The Bob Schulz Frisco Jazz Band frontline for JazzSea comprised Doug Finke, trombone; Schulz, cornet/vocals; and John Goodrich, reeds. Schulz, a Turk Murphy alum, is also in the Golden Gate Rhythm Machine and leads all-star bands. Finke leads a band, too, and Goodrich is an Uptown Lowdown member.

Continued: Jazz in the Sun

Bill Allred's Classic Jazz Band played a pair of concerts on Feb. 4 at the Venice Little Theatre, its third time to wow fans at that ambient venue. Drummer Al Hixon led his quartet for Sunday brunches at Pelican Pointe Country Club in Venice and a Friday Jazz At Two concert in Sarasota. That popular series features about 30 different area bands each season.

Tall Bill Anderson, pianist and banjoist snowbird from Minnesota, leads his Happy Time Band in Tuesday afternoon concerts at the downtown gazebo in Venice. Fans bring lawn chairs to enjoy different groups at that venue. We drove south to Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda on Feb. 11 to catch half of each of two concerts. First was the Charlotte County Big Band that plays monthly concerts on third Mondays. This one paid tribute to Ella Fitzgerald and the big swing bands. Next was famed multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan leading a quintet for a Charlotte County Jazz Society concert. He played five different instruments that matched the feeling of the tunes selected.

Some details of these events are in captions with photos in a photo album you can click to view. I think the new RAG format works very well for this purpose.

March will be a jazzy month here. The Sarasota Jazz Festival stages a dozen events from March 2 to 8, and I'll cover at least four of most interest to RAG readers.

Jazz Affair in Venice on March 14 features Bud Leeds and Friends with violin prodigy Jonathan Russell, trumpeter Paul Grant and singer Patricia Dean. On March 15 Mat Domber offers his second tribute to Bob Haggart in a concert by all-stars led by pianist Dick Hyman in Venice.

And so the music keeps going around on the Swinging Suncoast.

ED. NOTE: Bob Byler has been photographing jazz events for many years. Some of his huge collection can be viewed at http://www.pbase.com/bobbylerphotos

March 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag

P.O. Box 19068, Minneapolis, MN 55419.