Saturday, September 25, 2010

Sarasota Arts Scene - Jazz

From Harry this week - personal interest.


For a small city, Sarasota has an incredibly vibrant arts scene. Here's an example.


My wife, Jacquie, and I went to a jazz concert at a local church. A six-piece group, they performed incredibly well. Their ages - 13 to 17 years old, and they've been around three years. From their publicity:

"They created the group three years ago, playing jazz in front of a local grocery store on Saturday mornings. Seeing how determined they were, Greg Nielsen, a jazz trombonist, took them under his wing and has been coaching them ever since."

They've made several television appearances including the Grammy awards and, this past summer, appeared at three European jazz festivals including Montreux in Switzerland. (The cost - $35.000.) The thirteen year old is the very petite female trumpeter/vocalist. It's surprising to see such power (both trumpet and voice) from such a small girl. An audience member told us she started the group at age nine. She's incredible - from the on-stage appearance it seems like she's the leader. Three previous members of the group have graduated and gone on to college.

Anyway, as I said, personal interest this week. If you're interested here's a link to their site, complete with videos.

http://www.jazzjuvenocracy.com/

1 comment: