When Hal Davis, founder of the Jazz Club of Sarasota, arranged the Club’s first concert in 1980 he set the tone for future festivals by presenting guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, an established, nationally known star. He also featured a rising young star—although nobody knew then that Bucky’s son, teen-aged guitarist John Pizzarelli, would become a world-renowned jazz guitarist, singer, composer and Broadway performer (Dream, a revue of songs by Johnny Mercer).
For the 39th Sarasota Jazz Festival the Jazz Club proudly builds on Hal’s foundation with four mainstage concerts fittingly organized on the theme “Generations of Jazz.” The Club is also pleased to continue presenting the Satchmo Award that Hal originated, a coveted honor sponsored by the Harold and Evelyn R. Davis Foundation in memory of Hal and his wife Evelyn Davis, Jazz Club co-founder.
The Sarasota Jazz Festival has grown to 48 lively events, many of them continuing over the years and quite a few added for 2019 (see sarasotajazzfestival.org), but the mainstage concerts–presented in the Hyatt Regency Hotel Ballroom–remain the centerpiece. Here are the schedules and featured musicians for the mainstage concerts, along with brief musician bios.
MAINSTAGE CONCERTS AT A GLANCE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 6:30-9:30 pm: TWO CONCERTS.
HOST: WHITNEY JAMES, jazz vocalist; on-air jazz host, WUSF 89.7 FM, Tampa
- 6:30 pm: HIGH SCHOOL WINNING BAND. Witness the future of jazz through this concert played by one of the three winners of the Jazz Club’s High School Jazz Band Competition
- 7:30 PM: KEN PEPLOWSKI PRESENTS GENERATIONS OF JAZZ. “For this concert we’ll feature three trumpet players. The legendary Randy Brecker will be joined on stage by rising star James Suggs and special guest Randy Sandke,” Peplowski said. “We’ll also have an appearance by longtime festival favorite Houston Person and a featured set by a very exciting young vocalist, Charles Turner.”
FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 6:30-9:30 pm: TWO CONCERTS.
HOST: MIKE CORNETTE, director of jazz & on-air host, WUSF 89.7 FM, Tampa
- 6:30 pm: HIGH SCHOOL WINNING BAND. Witness the future of jazz through this concert played by one of the three winners of the Jazz Club’s High School Jazz Band Competition
- 7:30 pm: KEN PEPLOWSKI PRESENTS GENERATIONS OF JAZZ. “We’ll showcase younger reed stars Roxy Coss and Aaron Johnson, joined by veterans Houston Person and, ahem, Ken Peplowski. We’ll also showcase the renowned lady of song, Mary Stallings, with the wonderful La Lucha rhythm section, pianist Shelly Berg guesting and a special appearance by vocalist Charles Turner!”
SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 3-5 pm: AFTERNOON CONCERT.
KEN PEPLOWSKI PRESENTS GENERATIONS OF JAZZ: “On Saturday afternoon we have a very special show with Shelly Berg bringing in the University Of Miami Big Band for a performance that features many of the Festival performers including Houston Person, Roxy Coss, Mary Stallings, John Lamb, Randy Sandke and a few surprises! We’ll also have the wonderful La Lucha Trio—Mark Feinman, John O’Leary and Alejandro Arenas.”
SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 6:30-9:30 pm: TWO CONCERTS.
HOST: BOB SEYMOUR, Retired director of jazz and on-air host, WUSF 89.7 FM, Tampa; honorary member, Jazz Club of Sarasota Board of Directors
(continued)
SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 6:30-9:30 pm: TWO CONCERTS (continued)
- 6:30 pm: HIGH SCHOOL WINNING BAND. Witness the future of jazz through this concert played by one of the three winners of the Jazz Club’s High School Jazz Band Competition
- 7:30 PM: KEN PEPLOWSKI PRESENTS GENERATIONS OF JAZZ. “Our Saturday night closing show is centered around two generations of great pianists, Bill Charlap and Dick Hyman, each performing solo and in combinations including Houston Person, Randy Sandke, John Lamb, yours truly, and our Festival house band La Lucha.”
