16th Annual St. Petersburg Jazz Festival Right Around the Corner
The St. Petersburg Jazz Festival starts Monday, March 31, through Thursday, April 3, with four fabulous nights of jazz, three of those at the Palladium Theater Side Door and the final night at Museum of American Arts and Crafts Movement. This is the 16th edition of this amazing event sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, Florida Division of Arts and Culture, Florida Department of State, Stewart Olson, Esq., EMIT, St. Petersburg College, Manson-Bolves Attorneys at Law, HomeLight, Paradise News, Creative Loafing, HuSonics, City of St. Petersburg, WMNF-FM, Arts Axis, and a great list of individual donors, all under the direction of jazz director extraordinaire Dr. David Manson.
This is a pure jazz event, well worth treating yourself to some brilliant musicians from far and wide.
Monday, March 31 at 7:30 PM
Tal Cohen Trio
Palladium Theater Side Door
Cohen is a Grammy award-winning jazz pianist with accolades including winning the Barry Harris National Piano Competition and the prestigious Freedman Fellowship held at the Sydney Opera House to a sold-out crowd. In recent times Cohen has been playing around the globe with Terence Blanchard, Greg Osby, Ignacio Berroa, Joe Lovano and others. He currently leads his own ensemble which has performed at iconic jazz festivals and venues that include Jazzbez Jazz Festival (Ukraine), Detroit Jazz Festival, Melbourne Jazz Festival (Australia), Sopot Jazz Festival (Poland) as well as a week residency at the Black Cat (San Francisco). His most recent album – Gentle Giants – has received international acclaim and has included a 4-star review from downbeat Magazine. Other musicians in the trio include Vince Dupont (bass) and Brandon Lee Lewis (drums).
Tuesday, April 1 at 7:30 PM
Alexis Cole & Helios Jazz Orchestra
Palladium Theater Side Door
Called “one of the great voices of today,” Alexis Cole has been compared to classic jazz singers such as Sarah Vaughan and Anita O’Day. Her luxurious voice and innovative interpretations make her an instant favorite with audiences of all ages. Cole is the recipient of a Swing Journal Gold Disk award and was a winner of the NY Jazzmobile and Montreux Jazz Festival vocal competitions and a finalist of the Sarah Vaughan Competition. She records for Motéma Music NY, Chesky Records NY, and Venus Records, Japan. Her eleven recordings, which feature musical luminaries such as Fred Hersch, Eric Alexander, Matt Wilson, Harry Pickens, Don Braden and Pat LaBarbara, have received high praise in the jazz press and are spun on radio world-wide. In addition to her many performances at top jazz venues such as Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, The Jazz Standard, Blues Alley, and Billboard Live, she’s also performed at Avery Fisher Hall and the Kennedy Center and has been a featured soloist with the Boston Pops and NY Philharmonic.
In its 15th season, the 18-member Helios Jazz Orchestra, directed by Dr. David Manson, has been featured on the Clearwater Jazz Holiday, St. Petersburg Jazz Festival, and Ybor Jazz Festival. It is comprised of top area jazz musicians who love the sound of a roaring jazz big band!
Wednesday, April 2 at 7:30 PM
Uri Gurvich–Rodolfo Zuniga Quartet
Palladium Theater Side Door
NYCbased saxophonist Uri Gurvich and L.A.-based drummer Rodolfo Zuniga have been collaborating for many years on numerous projects and perform regularly in Europe, South America, and the States. Gurvich and Zuniga, both composers and critically acclaimed bandleaders on their own, decided to join forces for this special Quartet where they can workshop and present their original, global-influenced, contemporary jazz, mainly evoking elements from their native countries, Israel and Costa Rica.
Since their arrival in New York and Los Angeles, Uri and Rodolfo have individually collaborated with many notable jazz artists such as Esperanza Spalding, John Zorn, Billy Cobham, Mingus Big Band, Lionel Loueke, Elio Villafranca, Avishai Cohen, Jorge Rossy, Paquito D’Rivera, Uri Caine, Anat Cohen, Gary Campbell, Ira Sullivan, Bill Mays, Stephen Scott, Troy Roberts, Bill Cunliffe, Martin Bejerano, Camila Meza, John Hart, Michael Dease, and many others.
Acclaimed Latin GRAMMY-nominated pianist, composer, and educator Martin Bejerano has performed/recorded with numerous jazz luminaries, including his 20-year association with GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award-winning drummer Roy Haynes, Christian McBride Band, Dave Holland, Pat Metheny, Ignacio Berroa, Ron Carter, Dafnis Prieto, Russell Malone,, Luciana Souza, Jonathan Kreisberg, and Roxana Amed. He has performed at nearly all of the major jazz clubs, festivals, and venues around the world, as well as performing on The Late Show with David Letterman. He is featured on over 25 recordings, including his most recent Latin GRAMMY-nominated album #CubanAmerican, the GRAMMY-nominated Fountain of Youth with the Roy Haynes Quartet, and Roxana Amed’s Latin GRAMMY-nominated albums Ontology and Unánime.
Since graduating from Berklee in 2002, bassist Peter Slavov has performed and/or recorded with world-renowned artists such as Joe Lovano, Quincy Jones, George Garzone, Danilo Perez, Chucho Valdes, Kevin Mahogany, Simon Shaheen and Elio Villafranca, among many others.
Thursday, April 3 at 7:30 PM
The Pershounin Quartet
Museum of American Arts and Crafts Movement
Bassist Alex Pershounin brings his world-class Pershounin Quartet to St. Petersburg for a unique concert of his original compositions inspired from Latin, jazz, world, and folk music. Artists on this concert include Alex Pershounin (bass), Ben Grier (saxophones), Edward White (guitar) and Tim Murray (drums & percussion). The program includes works such as “Tales of the East,” transporting the audience into the West African polyrhythmic environment, exploring multiple meters and microtonal melodies inspired by the mugham techniques of the Azerbaijani tradition.”Song for Daniel” draws upon the rhythmically-driving texture of the Brazilian samba while “Chernie” is inspired by Russian folk music fusing improvisation with progressive tempo acceleration and intensity.
Alexander Pershounin has been hailed as a versatile virtuoso bassist equally fluent in classical, jazz, and commercial music settings. He has performed on Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, Pori Jazz Festival in Finland, Europe’s Jazz Contest in Belgium, and New Orleans Jazz Fest, among many others. His performing credits include Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Golson, Bob Berg, Ray Charles, Itzhac Perlman, and Yo Yo Ma. He also has recorded several commercially released albums as a soloist and ensemble musician. Dr. Pershounin teaches bass at the University of Florida.
In addition to the nightly concerts, there are two free jazz workshops available on Thursday.
FREE JAZZ WORKSHOPS!
Thursday, April 3 at St. Petersburg College in HS 109
6605 5th Ave. North in St. Petersburg
10:30 AM – Modern Jazz Concepts with Uri Gurvich and Rodolfo Zuniga
12:30 PM – Jazz Vocal Approaches with Alexis Cole
St. Petersburg Jazz Festival
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