sax, clarinet or flute). Guitarist Wintz combined the rhythm roles of drummer, bassist and pianist rolled into one, with his solid, understated playing. The Andersons’ arrangements also had the brothers taking a complementary rhythmic role behind each other’s solos.

A guitar master's take on jazz - It's about much so more than the music

Pat Martino

Guitarist Pat Martino quickly set the tone with a blistering revisit of the boppish "Lean Years" at his concert Wednesday, February 4 with the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra. "Lean Years," which first appeared on Martino's 1967 Prestige album Strings!, remains one of his signature tunes. 

The program also included two other Martino originals ("Inside Out" and 1974's "On The Stairs"), and a half-dozen covers of jazz standards that the Philadelphia native has recorded over the years. Those included Dave Brubeck's beautiful ballad "In Your Own Sweet Way," John Coltrane's "Impressions" and the Charlie Christian-Benny Goodman burner "Seven Come Eleven."

Looking Ahead: Southwest Florida jazz preview (February and March)

The 2014-15 jazz concert season is running hot in Southwest Florida. Here is a rundown of noteworthy jazz events, principally in the Sarasota to Naples territory, in February and March.

Pat Martino

•  Wednesday, February 4 – Guitarist Pat Martino is the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra’s special guest. Daniels Pavilion, Naples. 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
• Monday, February 9, 2015 – Twin saxophonists Peter and Will Anderson are featured in the Charlotte County Jazz Society‘s Artists Series. Cultural Center of Charlotte County. 7 p.m.
• Thursday, February 12 – Trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa.
• Saturday, February 21 – 10^th annual Punta Gorda Wine & Jazz Festival, Laishley Park, Punta Gorda, 1-6 pm. Saxophonist Mindi Abair (back for her seventh consecutive year), guitarist Nick Colionne and saxophonist Dave Koz are featured at this smooth jazz event. The mainstream jazz portion of the weekend is at the Isles Yacht Club Sunday jazz brunch, which is sponsored by Presley Beane Financial Services. The brunch will feature drummer-singer Patricia Dean, trombonist Herb Bruce, pianist Jeff Phillips, bassist and guitarist Dave Trefethen, and trumpeter John DiPaola. All will mix it up in varied combinations between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
• Wednesday, February 25 – Singer Rene Marie. Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa.
• Saturday, February 28 – Singer Giacomo Gates, South County Jazz Club concert series, Glenridge Performing Arts Center, Sarasota, 8 p.m.

• Sunday, March 1 to Saturday, March 7 – 35^th annual Sarasota Jazz Festival. The lineup includes pianist Dick Hyman, clarinetist Ken Peplowski, singers Freddy Cole, June Garber, Karla Harris, and Kitt Moran. Concerts are at the Riverview High School Performing Arts Center in Sarasota.
• Wednesday, March 4 – Saxophonist Jimmy Heath is the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra’s special guest. Daniels Pavilion, Naples. 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
• Sunday, March 8 – Trumpeter/sanger Bria Skonberg. South County Jazz Club concert series, Glenridge Performing Arts Center, Sarasota, 2 p.m.
•  Monday, March 9  – Trombonist Bill Allred’s Classic Jazz Band in concert, Charlotte County Jazz Society’s Artists Series. Cultural Center of Charlotte County. 7 p.m.
• Saturday, March 14 and Sunday, March 15  – Banjo player Cynthia Sayer. South County Jazz Club concert series, Glenridge Performing Arts Center, Sarasota. Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m.
• -Friday, March 20 – Singer Carla Cook with the Dan Miller-Lew Del Gatto Quintet. Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, Fort Myers.

Several local restaurants (including J.D.’s in Port Charlotte, The Orange House in Punta Gorda, The Roadhouse in Ft. Myers, and Alto in Naples) offer jazz steadily. Be sure to check the Alto and JD's websites for occasional guest headliners. A variety of matinee concerts sponsored all season by the Jazz Club of Sarasota and the South County Jazz Club also keep things swinging for jazz lovers.

