President's Newsletter
July 2019

Viewable on All Devices, Best Viewed on Computers Screens
Ed Linehan, President
The Jazz Club of Sarasota
Announces It's
40 th Anniversary 2020 Season
March 8 - March 14

Festival Presenting Sponsor
Entertainment Cruise Productions
Operators of The Jazz Cruise and the Blue Note At Sea

Main Stage Events At The Historic, Art Deco
MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM
With Theme Stage Performances to be held at adjacent Holley Hall, Cohen Hall, The Arts Center and The Bayfront Room.
Ken Peplowski
Ken Peplowski will once again serve as Festival Music Director curating a star-studded lineup of players and vocalists for our enjoyment. This year some of Ken's musicians will also perform on the Saturday Theme Stages in solo sessions! The entire lineup will be finalized soon. For now, we would like to announce our Saturday Night Headline Performance Group:
The Manhattan Transfer
Cheryle Bentyne, Alan Paul, Janis Siegel, Trist Curless
And Their Band!
Photoshoot w/ Marco Glaviano
The Festival will include our traditional FREE Sunday Jazz in the Park concert; a great lineup of local groups for the Wednesday night Trolley Pub Crawl ; Thursday, Friday and Saturday Night Main Stage Concerts ; 3 High School Jazz Band competition winner performances; a Jazz Film/Live Performance event at Burns Court Cinema; and our very popular new 4 Jazz Theme Stages on Saturday afternoon.
Additional Anniversary Events are Being Planned!
Festival Tickets Will Go On Sale September First
The Festival is in March, But The Season Starts in October!
Saturday, October 26
The Shelley Berg Trio
Season Kickoff Concert
Holley Hall Performance Theater
Sponsored By Entertainment Cruise Productions
Operators of The Jazz Cruise and Blue Note At Sea
Shelly Berg  is a Steinway piano artist and five-time Grammy-nominated arranger, orchestrator, and producer. His album projects Gershwin Reimagined: An American in London (Decca Gold); The Deep (Chesky), The Nearness of You (Arbors); Blackbird (Concord) and The Will (CARS) are critically acclaimed.

Berg earned three Grammy nominations in the Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) category with jazz singer-lyricist Lorraine Feather and international superstar Gloria Estefan, and a fourth Grammy nomination as co-producer of Gloria Estefan: The Standards (Sony). He earned his fifth Grammy nomination as co-arranger of “I Loves You Porgy / There’s a Boat That’s Leavin’ Soon for New York” from the album Rendezvous (2018) featuring jazz singers Clint Holmes and Dee Dee Bridgewater with The Count Basie Orchestra. 

An award-winning educator with 39 years of leadership in higher education, Shelly Berg is Dean and Patricia L. Frost Professor of Music at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.

Tickets Will Go On Sale September First
Jazz At Two
Expanded to 25 Friday Afternoon Performances
Unitarian Universalist Church - 3975 Fruitville Rd
Tickets Sold Only at the Door
Performance Schedule

Oct. 11 aa Al Hixon Jazz Jam
Oct. 18 aa Eddie Tobin
Oct. 25 aa Billy Marcus
Nov. 1 aaa Bob Miner
Nov. 8 aaa Melanie Massell
Nov. 22 aa Steve Martinucci
Nov. 29 aa Joe Bruno
Dec. 6 aaa Synia Carroll
Dec. 14 aa Dick Hamilton
Dec. 20 aa Mark Moultrup
Dec. 27 aa Scholarship Students
Jan. 3 aaa Rodney Rojas
Jan. 10 aa James Suggs
Jan. 17 aa Bill Buchman
Jan. 24 aa Mary Rademacher Reed
Jan. 31 aa Danny Sinoff
Feb. 7 aaa Sarasota Jazz Project
Feb. 14 aa Al Hixon's Underheard Herd
Feb. 21 aa Kitt Moran
Feb. 28 aa Fred Johnson Michael Ross
Mar. 6 aaa Skip Conkling
Mar. 20 aa Jerry Eckert
Mar. 27 aa Lorri Hafer
Apr. 3 aaa Bryan Post Oceans 11
Apr. 17 aa Tom Ellison
10 Performance Series
John C. Court Cabaret at Florida Studio Theatre
Corner of First Street & Cocoanut Avenue
Performances at 7:30 PM
Full Bar and Dinner Menu at 6:30 PM
Sponsored by Lenore Walsh
Paul Gavin
& The Mosaic Band
Monday November 25
The Music of Art Blakey