- PRESENTATION OFSATCHMO AWARD: At this concert the Jazz Club will present its highest honor, the prestigious Satchmo Award, for “unique and enduring contribution to the living history of jazz.” Since the inception of the Satchmo in 1987 the Club has presented the award to a star-studded list of jazz stars including Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Gerry Mulligan, Ella Fitzgerald, Dick Hyman, Branford Marsalis and Family, Four Freshmen, Bucky and John Pizzarelli, Wycliffe Gordon and Jeff Hamilton. This award is sponsored by the Hal and Evelyn Davis Foundation in honor of Hal Davis, founder of the Jazz Club of Sarasota. (Sponsor: Harold and Evelyn R. Davis Foundation)
Admission to each mainstage concert: Members, $45; Nonmembers $55 (plus processing fee) or VIP or combo ticket.
Information and tickets: Admission to Sarasota Jazz Festival ranges from free to a peak of $55 for single tickets, with discounts for Jazz Club members and buyers of combination tickets. Packages including hotel and other VIP offers provide admission to private musician meet-and-greets and preferred seating at some events. The Sarasota Jazz Festival website offers a one-stop approach for information and tickets at https://www.sarasotajazzfestival.org/schedule—tickets.html. For Festival information visit sarasotajazzfestival.org, email mailto:admin@jazzclubsarasota.com, or call the Jazz Club office (941.366-1552, Wed-Fri, 9-5 eastern time).
MAINSTAGE MUSICIAN BIOS
KEN PEPLOWSKI (reeds), Festival Music Director and “arguably the greatest living jazz clarinetist” (BBC2), began playing in his early teens and left college to join the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. He moved to New York City in 1980, where he played everything from Dixieland to avant-garde jazz.
Ken has recorded approximately 50 CDs as soloist and over 400 as sideman with a multitude of great jazz musicians. In 2016 the peripatetic performer was featured soloist at the Siletz Bay Music Festival (Oregon) where he premiered a concerto written for him by Dick Hyman.
Ken has been music director of the Oregon Festival of American Music (OFAM) for nine years. He is a longtime performer/consultant to The Jazz Cruise and member of its Hall of Fame. He received the Jazz Club of Sarasota’s Satchmo Award in 2014 and HotHouse magazine’s “Fans’ Decision Jazz Award” on clarinet in 2015. The Ken Peplowski Big Band recently recorded the album Sunrise (Arbors).
SHELLY BERG (piano) is a multi-Grammy nominated arranger, producer, and recording artist as well as dean of the Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. His latest album Gershwin Reimagined: An American in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, has been named to Billboard’s Classical Top 20. Shelly is artistic advisor for Jazz Roots at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, musical director of The Jazz Cruise, and host of the show Generation Next on Real Jazz Sirius XM. He has appeared on numerous NPR radio broadcasts for Jim Cullum’s Riverwalk Jazz series.
RANDY BRECKER (trumpet, flugelhorn) has helped shape the sound of jazz, R&B and rock for over four decades. He has won four Grammy awards and graced hundreds of albums by numerous prominent artists. Randy was a member of many respected bands including Clark Terry’s Big Bad Band; Blood, Sweat and Tears; and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. He left to team with his brother Michael, a tenor sax player, forming the seminal fusion group “Dreams” and later, the renowned Brecker Brothers Band. He dedicates his DVD The Brecker Brothers Band Reunion to Michael and other deceased band members.
BILL CHARLAP (piano), has performed with many leading artists and has also produced concerts for Jazz at Lincoln Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Chicago Symphony Center and the Hollywood Bowl. In 1997 he formed his trio with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington, recognized as one of the leading jazz groups. He is celebrating his 15th year as Artistic Director of New York City’s “Jazz in July” Festival at the 92nd Street Y. In 2016, Tony Bennett & Bill Charlap: The Silver Lining, The Songs of Jerome Kern, won a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Album.
