jazz

Arts Bonita honored veterans with a Big Band concert featuring the South Florida Jazz Orchestra and Lisanne Lyons, a former United States Air Force Band vocalist.

The Southwest Florida Symphony’s first Masterworks Series program features well-known works by iconic American composers Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and John Williams. The Marcus Roberts Trio joins the symphony to perform Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” ahead of next year’s 100th anniversary of the composition. Ahead of the Nov. 4 concert, we get a preview from Maestro Radu Paponiu and the Symphony’s Community Outreach Ambassador Robert Van Winkle.

In July Artis-Naples announced full plans for the coming 2023-24 visual and performing arts season. The unifying theme this year is “Artistic Senses – See, Hear, Taste,” and seeks to transcend the boundaries between artistic disciples in a way that engages the senses on multiple levels.

Florida Gulf Coast University Director of Jazz Studies and bass player Brandon Robertson will perform with his quartet at a concert this Saturday, May 6 at the Center for the Arts Bonita Springs. The concert will contribute to the future development of a jazz studies department at FGCU.

The tragic loss, last summer, of the incomparable trumpet player Dan Miller has left a huge void in the jazz world. We preview this coming weekend’s “Celebration of Love and Life” tribute concert and learn about how his legacy will continue through the Dan Miller Jazz Foundation in a conversation with his long-time significant other Judi Woods. We also hear selections from a previous episode of this program featuring Dan Miller performing live in studio.

Multi-instrumentalist, singer, dancer, band leader, and composer Gunhild Carling will perform Friday, Feb. 24 in the Grand Atrium of the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center as part of the center’s “Jazzy Nights” music series. We talk with Carling about her remarkable musical upbringing, her affinity for American jazz music from the 1920s and 30s, and her approach to performing and composing new music.

In late July, Artis-Naples announced its full plans for the coming season. The overarching theme is “Distance – Devotion.” We’ll have an encore presentation of our recent conversation all about the 2022-2023 season with Artis-Naples CEO and President Kathleen van Bergen.

Artis-Naples has announced its full plans for the coming season. The overarching theme is “Distance – Devotion.” We’ll get a preview of the upcoming season with Artis-Naples CEO and President Kathleen van Bergen.

We listen back to selections from our show from this past spring featuring jazz performed live in studio by musicians studying under the Florida Gulf Coast University Bower School of Music’s Director of Jazz Studies Brandon Robertson. Robertson and his students have performed on past editions of the show, but this episode marked the first time we heard his students performing vocal jazz selections.

Musicians studying under the Florida Gulf Coast University Bower School of Music’s Director of Jazz Studies Brandon Robertson join us for an hour of music performed live in the WGCU performance studio! We’ll hear a mix of vocal performances as well as music selections from an instrumental jazz trio.