Suncoast Jazz Festival
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Past Performer Interviews and Insights
Entertainers from around the country discuss their music and its personal impact. Budding musicians can garner a bit of free advice for breaking into the industry. If you enjoy jazz in all its artforms – this is for you.
Pieter Meijers
At age six, Pieter played in a concert band that his father conducted in the coastal community of Oostkapelle, and he did some conducting of classical orchestras himself in his mid 20’s. He identifies Jan Morks, a fellow countryman and clarinetist best known for his work with the Dutch Swing College Band, as his biggest jazz influence.
La Lucha
Listen to La Lucha on iTunes ►
Followers of La Lucha have known for a long time that this is a ‘trio with a difference.’ The first-call rhythm section in the Tampa Bay scene is at home in any jazz context, with the telepathic interplay you expect from a band together for years. But the places they reach for inspiration, the intriguing choices in finding and writing material, and the combination of these three spirited personalities have endeared La Lucha to listeners and to an ever-widening circle of collaborators. And they just keep getting better. Visit Lalucha Music
Heather Thorn
Heather Thorn is a xylophonist in Orlando, FL where she performs with her band Vivacity and as a freelance percussionist and actress. She holds a degree in Music Performance with a minor in Theatre from Ithaca College where she was a proud member of Gordon Stout’s marimba band for two years. In 2019, she was featured with Vivacity as the headline act for the I Love Jazz International Jazz Festival in Brazil. Heather has been featured as a guest artist with Michael Andrew and Swingerhead, Carol Stein, the John Depaola quartet and as an opening act for the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Visit XyloHeather
Don Mopsick
Don Mopsick began his musical career as a teenager in his hometown of Linden, NJ, performing on trumpet and bass guitar. He attended Rutgers and Berklee College of Music. His first professional gigs were with Rosemary Clooney around Boston in 1972.
Since his return to Florida, Don has appeared with Ira Sullivan, Aaron Weinstein, Stephanie Nakasian, Veronica Swift, Hod O’Brien, Carla Cook, Dutchess, Cynthia Sayer, and Tedd Firth just to name a few. Visit Don Mopsick
Adrian Cunningham
Listen to Professor Cunningham on iTunes ►
Adrian Cunningham is an award winning multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and world traveller. Originally from Sydney Australia and now based in New York, he is proving to be one of his country’s top exports. With fluent command of the saxophones, clarinet, and flute, he is one of the finest multi-instrumentalists in Jazz today.
When he is not busy performing in NYC with some of its finest players, he is touring the world playing jazz festivals and swing events. Visit Professor Cunningham Jazz or Adrian Cunningham
Dave Bennett
Listen to Dave, again, on iTunes ►
Dave Bennett doesn’t fit the mold. For starters, you don’t find many jazz clarinet players who name Alice Cooper, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Chris Isaak among their influences. You also won’t find many musicians who are equally conversant with the music of Benny Goodman, the King of Swing, and Roy Orbison, The Soul of Rock and Roll. Visit Dave Bennett
Rachel Domber
Arbors Records was founded by Rachel and Mat Domber in 1989 to record and preserve the classic styles of jazz. It originated because of their desire to record their friend, the outstanding reedman, singer and composer, Rick Fay, who had been in the music business for over 40 years mostly as a performer at the Disney parks in California and Florida, but had never previously recorded.
Starting with the original dixieland recordings by various Rick Fay groups, the label now embraces traditional jazz and contemporary classic jazz and the swing styles of the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s and beyond. But regardless of style, all of the recordings have in common a love of melody, improvisation and swing. Visit Arbors Records
Chuck Redd
Chuck Redd is well known internationally as a performer on drums and vibraphone. Chuck began recording and touring the globe when he joined the Charlie Byrd Trio at the age of 21. He also became a member of the Great Guitars (Barney Kessel, Byrd and Herb Ellis.) To his credit are 25 European tours and six tours of Japan, with the Barney Kessel Trio, Ken Peplowski and the Benny Goodman Tribute Orchestra, Terry Gibbs and Conte Candoli. He served as Artist-In-Residence at The Smithsonian Jazz Café in Washington, DC from 2004-2008. Visit Chuck Redd
David Tatrow
David Tatrow is the band leader of Wallys Warehouse Waifs.
Sharon Preston-Folta
Sharon Preston-Folta is the daughter of famed Louis Armstrong. Sharon shares her remarkable story of growing up in the lime light of fame and coming of age in the shadows and living a life of truth.
Bill Clark
Bill Clark is leader of Queen City Jazz Band. Bill is a great educator, and shares his story of being picked by a Tuba. Visit the Queen City Jazz Band
Tom Rigney
Tom Rigney has been a part of the San Francisco Bay Area roots music scene for more than thirty-five years. In 2000, after 15 years as the leader and electrifying violinist of The Sundogs, fiddler/composer Tom Rigney stepped out on his own with a hot new band, Flambeau. The repertoire is original, eclectic, passionate, and filled with a musical and emotional intensity.
In this interview, Tom delightfully tells us the story of what a Harvard grad can do with a $50 fiddle, against all odds. Visit Tom Rigney
Nate Najar
Nate Najar walks us through when he first fell in love with music to a lifetime wish to play in a rock band. We gently reminded him that it takes long hair to be in a rock band.
