Jazz & Blues Florida June 2022 Issue

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THE GOOD, THE BAD Critically-acclaimed vocalist Bette Smith traces elements of her latest album, 2020’s The Good, The Bad and The Bette, to her childhood in rough BedfordStuyvesant, Brooklyn. Musically, it connects to the gospel music she heard in church and the

soul music on the street corners. This injection of soul music and gospel into rock & roll powered her 2017 breakout Jetlagger, which received raves from NPR, Paste, American Songwriter, Billboard, MOJO, and a feature in the New York Times. Not just a critics’ darling, the album rose to No. 1 on the Roots Music Report chart and topped off a banner year with a celebrated appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

Smith received her introduction to music via her father, who was the church choir director, which led to her taking a feature role in the gospel choir. But secular tunes were frowned upon at home, so Smith didn’t even consider a career in music until her brother asked her from his deathbed to sing Bill Withers for him. “After that I started taking every opportunity I could,” she explains, “which is how I got discovered singing in front of a pizzeria in Brooklyn during a festival.”

She attracted the attention of the eccentric outsize personality Jimbo Mathus, from the big band

Squirrel Nut Zippers (and various other configurations), who invited her to Mississippi. Together, they recorded Jetlagger, and most of those involved return to the studio for The Good The Bad…. When Smith enlisted Drive-By Truckers’ Matt Patton and engineer/drummer Bronson Tew as producers, “I told him that I wanted a southern rock soul/ Aretha Franklin/’I once was lost but now I’m found’ theme.” He in turn enlisted guests North Mississippi Allstar Luther Dickinson and fellow DBT member Patterson Hood to join him on the new album. Mathus also returns, albeit in a more supportive role as a band member.

Smith also went deeper in her own songwriting, vulnerably exploring a selection of personal relationships, including that with her mother, who died in 2008 and is remembered on the song “Whistle Stop.” “At one time in my childhood I had been abandoned by my mother, so the whole concept of the album started being very personal,” 2

D… AND THE BETTE says Smith, who pulled musical inspiration from artists such as Tina Turner and Betty Davis, among others.

“It turned into an expression of my inner feelings, almost like if you took a little

glimpse into my diary.” The album is sequenced to tell her story, from a present-day portrait of the strong woman she is to a flashback of her trauma and the emotional void she tried to fill with the party life, before receiving a sign and finding healing. “The album message is a story seen through the lens of a child, and then an adult, who still wears her scars of childhood— but also of hope, strength and optimism going forward in life. Often people think I’m very confident and strong, but they don’t know I’ve faced many obstacles and traumas I fought hard to overcome.” Completing the cycle is a stretch of songs of love and gratitude. “I’m more than a survivor. I’m a thriver!” she says.

JUNE 10 Touring has been redemptive as LEVITT well. She opened for the DriveAMPHITHEATER

By Truckers and Kenny Wayne OCALA Shepherd across the Northeast and Midwest in 2021, and performed on the main stage at the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival. She also spent many COVID-shuttered months spending big chunks of her day walking her labradoodle, Jeremiah, through Prospect Park, near Brooklyn, New York. “It was a time for great introspection for me. In an odd sense, I’m almost glad it happened, because it really forced me to deal with myself, and to get to know myself better. … The lockdown could either drive you insane or drive you deeper into yourself, and fortunately I did the latter.”

“It’s amazing, like a dream come true,” she says. “I’m finding the love that I’ve been looking for all my life. It feels like a homecoming.”

More at bettesmith.com.

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S P O T L I G H T

Ken Peplowski

By the time Ken Peplowski was in his early teens, he was experimenting with jazz, and after a year of college he joined the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra under the direction of Buddy Morrow. Peplowski met Sonny Stitt while on the road with the Dorsey band, and studied with him at length. In 1980, Peplowski moved to New York City,and was soon playing in all kinds of settings, from traditional to avant-garde jazz. “Everything’s a learning experience in jazz music – there’s always an element of the unpredictable,” he explains. In 1984, Benny Goodman came out of retirement and put together a new band, hiring Peplowski on tenor saxophone. Peplowski has recorded more than 20 albums as a leader, including Easy To Remember, which featured Bobby Short on his last recording. “What’s in the future? “Who knows? I love all kinds of music, and I’d like to find more opportunities to bridge the gaps between different musical styles – I consider myself an interpreter of material – if something interests me, I try to put my own spin on it, without thinking or worrying about playing in any particular style,” says Peplowski.

