Jazz & Blues Florida June 2024 Issue

EG KIGHT

JUNE 9

HEARTWOOD

SOUNDSTAGE

GAINESVILLE

With her rich vocals, captivating guitar style, and hefty catalog of well-crafted original songs, EG Kight has entertained audiences around the globe in true southern style. An indisputable triple threat –singer, songwriter and guitar player – with her own unique blend of “country-flavored southern-fried blues,” her music appeals to fans across many genres. As an artistic and personal favorite of the regulars and management at the iconic Bradfordville Blues Club near Tallahassee, Kight earned many return engagements there over the years and established herself solidly in the blues history of North Florida.

When she was an infant, Kight’s mother was offered a gospel recording contract, but turned it down to stay home

and raise her daughter. The gift of a guitar from an uncle, followed by lessons from grandma over the next few years, helped a four-yearold Kight realize that music was in her blood. Originally playing and singing white gospel and country music, Kight switched to the blues upon hearing Koko Taylor, with whom she later formed a deep and long-lasting friendship. Kight has a particular talent for compassionate renditions of southern rock tunes that have brought grown men to tears.

After a long and successful career performing with a band and as a solo, Kight wanted to recreate that stripped-down sound from her childhood. In 2018 she formed a trio with “the boys,” two of her long-time (20+ years!) band members –drums/harmonica Gary Porter and guitarist/ dobro player Ken Wynn. “This stripped down version allows for a tighter show with sweet harmonies, harp, percussion, drums, dobro and acoustic guitars,” she says. “We’re having a great time venturing out into some new musical areas, and our audiences seem to love it!”

The trio was in the studio in late 2019, anticipating a 2020 release date. But the pandemic changed that, so Kight released her first children’s book, Things I’ve Learned From A Goat, about her pet goats instead. The ”Sing to Nature” episode of the TV series Georgia Outdoors, featuring Kight’s music and her pet goats, aired in May of 2022 on Georgia’s PBS station.

KIGHT

Finally released in 2021, The Trio Sessions debuted high and took a long ride on the blues charts, while garnering three Acoustic Album of the Year nominations along with three Female Artist of the Year nods. Her 2023 Sticks & Strings album debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard Blues Chart, No. 11 on the Big Blues Chart, No. 16 on the Living Blues Radio Chart, No. 19 on the Australian Blues and Roots Chart, and at No. 22 on the North American College & Community Radio Chart (NACC). It was nominated for a Blues Music Award for Acoustic Album and, as with her previous nine albums, most songs were self-penned.

Kight’s original songs have been recorded by major blues artists, including one each on two of Koko Taylor’s Grammy-nominated albums, and some have been featured on television programs aired on NBC, ABC Family, Nick at Nite, El Ray Network and the Children’s Miracle Network. Five were in the 2011 film Collar, and two in the Season 6 SEC Network TrueSouth episode about her hometown of Dublin, GA. (Those two songs were added to the ESPN Spotify playlist.) She has worked with musicians from George Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis and Merle Haggard to Luther Allison, Pinetop Perkins and Taj Mahal. Kight has also opened for B.B. King on multiple occasions. After Taylor and King, Kight’s influences include Etta James, Jimmy Reed, T-Bone Walker, and “one of the best slide players I know, Bonnie Raitt.”

Running full-tilt since coming back from a double whammy of meningitis and encephalitis in 2011, Kight has no plans to slow down. She’s writing more new songs and performing more live shows, taking her unique blend of roots music to stages across the country, including this North Central Florida Blues Society show, which will be an intimate solo performance. More at egkight.com

MAY 18 JUNE 13

CORAL GABLES

CONGREGATIONAL

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

CORAL GABLES

Hot Fiddle

Violinist Ashley Liberty and pianist Daniel Strange have been performing together since their marriage in 2007. As a composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist, Strange is always creating new and exciting multi-genre music for the couple to perform. Hot Fiddle spans jazz, bluegrass, classical and more, as when Strange puts a virtuosic spin on a classic ’80s pop tune, or when Liberty caresses passionate melodies from her 300-year-old Italian violin. Liberty’s playing has taken her to concert halls around the world. In addition to her Hot Fiddle shows, Liberty performs in the Naples Philharmonic and Miami City Ballet Orchestras, and performed in the 2020 Superbowl halftime show with Shakira. Strange is an Assistant Professor of Contemporary Keyboard and the MADE (Modern Artist Development and Entrepreneurship) program director at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, where he directs the Downbeat Award-winning American Music Ensemble. He is also a teaching artist in the award-winning Community Arts Program (CAP) Miami Jazz Institute. The two have performed with a variety of artists including Broadway stars Norm Lewis and Mandy Gonzalez, folk legend Noel Paul Stookey, jazz icons Arturo Sandoval and Michael Feinstein, and violinist/composer Mark O’Connor. This show is the season opener for the CAP Summer Concert Series’ 39th season, presenting two shows each month in June, July, and

history of presenting exceptional up-and-coming artists along established performers. Find them on .

JUNE 9

HEARTWOOD SOUNDSTAGE

GAINESVILLE

JUNE 15

MELROSE CENTER

MELROSE

JUNE 16

DUNNELLON

HISTORIC

TRAIN DEPOT

DUNNELLON

JUNE 21-23

HIPPIE FEST

THE FARM

BROOKSVILLE

Bear & Robert

Award-winning Jacksonvillebased singer-songwriter duo Bear and Robert draw from a deep well of blues, folk and Americana, as heard on their 2019 release Hearts In Blues. With a focus on the human condition and Florida history, both as a storyteller and a humorist,Cindy Bear has won many songwriting awards. She also placed in the Top 10 for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Will McLean Best New Florida Songwriting Contest, and was a finalist in the 2016 South Florida Folk Festival Singer-Songwriting Contest. An active Board member of the North Florida Folk Network, Bear was also awarded Best Traditional Folk Song for“Mother of Miami”at the 2013 North Florida Acoustic Music Festival, and was a 2015 finalist in the Gram Parsons Guitar Pull Songwriting Contest. First picking up the guitar in 1980, Franc Robert (pronounced Ro-bear) started playing electric blues and rock in bands, but always dug deeper into the music’s roots, leading him to Robert Johnson and the world of 1930s rural Mississippi, with its juke joints, fish frys, and Delta Blues. Moving to Florida in 1990, Franc found his writing voice, and has since released a string of records which always included at least one acoustic blues tune. 2011’s Why Do I Never Win reached No. 3 on the Roots Music Report Florida chart. 2012’s Mulligan Stew hit No. 1 on the RMR Florida chart and No. 22 on their National Blues Chart. More CDs followed,

Marco Thomas~ Gainesville Big Band

The Gainesville Big Band assembles some of the best professional jazz musicians spanning the southeast. Under the direction of Marco Thomas, the GBB delivers a rich, full sound: from Basie to Ellington, Gershwin to Miller, Porter to Mercer, Vegas to Broadway hits, and today’s modern jazz and pop. Since 2007, the band has brought big band jazz to Gainesville and the surrounding areas. Originally from the Atlanta suburb of Ellenwood, GA, bass trombone player and band director Marco Thomas earned a Bachelors of Music Education from Florida Southern College in Lakeland in 1999. He then began teaching middle school band in Hardee County and entered the University of Florida in the summer of 2002, earning his Masters of Music Performance in trombone. After graduation, Thomas served as Director of Bands at Hawthorne Middle/High School from 2004-2007. He began his current position as the music teacher at Williams Elementary in Gainesville during the 2007-2008 school year. Thomas has been a presenter at the International Arts and Humanities Conference in Hawaii, and published an article in Instrumentalist magazine in the fall of 2008. He has also presented at the Florida Music Educators Association conference twice (2014 and 2021). He has been the director of the Gainesville Big Band since 2007. In addition, he maintains a private trombone studio and is an active performer with various groups in the Gainesville area. More at gainesvillebigband.com

JUNE 21

FLORIDIAN SOCIAL

ST PETERSBURG

JUNE 22

BOGOTA KITCHEN PALM HARBOR

JUNE 28

BAYCARE

JUNE 29

COWBOYS

DANCE HALL LARGO

The Black Honkeys

Ex-bandmates from the Tampa Bay act Freaks Rule, guitarist Joe Sanders and vocalist Phil Esposito got to talking. Sanders was into the J. Geils Band, Hendrix and the Stones. Esposito agreed, while also digging the Motown and R&B of the ’60s and ’70s. It was a good fit. The two, along with bass player Wil “The Thrill” Harris and a couple of drummers, started rehearsing in September of 2000 and The Black Honkeys performed their first show that New Year’s Eve. Three CD releases have helped make the group a favorite of the Tampa Bay area music scene, earning them Creative Loafing’s Best in Bay in multiple categories over the last several years, including People’s Choice. The current lineup includes Esposito and Harris, along with drummer Steven Tanner, guitarists Greg Czinke and Billy Summer, trumpeter Terry Clark, trombonist Scott Myers, vocalist Nicole Simone, and special guest Gumbi Ortiz on percussion. And what’s up with that name? Growing up in one of the few white families in a predominately black Clearwater, FL neighborhood in the ’70s and ’80s, Esposito was often the only white kid in his friend group. They would explain, “Hey, that’s Phil. He’s cool, leave him be, he ain’t nothing but a Black Honkey!” More at theblackhonkeys.com

Joshua Bowlus

After beginning private piano lessons at the age of five while growing up in Port Orange, FL, Joshua Bowlus continued to train classically through his teenage years, but became interested in jazz in high school. Bowlus continued his jazz education at UNF in Jacksonville, studying under pianists Kevin Bales and Keith Javors. Since graduating in 2006, Bowlus has built his career as a jazz pianist in Jacksonville, working as both a bandleader for his own Joshua Bowlus Trio as well as a sideman for others. He has performed at many popular jazz festivals and venues around the country and the globe, including France, Spain and China. As the pianist for the UNF Jazz Ensemble One during his college years, the band played a two-week concert tour of China, and was the first jazz big band to perform on the Great Wall of China. He has performed on stage with such well-known jazz artists as Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride and Annie Sellick. Bowlus collaborates regularly with vocalist Linda Cole, is a member of the NYC-based nine-piece Jazz Conceptions Orchestra, and co-leader of the modern jazz sextet Jax Jazz Collective with which he has recorded two CDs. Bowlus is part owner of the Jacksonville-based Bold City Music Productions (with Ben Adkins), which released his 2023 Christmas album Sleigh Ride. Bowlus is currently working on multiple projects, including one which will feature his own arrange ments of well-known Disney melodies. More at joshuabowlus.com

JUNE 1

COUNTRY CLUB

OF MIAMI

HIALEAH

Serabee

Her piano playing has been compared to Ray Charles, Professor Longhair and Dr. John, and her ‘bring the house down’ singing style evokes Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, and Susan Tedeschi. Born Sarah L. Buras, she was the youngest of five children raised in the churches, juke joints and tent revivals of Louisiana and Mississippi. By age 12 she was touring the southern states, singing lead in her family’s gospel band, Sera and the Blue Jays. In 2002, Buras met legendary producer Gary Katz ( Steely Dan, Diana Ross, Joe Cocker), who became her creative mentor. By 2004, Buras had two nationally-released CDs, both produced by Katz. Her self-titled debut was an urban pop experience, rooted in the sounds of the deep south. Open On Sunday’s title track was co-produced and mixed by another legend, Peter Gabriel (Genesis), and featured a more soulful sound with a hint of urban R&B. In 2005, her home town of Kiln, MI was the site of Hurri cane Katrina’s initial Louisiana landfall. The entire town, including Buras’ home, was destroyed. But also in 2005, her song “Crazy Chick”was recorded by Charlotte Church and became a hit on the UK Singles Chart, reaching No. 2. The song was listed for 30 weeks on four charts: the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia. Following 2009’s Serabee, she became a contestant on The Voice in 2011, as a member of Blake Shelton’s team. Her all-original 2022 release Hummingbird Tea contributed to a Best New Artist award at Making a Scene’s 2023 Independent Blues Awards. More at serabeemusic.com

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