Band Members:
Paul Gavin, Herb Bruce, Valerie Gillespie, John O'Leary, Michael Ross, James Suggs
Diego Figueiredo
Monday December 9
Born in Franca, Brazil, Diego Figueiredo is a new star of the guitar world. He has played in more than 60 countries around the world. He is the winner of several important competitions including The Montreux Jazz Competition, and the VISA Prize. Diego has a unique interpretation, with tremendous techniques, enormous emotion, and his shows have been a great success to all audiences.
Valerie Gillespie
Monday December 23
Valerie has played with national icons including Chick Corea, Bobby McFerrin, Rosemary Clooney, George Burns, Ben Vereen, Natalie Cole, Joan Rivers, Diana Ross, Ray Charles, John Faddis, Steve Allen, Anthony Newly, Dionne Warwick, Michael Feinstein, and many more. Valerie has traveled with the Xavier Cugat Orchestra throughout the United States and Japan, and performs regularly with Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge. 
Whitney James
& La Lucha
Monday January 6
Whitney James doesn’t just sing a tune—she creatively engages it. Every time she approaches a melody and a lyric, she finds a new way to phrase them, shape them, highlight a word or a few notes that shade the meaning and make the music richer. Her sense of time and pacing make her a consummate musician’s singer—she knows how to work with a band.
La Lucha is a Tampa Bay based trio that consists of three best friends from three different parts of the world; Colombia, Mexico & United States. Its members are Alejandro Arenas, bass; John O’Leary, piano; and Mark Feinman, drums. Their repertoire is a diverse mixture of Latin inspired rhythms with Jazz standards, twisted arrangements of pop songs and original compositions.
Dan Miller Quartet
Monday January 27
Jazz trumpeter Dan Miller, spent eleven years (1990 – 2000) as a member of the Harry Connick Jr. Orchestra, traveling the world and recording numerous albums and television specials. Dan also toured internationally and recorded with Wynton Marsalis, Maynard Ferguson, Tom Jones and Woody Herman. Since 2005, he has split his time between NYC and Florida and he’s currently a member of the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra and the musical director of the Naples Philharmonic Youth Jazz Orchestra.
Chuchito Vald é s
Monday February 10
Chuchito Valdés, following in the footsteps of his famed father Chucho Valdés and grandfather Bebo Valdés, continues the legacy of great piano players form Cuba.  With influences of Caribbean rhythms and jazz, Chuchito creates an exciting and energetic blend of spicy music that drives audiences wild.  This piano master captivates with his sensitivity and excitement.
Marty Morell
M&M Latin Jazz Ensemble
Monday March 2
Marty Morell (drums, percussion, vibes, piano, producer) was a member of the BILL EVANS Trio for seven years. He was the drummer with the legendary Duke Ellington Orchestra from 2006-12. The members of the M&M Latin Jazz Ensemble includes Morell, Alejandro Arenas, Mark Feinman, Michiko Ohta Morell, John O'Leary and Jeff Rupert.
Zach Bartholomew Trio
Monday March 16
Zach Bartholomew is an award-winning jazz pianist, composer, and music educator. He has been featured as a performer, composer, and bandleader at national and international jazz festivals, including the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Jalisco Jazz Festival, and Festival Miami. His original music and unique arrangements are inspired by the jazz tradition, but also draw heavily from Afro-Cuban rhythms and modern influences.
Scotty Wright
Monday March 30
With a warm, rich-toned voice and relaxed delivery, Scotty possesses a unique sound that is deeply rooted in the jazz tradition. His style features harmonic sophistication, a playful rhythmic approach and insightful phrasing of the lyric. Scotty’s repertoire includes interpretations of classic songs by Gershwin, Porter, Kern and Rodgers & Hart; jazz standards by Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Horace Silver, Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter and Billy Strayhorn, as well as his own well-crafted songs.
 
Roy Gerson Quartet
Monday April 27
It's the explosion of a thundering swing band at the height of the neon-splashed 1940s. It's the elegant artistry of a sophisticated keyboard artist in the heyday of Swing Street. It's the ebullient good humor of a Dixieland band under the jumping baton of a fun-making master of ceremonies. It's a tinge of the blues that touches the melancholy of the heart. Above all, it's the love for life, the joy for jazz, the sweet sweep of swing that makes audiences snap their fingers, stamp their feet, and clap their hands for the pure delight of music. It's the sound of “pianist extraordinaire” Roy Gerson.

Tickets For Monday Night Jazz Cabaret will Go On Sale September First
Other Jazz Club Events
More Details Soon!

Date TBD - ….. . High School Jazz Band Competition
Date TDB - …... General Membership Meeting
Date TDB - …... 40th Anniversary Gala
October 28 - …. Masquerade Party
November 3 - .. Jazz On The Water Harbor Cruise
November 15/16 - Giving Hunger The Blues Festival
December 4 ….. Trolley Pub Crawl
January 19 - Joy of Jazz Concert Venice
February 16 - .. Joy of Jazz Concert Venice
March 22 - …... Joy of Jazz Concert Venice
May 3 - ………. Jazz On The Water Harbor Cruise
Date TBD - ….. Jazz Scholarship Awards Event
Dates TBD - .. Monday Night Jazz Summer Series

NOT A MEMBER?
TWO Good Reasons to become a
Jazz Club Member Today.

  1. Help The Jazz Club of Sarasota achieve its mission of preserving and promoting jazz, America’s original musical art form. Ticket sales cover only 60% of the cost of producing all the events listed above.
  2. Enjoy up to $350 is reduced MEMBER ticket fees to Jazz Club Events. The more you attend the more you save.

Click The "Join Now" Button
For a Full 12 Month Membership!
259 New Members Since December!
We currently have 696 Members on our way to 1,000!
Don't Forget About These Two Fabulous Cruises
Feb. 1 - Feb. 8
Jan. 25 - Feb. 1
330 S. Pineapple Ave. Suite 111
Sarasota, Florida 34236
941-366-1552 W-F
jazzclubsarasota.org