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MICK KOLASSA ~ STA Born in Michigan, “Michissippi Mick” Kolassa currently lives in Memphis… but he lived in Mississippi for nearly 30 years, and that’s where he was given his nick-
name. Each of Kolassa’s albums has received significant airplay and radio chart positions. Rather than staying within a single genre, Kolassa celebrates all styles of blues, and loves to find the blues hidden in songs of other genres, “bluesifying” them and doing what he calls “uncovers.” Kolassa’s favorite flavors of blues include the Delta and Piedmont blues he plays at his solo acoustic shows; modern Mississippi, Memphis and Chicago blues with his Endless Blues Band; classic “old school” blues with a jazz influence in his teamups with Memphis guitarist Mario Monterosso Mario; and rock-flavored soulful blues with Mississippi bluesman Dexter Allen.
FROM A PHOTO BY DONNA CRISWELL
Regardless of the venue and configuration, Kolassa delivers lively and animated performances of his Free-Range Blues©. Kolassa’s vocals easily adapt from a croon to a growl to fit each song. 2014‘s Michissippi Mick rode the national blues charts for about eight months, and there was one week when five songs from the album were on the Top 50 list of songs played on blues radio nationwide. Kolassa and producer Jeff Jensen then reteamed for Ghosts of the Riverside with Mark Telasca. Three more albums with Telasca followed, including the 2017 acoustic blues Beatles tribute, You Can’t Do That. 2018 brought both 149 Delta Avenue and Double Standards, which featured duets of 13 blues favorites, performed with the likes of Jensen, Victor Wainwright, Annika Chambers, Tas Cru, Gracie Curran and Sugaray Rayford.
Even the pandemic couldn’t slow Kolassa down,
and he released the Jensen-produced If You Can’t Be Good, Be Good at It in 2020. Last year’s Uncle Mick’s Christmas Album was recorded in the 95° heat of a Memphis summer, with every musician, engineer, technician and guest calling
Memphis home. Kolassa re-teamed with Jensen to produce a unique and fun-filled album, with Kolassa originals like “The Best Christmas Ever” and “Beale Street Christmas Jam,” and Christmas classics such as “All I Want for Christmas is You” and “Frosty the Snowman” all getting a Memphis bluesification.
Also released last year, Wasted Youth was written largely during 2020’s
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pandemic peak, during which Kolassa also suffered the devastating loss of his wife and several friends. He again teamed with Jensen, and they tapped a large group of familiar blues artists and Memphis session greats for what became The Endless Blues Band. With 11 Kolassa originals among its 14 tracks, the CD was hailed by many critics as a masterwork of blues interpretation. The title track was a semi-finalist in the International Songwriters Competition.
ANDARD BEARER Kolassa is an avid supporter of the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organiza-
tion dedicated to preserving blues music history, celebrating recording and performance excellence, supporting blues education and ensuring the future of this uniquely American art form. All proceeds from Kolassa’s albums support two Foundation programs: The HART Fund (for blues musicians and their families in financial need due to a broad range of health concerns) and Generation Blues (providing scholarships for young artists to study at reputable camps, seminars and workshops).
In a similarly supportive vein, Kolassa released a new song “The Riverside Hotel” last month, supporting the historic Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale, Mississippi. As he says in the song, “Imagine the magic that happened there / With future blues legends everywhere… ” Kolassa also heads up Endless Blues Records,
with a broad range of blues styles represented in its portfolio of artists.
Kolassa is one blues artist whose day job
MAY 22 HEARTWOOD SOUNDSTAGE GAINESVILLE MAY 24 BLUE TAVERN TALLAHASSEE JUNE 1 IRISH BRIGADE LAKE WORTH JUNE 3 ARTESANO DANIA BEACH
credentials may just be more significant than his prolific JUNE 5 discography. He has a Ph.D BLUES BURGERS in pharmaceutical marketHALLANDALE BEACH ing, and his resume includes a stint as CEO and Managing Partner of Medical Marketing Economics, LLC. An industry expert, he’s the author of a book called The Strategic Pricing of Pharmaceuticals. Currently working on four(!) albums and busy performing, Kolassa still shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, including being booked in Florida again at a festival later this year. More at mimsmick.com.
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S P O T L I G H T MAY 11 THE GARLIC NEW SMYRNA BEACH
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Thom Chambers
Known as a co-founder and on-stage leader of the former jazz group Indigo City, one of saxophonist Thom Chambers’ last performances with the group was the 1999 opening of CityJazz, a nightclub at Universal Studio’s City Walk in Orlando. The appearance preceded the release of his debut solo CD, MAY 21 Under Covers. An original song from the disc, “Montreaux,” was featured on NEW SMYRNA BEACH a JAZZIZ On Disc CD, while a previous issue featured “September Samba,” JAZZ FESTIVAL a tune from Indigo City’s first release, Samba Electrique. He has performed WITH GREG PAKSTIS with Miami Sound Machine, opened for Earth, Wind & Fire, Chris Botti, Eric NEJMA’S afternoon Marienthal and NBA star-turned-musician Wayman Tisdale. In CRIMSON HOUSE eve addition to stints in Ohio and Texas, Chambers has also NEW SMYRNA BEACH studied music at Florida International University in Miami, the University of South Florida and the University of Miami. Whether he’s performing original material, traditional jazz, or jazz standards, Chambers’ class and clarity, elegance and intelligence make a definitive mark on listeners before blending like spice into a Latin beat, a jazz standard, or one of his signature tunes like Chet Baker’s “My Funny Valentine,” which Chambers makes his own as “My Funky Valentine.”Complementary contrasts are consistent throughout Chambers’ music. Where his sound is particularly crisp, it’s also particularly full; where it’s especially clean, dark and haunting tones lie just beneath the surface; soothing rhythms give way to fierce energy. More at thomchambers.com. MAY 13-14, 27-28 COURTYARD GRILL NEW SMYRNA BEACH
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S P O T L I G H T b l u e s MAY 5 AZALEA CITY BREWING CO PALATKA
Pam Taylor
MAY 6 BARREL ROOM FORT MYERS
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FROM A PHOTO BY RANDY HARGETT PHOTOGRAPHY
While she is known for her explosive and exciting live performances, Pam Taylor’s MAY 7 innovative songwriting and LITTLE BAR masterful releases have garGOODLAND nered many awards and a lot MAY 8 of attention. While on tour in CENTER BAR Los Angeles in 2018, accepting BONITA awards for LA Music Critics SPRINGS Blues Artist of the Year and Best Holiday Music Video for “Let’s Get It On For Christmas,” Taylor recorded “Be The Light,” which became a semi-finalist the 2019 International Songwriting Competition. Then her cover of The Animals’ cult classic “House of the Rising Sun” was featured on the soundtrack for the award-winning independent 2019 short film Fate Alchemy, currently being refilmed as a feature. Taylor’s debut Hot Mess hit No. 1 on the Roots Music Report and No. 3 on Sirius XM BB Kings Bluesville. After 2015’s Dirty Southern Soul with her roots duo Stolen Hearts, Taylor’s 2017 solo Steal Your Heart earned her a coveted spot on Blues Rock Review’s Top 20 List for that year. After more than a decade playing major festivals and touring internationally, Pam Taylor & the Flyin’ V Super Duo is her latest project with husband and basscuccionist (he plays bass while also playing a full drum kit) Peter Von. A Staff Writer for Virtuosity Worldwide Magazine, she has opened for the likes of Tommy Castro and Shooter Jennings, and served as band director and guitarist for the all-women house band for the Women in Blues Showcase at the IBC. More at pamtaylor music.com.
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S P O T L I G H T j a z z MAY 21 NEW SMYRNA BEACH JAZZ FESTIVAL GRILLE AT RIVERVIEW NEW SMYRNA BEACH
Danielle Eva
Vocalist and songwriter Danielle Eva fuses jazz pop, modern folk and echoes of Appalachian roots music with a compelling sincerity and a side of sass. She was born in Pittsburgh, at the crossroads of two intersecting American stories: Italian immigrants and holler-born Kentuckians. Eva spent her childhood absorbing sounds of contemporary gospel and bluegrass heard in church and studied classical music in a professional children’s choir. While her sights were set on an opera career, the sounds of the American songbook as interpreted by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn turned her ears and energy toward jazz. In 2001, Danielle was chosen to participate in the prestigious Jazz Aspen Snowmass, then spent several years in New York as a regular on the Manhattan scene. During her two years living in Washington DC, she began recording her debut, Road and Moon. After placing third in the 2007 Billie Holiday Vocal Competition, Eva spent the next several years fulfilling a life-long dream of traveling and performing while learning about other cultures and music. She lived a musically nomadic existence, sometimes the resident artist in a five-star hotel club, sometimes traveling with a Turkish party band, and other times bouncing around China for various gigs and concerts. Eva has performed at hundreds of private events, and also records for various commercial projects and voice-overs. Currently based in St. Augustine, Eva’s latest album, 2020’s Lark and Sea features eight originals backed by some of Northeast Florida’s finest musicians. More at danielle eva.com.