“Basically, I like a challenge.” Four CDs released in 2018 and 2019 prove the point: Amizade is a duo record with Brazilian guitarist Diego Figuereido, Counterpoint is a Lerner and Lowe collection with Dick Hyman, Sunrise is a big band record, and Petite Fleur is a quartet set with Olel Kock Hansen, Hans Backenroth and Kristian Leth. More at kenpeplowski.com.

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FROM A PHOTO BY STEPHEN PARISER

JUNE 9 CORAL GABLES CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH CORAL GABLES

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S P O T L I G H T b l u e s

Alex Harris One of eight Harris children, singer/actor/ philanthropist Alex Harris demonstrated his talent early. At the age of seven, Alex was the lead singer of the new family band the A-Boys, later reinvented as A7. With the rise of their success, the brothers began touring North America during the summers when they were out of school. While they shared a passion for music, each brother made academics their top priority. Extended graduate study in Adolescent Counseling at Harvard University preceded Harris’s doctorate in Organizational Leadership at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. He is CEO and co-founder of ACT (Arts Conservatory for Teens), in conjunction with the Pinellas County School System, which offers both before and after-school programs to disadvantaged youths 11-18 years old. Since 2012, the organization has served more than 5,000 students. No stranger to the entertainment scene, Harris’s artistry and audience continue to expand. His polished lyrical styling and dynamic energy are a breath of fresh air with a very earthy twist that transcends time and musical genres. His latest EP Frequency is about the human experience. “ I think that music is one of the most powerful influences to the human experience,” he explains. “If we can use this great gift to influence something positive – love, hope, healing, justice, family – then I think it’s a great thing.” Aside from headlining his own shows, Harris has shared the stage with entertainers and actors such as Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Bobby Rush, Eric Benet, John Legend, Kirk Franklin, and many others.

More at alexharris official.com.

with GREGORY PORTER JUNE 10 FLORIDIAN SOCIAL CLUB ST PETERSBURG

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S P O T L I G H T j a z z JUNE 30 ORLANDO MUSIC FESTIVAL ORLANDO

Jazmin Ghent

Awarded the prestigious 2019 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album for The Story of Jazz, Jazmin Ghent was nominated for 2019 Smooth Jazz Network’s Best Artist of the Year (after being voted 2017’s Best New Smooth Jazz Artist). Ghent’s debut CD Boss was released in 2015, and was followed by Chocolate Sunshine in 2016. To date, Ghent has six Top 5 Billboard singles, including “Kickin’ It Up,” which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Smooth Jazz Charts, from her fourth and latest release, 2021’s Forever… Jaz. Born in Heidelberg, Germany and currently residing in Central Florida where she is a PhD student at the University of South Florida, Ghent is also an accomplished music educator. She was teaching piano in Sunday School at age eight, taught music to students in grades K-5 for five years, and won the NAACP’s ACTSO Competition at 17. In 2020 Jazmin was invited by the US Embassy in Haiti to spend 7 days presenting music workshops to adults and children, demonstrating the origins and evolution of jazz. The week culminated with Ghent headlining Haiti’s International Jazz Festival. Ghent’s love of jazz started in middle school, after she’d grown up listening to it via her parents: “They named me after jazz, and they had hundreds of CDs. So by the time I got a saxophone, I was really just trying to mimic these things that I’d heard.”

No longer a mimic, Ghent is now a true original. More at jazminghent music.com.

