Rudresh Mahanthappa Quartet at St. Pete College

The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Chamber Music America, St. Petersburg College and EMIT present a special Encore concert of Codebook by Rudresh Mahanthappa with Vijay Iyer on piano, François Moutin on bass, and Damion Reid on drums Saturday, March 1 at the Music center at St. Pete College beginning at 8:00pm. There will also be a pre-concerton discussion at 7:pm.

Guggenheim fellow Rudresh Mahanthappa is one of the most innovative young musicians and composers in jazz today. Named a "Rising Star" of the alto saxophone by the Downbeat International Critics Poll for the past four years, #2 in 2006, Rudresh has incorporated the culture of his Indian ancestry and has fused myriad influences to create a truly groundbreaking artistic vision.

St. Petersburg College Music Center is at the corner of 66th St. and 5th Ave. N in St. Petersburg. Donation admission is $10 (cash) at the door. This concert benefits music student scholarships at St. Petersburg College.

Mimi Fox at Cultural Center Theatre

Jazz Guitarist Mimi Fox will be performing in Port Charlotte on Sunday, March 16th at 7:30pm at the Cultural Center Theatre, sponsored by the Arts & Humanities Council of Charlotte county. For more information go to www.charlottearts.org

Fox started playing drums at nine, and then guitar when she was ten. She was inspired by the wide variety of music enjoyed by her family - show tunes, classical, Dixieland, Motown - and her own youthful inclination toward pop, folk, and R&B. When she was fourteen, she bought her first jazz album "because it was on sale." The one she chose had no guitarist, but she was "blown away" by it. That album, John Coltrane's classic "Giant Steps," changed the course of her musical life. She began touring right out of high school and eventually moved to San Francisco in 1979, where she became a sought-after musician. She is Chair of the Guitar Department at the innovative Jazz School in Berkeley, California and adjunct professor at New York University.

A seasoned player, Fox has performed with fellow guitarists Charlie Byrd, Charlie Hunter, Stanley Jordan and Kenny Burrell, as well as with Grammy award winners saxophonists Branford Marsalis and David Sanchez and Manhattan Transfer's Janis Siegel, saxophonist Don Lanphere, Hammond B3 organ virtuosos Barbara Dennerlien and Dr. Lonnie Smith, and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington. Fox has also appeared on numerous television and radio shows including BET on Jazz and NPR's Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland as well as many others. Mimi is the head of the Jazz Guitar department At The Jazz School in Berkeley California.


Mimi will also be giving a workshop for players on Saturday March 15th, from 6-8pm at the Charlotte County Chamber office.

When: Sunday March 15, 6-8pm
Where: 2702 Tamiami Tail, Port Charlotte FL, 33952
Call (941) 764-8100 to reserve space
Cost: $25 per person

Pat Metheny Trio Coming to Tampa

Monterey at 50

The Monterey Jazz Festival's 50th Anniversary tour will be rolling through Sarasota Monday, 11 Feb 2008.

Building on the exciting and unprecedented legacy of fifty years of historic jazz presentation, the Monterey Jazz Festival is proud to announce the nationwide, ten-week, fifty-four date Monterey Jazz Festival 50th Anniversary Tour. Heralded as a meeting of three generations of jazz masters, the 50th Anniversary MJF All-Star Band features the leaders of the past, present and future with Terence Blanchard on trumpet, James Moody on saxophone, Benny Green on piano, Derrick Hodge on bass and Kendrick Scott on drums. Vocalist Nnenna Freelon will also be a featured member of the group as they embark on the twenty-two state tour starting in January, 2008.

Van Wezel Performing Arts Center
Monterey Jazz Festival 50th Anniversary Tour
Monday, Feb. 11, 2008, 8 PM
Tickets: $45, $40