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S P O T L I G H T b l u e s MAY 28-29 PONTE VEDRA CONCERT HALL PONTE VEDRA MAY 31 TAMPA THEATRE TAMPA
Robert Earl Keen
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FROM A PHOTO BY MELANIE MAGANIAS NASHAN
With more than 20 records and thousands of shows under his belt, Texas songwriter and entertainer Robert Earl Keen will retire from performing later this year, but not before wrapping up his 41-year run with the “2022 Final Tour, I’m Comin’ Home: 41 Years On The Road.” In 2021, POLLSTAR ranked Keen on its Top 20 Global Concert Tours, proof of his living-legend status. When Americana was officially recognized by the music industry in 1998, Keen was the first artist to be featured on the Americana Music Chart. He continues to blaze a trail for other artists with his Americana Podcast, launched in 2019. From the start, Keen took the road less travelled, self-financing and producing No Kinda Dancer, then winning the Kerrville Folk Festival’s prestigious New Folk Songwriting Competition. His next two albums, The Live Album and West Textures kicked his career into high gear. When two songs from the latter, “The Road Goes on Forever” and “Whenever Kindness Fails” were covered by fellow Texas icon Joe Ely on his Love and Danger album, the secret was out on Keen’s credentials as a songwriter’s songwriter. He was inducted into both the Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Hall of Fame and The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. BMI acknowledged Keen’s contribution as a road warrior in 2015 when they honored him with the inaugural Troubadour Award. His most recent release is 2016’s Live Dinner Reunion. More at robertearl keen. com.
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Rich Walker
MAY 21 NEW SMYRNA BEACH JAZZ FESTIVAL TONI & JOE’S PATIO NEW SMYRNA BEACH
Guitarist and vocalist Rich Walker has been playing jazz and blues for more than three decades. A mainstay in the Central Florida area, he has played with Dr. Lonnie Smith, Marion McPartland, Nick Brignola, Ira Sullivan, Donald Brown and many more. In recent years, he has emerged as a leader, an extraordinary soloist, and a very exciting vocalist. His longevity is even more impressive considering that in the early 2000s he was diagnosed with – and subsequently recovered from – a bout with meningitis that caused localized and generalized numbness that would prevent him from playing or even speaking. It’s obvious from the first note he plays that Walker’s roots are in the blues, and he cites Ray Charles, Joe Williams, Betty Carter and Al Jarreau as major vocal influences. Jazz fans will appreciate the echoes of Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino and George Benson in Walker’s guitar playing. While Walker is a guitarist, he cites the late saxophonist John Coltrane – and “the music he left behind for us to learn” – as his most profound musical influence. A familiar face in many of Central Florida’s jazz clubs, Walker has also played numerous Florida jazz festivals. Solo CDs include 2004’s Bar Hop, 2003’s Lazybird Revisited, and 2011’s Whistle Britches. Walker also plays with the group East Coast Standards Time, and appears on their 2007 Impressions release. For this New Smyrna Beach Jazz Festival appearance, he will be performing as part of a septet. Walker will also be performing as part of John DePaola’s quintet on May 22. More at richwalker jazz.com.
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S P O T L I G H T MAY 6 SKIPPER’S SMOKEHOUSE TAMPA
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Gracie Curran
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FROM A PHOTO BY WOLFGANG MULTER
Born and raised outside of Boston, Gracie Curran discovered a love of blues and soul at an early age. In 2010, Gracie Curran & The High Falutin’ band played their MAY 7 first show to a sold-out house in mBoston, and quickly amassed a tremendous folBRADFORDVILLE lowing. In 2012, the band won the Boston Blues Challenge, and soon released Proof BLUES CLUB of Love while competing in the International Blues Challenge. The album was met TALLAHASSEE with glowing reviews and received heavy radio play, earning the MAY 8 band a Best New Artist nomination at the 2014 Blues Music PARADISE Awards. The band also received Boston Music Award and BAR & GRILL New England Music Award nominations for Blues Band of PENSACOLA the Year. In 2015, Curran earned the Boston Music Award BEACH for Blues Artist of the Year. Curran describes 2019’s Come Undone, recorded in her adopted home town of Memphis, as the soundtrack of five years on the road. “I moved to Memphis with a mattress and a suitcase of clothes in the back of my van – and it worked out,” she says. “And I’m so happy now. But I had to go through all of it to get here.” Famous friends helping out on the album include guitarist Damon Fowler, Pat Harrington and Victor Wainwright, among others. Curran’s trademark is her infectious, whoop-it-up enthusiasm. “It’s about sharing the things that sit deep in your soul. It’s unfiltered,” Curran said. “It’s as honest as you can be with yourself and that’s a very powerful thing.” More at graciecurran.com.
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FESTIVAL UPDATE
MAY 20 NEW SMYRNA BEACH New Smyrna Beach Jazz Festival MAY 26 JACKSONVILLE Jacksonville Jazz Festival MAY 30 VENICE Myakka River Blues Festival JUNE 4 DAVIE South Florida Smooth Jazz Festival JUNE 30 ORLANDO Orlando Music Festival
CLICK FOR OUR COMPLETE JAZZ & BLUES FESTIVAL LIST!
INFORMATION WAS CORRECT AT TIME OF POSTING Send updates to Charlie@JazzBluesFlorida.com
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