Tampa Jazz Notes — Quick Hits: Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge, Mike MacArthur, Pate/Ross Duo, Upcoming Jazz Concerts
“River Runs – A Concerto for Jazz Guitar, Saxophone & Orchestra,” the long-in-the-making CD from USF jazz composition guru Chuck Owen and his Jazz Surge big band, is due April 9 on the Summit Records label. The ambitious project has Owen combining the talents of the Surge’s many gifted jazz musicians with some of the area’s top classical players, largely from the ranks of the Florida Orchestra. “The Comet’s Tail,” the group’s well-reviewed fourth CD, a 2009 tribute to the music of the late Michael Brecker, was produced in tandem with the USF Center for Jazz Composition and released on MAMA Records. Stay tuned.
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Tampa saxophonist Mike MacArthur, best known for his road work with Diane Schuur and Maynard Ferguson’s Big Bop Nouveau Band, is joined by a room full of big-name players on his “Feels Like Home” CD, released on Tuesday. On board for the disc, on his own label and available through iTunes: Bassist Brian Bromberg, trumpeter Rick Braun, keyboardist and contemporary jazz/fusion forefather Jeff Lorber, guitarist Jeff Golub, percussionist Alex Acuna, and others. Check out the CD on Last.FM here. MacArthur is newly active on Twitter: @mikeymacfans
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Saxophonist David Pate and bassist Michael Ross, longtime area jazzers who have done duo work going back a couple of decades or so, team up again for a concert this Sunday (March 3) at the Art Pool Gallery in downtown St. Petersburg. The
show, sponsored by the Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association, starts at 3 p.m. More info here.
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Ahead on the Tampa Bay jazz calendar:
March 2 – Herb Alpert, Lani Hall and Michael Franks – The Palladium, St. Petersburg, 7:30 p.m.
March 3-8 — Sarasota Jazz Festival: Various artists (various venues).
March 7 – Fred Hersch Trio, The Palladium, 7 p.m. (Hersch, left)
March 22 — Side Door Jazz: Jazz Songbirds featuring Denise Moore & Andrea Manson — The Palladium, 8 p.m.
March 24 – Chick Corea and Bela Fleck, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, 8 p.m.
April 3 – Diana Krall, Ruth Eckerd Hall, 8 p.m. (Krall, right)
April 6 – Child of the Sun Jazz Festival: Bogus Pomp, Valerie Gillespie, Belinda Womack, Jeff Phillips Collective, Free Time, Florida Southern College Jazz Ensemble, Brian Sutherland Trio, Lake Mirror Promenade, Lakeland, 3 p.m. (free admission)
April 13 – Straz Student Jazz Festival, Straz Riverwalk (daylong; free)
April 13 – Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour: Dee Dee Bridgewater, Christian McBride, Ambrose Akinmusire, Chris Potter, Benny Green, Lewis Nash — Ferguson Hall at the Straz, 7:30 p.m.
April 27 — Chris Botti, Ruth Eckerd Hall, 7 p.m.
June 22 — Bob James and David Sanborn, Ruth Eckerd Hall, 7:30 p.m.
October 17-20 — Clearwater Jazz Holiday (lineup TBA)