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Jose Ramirez

JUNE 3 BARREL ROOM FORT MYERS JUNE 16 ENGLEWOOD’S ON DEARBORN ENGLEWOOD

At 33 years old, Jose Ramirez is currently Latin America’s most popular blues star and has played with some of the biggest names in the blues industry, including Buddy Guy, Anson Funderburgh, Janiva Magness and Bryan Lee. In fact, FunderJUNE 11 burgh produced Ramirez’s Blues Music Award-nominated debut album, 2021’s Here WESTCOAST I Come, which soared to the top of blues charts internationally and stayed there for BLACK THEATRE most of the year, earning a nomination for best debut release in the 2020 Blues Blast TROUPE Music Awards and again in the 2021 BMAs. After winning second place at The Blues SARASOTA Foundation 2020 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Ramirez spent JUNE 12 the past couple of years traveling the world playing the blues. His two HIGH DIVE European tours included more than 45 concerts in England, Spain, the GAINESVILLE Netherlands and Belgium. Highlights of his U.S. tours of the Midwest JUNE 17 and South included shows at legendary clubs such as Buddy BRADFORDVILLE Guy’s Legends, where Guy joined Jose on stage. Born and BLUES CLUB raised in San Jose, Costa Rica, his family opened a bar and TALLAHASSEE their specialty was American oldies. “I remember going to help them out at age five or six, and all they’d play all night long was Ray Charles, good old Stax records and Motown.” But when Ramirez grew up and showed an interest in the guitar, his father said, “If you’re really serious about playing that instrument, the type of music you should study and listen to — before you even pick it up – is blues.”

Lesson learned. More at joseramirezblues.com.

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Allen C Paul

JUNE 3 SANDRELL RIVERS THEATER MIAMI

A graduate of the University of Miami School of Music in Jazz Piano, Allen Paul has since performed both locally and internationally, working closely with myriad top-tier artists as a musical director and accompanist.

He has also worked in theater alongside award-winning singer/actor Chestor Gregory in his hit musical The Eve of Jackie in 2017.

Paul’s original trio project, the jazz fusion band Unclazzified, performed at the Port-auPrince International Jazz Festival in Port-auPrince, Haiti in 2015. As the founder of God and Gigs, a community of artists and musicians supporting each other in faith, family, and career, and co-host of The God and Gigs Show podcast, Paul provides creative career coaching to artists and creative freelancers who want to grow their careers in a holistic and values-driven manner. He specializes in music theory training, piano instruction, live performance and musical direction of ensembles and teams. Paul’s early years were filled with discoveries of jazz, blues, funk, gospel – all kinds of musical puzzle pieces that would begin to weave its way into his playing. He capped off this start by winning the Florida State Music Teachers Association Concerto Competition at age 17 and performing with the Tampa Bay Symphony. While studying at UM, he co-founded the R&B band Soul Station, which won second place in the MasterCard National Talent Search. He has performed on stage with the likes of Gladys Knight and Betty Wright, and continues to collaborate with top-notch musicians and artists. More at allenpaul music.com.

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S P O T L I G H T b l u e s

Dockta D

WITH JASON RICCI JUNE 24 PORT CHARLOTTE GOLF CLUB PORT CHARLOTTE

As an adolescent, 2018 Florida State Harmonica Champion and 2010 Baltimore Blues Society’s IBC competition winner Dockta D (Dhas) messed around with guitar, bass, drums, sax, and harmonica. But he fell in love with the blues harp at a 1971 Paul Butterfield concert. From that day on, he could be heard practicing daily in the stairwells of his high school (nice echo!). Dhas joined a local heavy rock band, Icarus, but was soon compelled to start his own band, Loose Goose. He loved playing for people and soon adapted a 50-foot mic cable into the act so that he could venture out into the audience and play directly to the people. Dhas did lots of studio work in Los Angeles, playing on commercials and theatrical soundtracks, including an appearance with Bruce Willis in an ad for Seagram’s Golden Wine Coolers. Notably, that commercial was shot live, all one take, with no overdubbed music. In fact, almost all of the harmonica “performed” by Willis in The Return of Bruno (1987) was actually performed by the Dhas and lip-synced throughout by Willis. Dhas also wrote the harmonica part for “Respect Yourself,” a Willis duet with June Pointer featuring background vocals by the Pointer Sisters that was the lead single off the album counterpart to the Return of Bruno. The song was a hit, peaking at No. 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart. His latest release is 2021’s From the Garage, featuring 14 original songs. More at docktad.com.

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