ROXY COSS (saxophone), Downbeat “Rising Star” for five years, has won 2016 ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award and other awards. She has headlined festivals, been with the DIVA Jazz Orchestra since 2010, and played for the Off-Broadway hit, Maurice Hines is Tappin’ Thru Life. Her band, the Roxy Coss Quintet, has held NYC residencies and tours nationally. She has taught for 17 years including Masterclasses, founded the Women In Jazz Organization, and is on the Board of Directors of Jazz Education Network.
DICK HYMAN (piano), NEA Jazz Master, is a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and composer. With over 100 albums under his name, he was among the first to record on the Moog synthesizer; his Minotaur hit Billboard charts. Dick has won seven Most Valuable Player Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and two Emmy awards. He was music director for Benny Goodman’s final TV appearance, In Performance at the White House and orchestrator of Broadway’s Sugar Babies. In addition Dick was composer/arranger for twelve Woody Allen movies, Moonstruck, Scott Joplin and other films. He was also artistic director for Jazz in July at the 92nd Street Y for twenty years. A member of the Jazz Hall of Fame of the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies and the New Jersey Jazz Society, Dick was awarded honorary doctorates from the Juilliard School of Music and Wilkes College and the Satchmo from the Jazz Club of Sarasota.
AARON JOHNSON (saxophone/clarinet), a jazz history scholar and disciple of Charlie Parker and the Bebop era, has been winning awards since his debut at 16. In 2009 he played lead alto sax in the Gibson/Baldwin Grammy Jazz Ensemble for the 51st annual Grammy week, won the “Outstanding Soloist” title at the Monterey Next Generation Festival, and moved to New York with a full scholarship to Manhattan School of Music. His quintet with trumpeter Benny Benack III has played at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Jazz at Lincoln Center. He’s also re-created historically accurate jazz classics.
JOHN LAMB (bass) was bassist and chief arranger for the USAF Band. After his discharge he lived in Philadelphia and Boston, sitting in with Count Basie and Miles Davis, his idol; backing major jazz stars; and playing in a club run by the legendary George Wein, first winner of the Jazz Club’s Satchmo. Lamb toured the world with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, played on Grammy-winning albums and was one of Downbeat’s top five bassists. A St. Petersburg resident since 1972, he plays often for the Jazz Club and won its Satchmo in 2013.
HOUSTON PERSON (saxophone), a tenor saxophonist and record producer called “rock-solid, full-toned.” Houston played hard bop and swing but is best known for his soul jazz, especially his sassy sound and his expressive style. A member of a USAF band, he first became known in the 1960s for his Prestige albums. Houston won the Eubie Blake Jazz Award in 1982, was inducted into the South Carolina State College Hall of Fame in 1999, and was musical partner for vocalist Etta Jones. A frequent Jazz Club performer, Houston has recorded over 75 albums as a leader.
RANDY SANDKE (trumpet) has performed for festivals, clubs, concerts and TV show around the world, toured Europe over 40 times and performed extensively in Japan, the U.S., Canada, and India. He has recorded over 20 albums as a leader with numerous jazz luminaries and played on several film soundtracks including The Cotton Club, Brighton Beach Memories, American Splendor, and five Woody Allen movies. He also performed for Broadway’s Chicago and played trumpet solos for Fosse and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Recipient of two NEA grants as a composer, his music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd St. Y, and Lincoln Center.
MARY STALLINGS (vocalist) began singing gospel at 10 with her mother and sisters and jazz with her uncle, tenor saxophonist/bandleader Orlando Stallings. This led to gigs with jazz luminaries, to her best-known recording, the 1961 Cal Tjader Plays, Mary Stallings Sings, and to tours of Asia and the U.S. West Coast. She’s performed with Billy Eckstine, toured South America with Gillespie’s band (1965-’66), played numerous festivals, and sung with the Count Basie Orchestra (1969-1972). She then focused on her only child, Adriana Evans, now an R&B singer, returning to music in the 1980s. In 2018 SF Jazz named her a “Songstress of Swing.”