Jersey Jazz book review

Mitchell Seidel has reviewed my new book, Jazz in the Key of Light, in February's edition of Jersey Jazz, the New Jersey Jazz Society's monthly journal.

Here is one excerpt from his two-page review:

"There are interesting photographic moments to be found throughout the book, not all of them directly related to playing the music. Dizzy Gillespie is seen warming up his chops on the pool deck of a jazz cruise, his audience a trio of comely bikini-clad women. While Gillespie's quote concerns Louis Armstrong's effect on all musicians, the presence of three curious 'civilians' in the shot echoes Satchmo's ability to draw a crowd, even among non-jazz fans."

The book is available through Amazon.

Artful jazz with a few twists

Bill Buchman

Sarasota-based Bill Buchman is an artful guy. He's a renowned painter and art teacher. The several places he teaches these days include the Venice FL Art Center. On Thursday, January 22, he set his brushes aside and wore a different hat - as a very fine jazz pianist. Buchman teamed up with bassist Don Mopsick and drummer Chuck Parr in the South County Jazz Club's  matinee performance series in the Art Center's main gallery.

Special jazz moments, all night long

Larry Coryell

Guitarist Larry Coryell is a musical force unto himself, but when he gets to converse with other musicians, the results can border on magical. Such was the case Saturday, January 17 when the jazz-rock veteran, now more comfortably digging into standard fare, performed in the South County Jazz Club series at Sarasota's Glenridge Performing Arts Center.

A Newport state of mind

Jon Batiste

Here it is mid-January, and they've already got us thinking about - and planning for - this summer’s Newport Jazz Festival. The 2015 edition will run July 31-August 2 at Fort Adams State Park on picturesque Newport Harbor and the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport Casino. The latter site was the festival’s original home in 1954. Now it hosts the fancier Friday night concert.

Jazz vibes player honors his masterful predecessors

Christian Tamburr

The way vibes player Christian Tamburr sees it, he honors his musical forebears every time he picks up his mallets. He paid homage Monday night, January 12, principally to Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson as part of the Charlotte County Jazz Society's Artist Series in Port Charlotte FL. "The music I play is influenced by all of these great players," Tamburr said, also noting Red Norvo, Cal Tjader and Gary Burton. 

A Bit more Ellington jazz matinee

It's unusual when a band becomes its own warmup act, but that's what happened when multi-instrumentalist Greg Nielsen's quintet performed in the South County Jazz Club's matinee series at the Venice FL At Center.

Nielsen's band - with the leader on trombone, flugelhorn and soprano sax, Tom Ellison on reeds, Eddie Tobin on piano, Mark Neuenschwander on bass and David Pruyn on drums - featured a few gems during the opening set, including saxophonist Don Menza's lovely bossa nova "Faviana."

Looking back at jazz in 2014

Allaboutjazz.com has published my comprehensive review of jazz-related events and milestones from 2014. In a nutshell, it was a year noteworthy for its numbers.

Newport turned 60, Blue Note turned 75, International Jazz Day's third edition featured 900 events in more than 190 countries. The jazz world lost seven of its NEA Jazz Masters, and New Orleans trumpeter Lionel Ferbos died at 103. Sad but not unexpected, the jazz community again said goodbye to lot of players and industry figures.

I’ve been doing these compilations for several decades, originally for UPI, and for allaboutjazz since 2004. It is always interesting to sift back through the prior 12 months from years that seem to fly by in a blur.

Looking Ahead: Southwest Florida jazz preview

Here is a rundown of noteworthy jazz events, principally in the Sarasota to Naples territory, in January and February.

Nicki Parrott

• Wednesday, January 7 – Singer Kevin Mahogany guests with the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra. Daniels Pavilion, Naples. 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
• Monday, January 12 – Back by popular demand after a sizzling performance two seasons ago, vibraphonist Christian Tamburr’s quartet at the Charlotte County Jazz Society’s 2014-15 Artists Series. Cultural Center of Charlotte County. 7 p.m 
• Friday, January 16 – Eddie Metz-Nicki Parrott-Rosanno Sportiello trio, Jazz Club of Sarasota, Riverview High School Performing Arts Center, Sarasota, 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, January 17 – Guitarist Larry Coryell trio, South County Jazz Club concert series, Glenridge Performing Arts Center, Sarasota, 8 p.m. 

  

  Pat Martino

• Wednesday, February 4 – Guitarist Pat Martino is the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra’s special guest. Daniels Pavilion, Naples. 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
• Monday, February 9, 2015 – Twin saxophonists Peter and Will Anderson are featured with their quintet in the Charlotte County Jazz Society‘s Artists Series. Cultural Center of Charlotte County. 7 p.m.
• Tuesday, February 10  Singer-pianist Harry Connick Jr., Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Sarasota, 8 p.m.
•  Wednesday, February 11 – Trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Sarasota, 8 p.m.
• Saturday, February 21 – 10^th annual Punta Gorda Wine & Jazz Festival, Laishley Park, Punta Gorda, 1-6 pm. Saxophonist Mindi Abair (back for her seventh consecutive year), guitarist Nick Colionne and saxophonist Dave Koz are featured at this smooth jazz event. The mainstream jazz portion of the weekend is at Sunday brunch at the Isles Yacht Club. The latter will feature drummer-singer Patricia Dean, trombonist Herb Bruce, pianist Jeff Phillips, bassist and guitarist Dave Trefethen, and drummer-vibraphonist Joe Bilardo. All will mix it up in varied combinations between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
• Wednesday, February 25 – Singer Rene Marie. Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa, 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, February 28 – Singer Giacomo Gates, South County Jazz Club concert series, Glenridge Performing Arts Center, Sarasota, 8 p.m.
  
  
  
  
  Several local restaurants (including J.D.’s in Port Charlotte, The Orange House in Punta Gorda, The Roadhouse in Ft. Myers, and Alto in Naples) offer jazz steadily. A variety of matinee concerts sponsored all season by the Jazz Club of Sarasota and the South County Jazz Club also keep things swinging for jazz lovers.

Merry Christmas

Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas 2014 and joyous New Year from the Jazz Notes staff.


This year we share some vintage musical cheer from among our holiday favorites.

The holiday would not be complete without the delightful animated video of The Platters’ doo-wopping their way through “White Christmas” with feeling.

Ho-Ho-Ho Jazz

Nate Najar

Guitarist Nate Najar brought his jazz holiday show to Sarasota on Saturday evening with special guest Harry Allen. The South County Jazz Club event at the Glenridge Performing Arts Center blended jazz treatments of holiday material with some jazz classics.

Najar, Lamb, Allen, Feinman, Suggs

The event marked the club's first opportunity to hear trumpeter James Suggs, an upstate New York native who moved to the St. Petersburg area this year after having spent the past eight years living and working in Argentina. He was a fine addition to Najar's band, which also included ex-Ellington bassist John Lamb and drummer Mark Feinman.

The holiday fare came from deep in Najar's repertoire in some cases, such as the Joao Gilberto bossa nova "Presente de Natal" ("Christmas Present") and Charlie Byrd's "A Carol for All Seasons," which was named for the guitarist's daughter, Carol. The Gilberto tune was ideal, as New York-based Allen has a special affinity for Brazilian jazz. There were also several pieces from the Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn "Nutcracker Suite" jazz repertoire, and a lovely solo guitar version of "Greensleeves" aka "What Child is This?".

The evening's other gems included Suggs' trumpet feature on "What a Wonderful World," and the bands takes on "Things Ain't What they Used to Be" and Duke Ellington's "The Feeling of Jazz." The latter was most appropriate, because jazz and the holiday season are so much about feelings. 

Combine the two, and the spirit on stage is anything but ho-hum. It's ho-ho-ho and them some.