JAMES SUGGS (trumpet) toured the U.S. and Europe at 16 with the Continental Singers, then played on six cruise ships and toured and recorded with the Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras. He also toured Argentina for eight years. James moved to St. Petersburg and was named Critic’s Choice for “Best Jazz Transplant.” His repertoire includes Louis Armstrong tribute concerts. He holds a master’s in jazz performance and is an adjunct professor at University of South Florida. His album You’re Gonna Hear from Me (Arbors), with Houston Person and others, will be released in December.
CHARLES TURNER (vocalist) recently won the 1st Duke Ellington Vocal Competition, hosted by Mercedes Ellington. Charles relocated to New York in 2011 and played in major venues. The Charls Turner Quarter has played at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center for the Generations in Jazz festival for two years. He participated in Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Program, performing at Lincoln Center. He won Best Jazz Vocalist awards at the Monterey Jazz Festival, has performed with Bobby McFerrin in an improv workshop concert at Carnegie Hall, and has played throughout Europe.
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI FROST CONCERT JAZZ BAND has been the University of Miami’s premiere large ensemble for over 30 years. The band has numerous recordings to its credit. Recently, the band has won Downbeat’s award for outstanding performance by a college big band (2006) and best big band (2007).
LA LUCHA. Festival House Band, is a Tampa Bay-based trio that consists of three best friends from three different parts of the world; Colombia, Mexico and the U.S. La Lucha has been awarded Creative Loafing’s “Best of the Bay Jazz Ensemble” for three consecutive years. Each member has extensive national and international performance experience, including a tour of Italy and France with performances at the Umbria Jazz Festival and Jazz à Juan in Juan Les Pins.
- ALEJANDRO ARENAS (bass) of Medellin, Colombia, initially played flamenco and classical guitar. He changed to bass during high school in Bogota, where he performed in salsa and Andean Music ensembles. After graduation he moved to Gainesville, FL, playing gigs while attending school. He holds an AA in music studies (Santa Fe Community College), a Bachelors of Music in jazz performance and a Master of Music (University of South Florida). He toured Italy, France and Germany, performing at festivals in Umbria, Juan Les Pines and Düsseldorf Jazz Rally. Alejandro is an adjunct professor for the MIRA Program at Saint Petersburg College.
· MARK FEINMAN (drums) is also a composer and educator. He was awarded an Emerging Artist Grant from Creative Pinellas, the Think Small to Think Big Grant, a Jazz on Edge 13-in-13 commission, and a Project GenYes! residency to present a multimedia project raising awareness for Alzheimer’s disease at The Studio@620. With La Lucha he has performed at TEDxTampa Bay (2014), TEDxUSF (2015) & TEDxDouglasville (2017). He is a Drum Set Instructor at St. Petersburg College and the University of Tampa.
- JOHN O’LEARY (piano) is Mexican-American jazz pianist and neuroscientist. He played classical piano until he was 12. Once in the US, he learned tuba and winning superior ratings for solos on tuba and piano in competitions. He continued his diverse path at the University of South Florida, graduating cum laude with a BA in jazz piano performance, a minor in tuba performance, and an Honors Thesis in biochemistry. He toured Italy and France with the USF Big Band and Jazztet combo, playing in the Umbria and Juan Les Pins Jazz Festivals.
With a Ph.D. in neuroscience from USF, John writes and speaks on neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
SPONSORS: “We’re very grateful to the sponsors whose contributions help to make our festival possible,” Linehan said. “Our activities were paid for in part by generous donations from our principal sponsors, Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax Revenues, Arbors Records, the Harold and Evelyn R David Foundation and The Jazz Cruise. We’re also grateful for contributions from media sponsors and partner organizations, which are listed on our website, Sarasota Jazz Festival.”
MISSION AND PURPOSE: The Jazz Club of Sarasota, founded in 1980, is dedicated to preserving, promoting and presenting jazz, America’s original musical art form. The Club has provided over 50 jazz-related events each year for over 38 years. Chief among them is the highly respected Sarasota Jazz Festival, presented every March. In addition to producing numerous jazz events, over the years the Club has granted over $200,000 to aspiring young jazz musicians. To learn more, visit www.jazzclubsarasota.org.