ELIZA NEALS
NOVEMBER 13
ENGLEWOODS ON DEARBORN
ENGLEWOOD
NOVEMBER 14
CRAZY UNCLE
MIKE’S
BOCA RATON
NOVEMBER 17
OCC ROAD HOUSE & MUSEUM
CLEARWATER
Powerhouse blues rock vocalist, songwriter, musician, pianist, producer, and arranger Eliza Neals exemplifies the new modern blues sound in all its forms. Rooted in blues traditions, she infuses her music with her own unique style, creating a fresh, exciting sound and earning rave reviews from critics and fans alike.
Original compositions have garnered “The Detroit Diva” a 2018 Detroit Black Music Award for Blues Artist of the Year, and five Detroit Music Awards. She also boasts 17 Independent Blues Awards nominations and 20 International Blues Awards nominations, along with Get Ready To Rock UK’s Best Artist awards in five categories. SiriusXM B.B. King’s
Bluesville has had Neals in rotation since 2015’s incendiary Breaking and Entering
Born Elizabeth Thomasian Neals in Detroit, MI, Neals began singing and performing with her two sisters at an early age. And when her father said, “You have to get a degree to live under this roof,” Neals chose to study opera and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Wayne State University. But the music she claims as her influences – Howlin Wolf and BB King, Aretha Franklin and Koko Taylor, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin – led her in a different direction.
Neals began performing in local clubs, honing her vocal and piano skills. In the mid-1990s, a chance encounter between Neals and customer Barrett Strong would set her course. Strong signed her to his own Blarritt Records label and released Neals’ 1997 debut I Want More, and its 1999 successor, I’m Waiting (both with Neals billed simply as Eliza). Neals then self-released four albums over a ten-year period: 2005’s Liquorfoot, 2008’s No Frogs for Snakes, 2012’s Messin’ With a Fool, and 2015’s Breaking and Entering. Its original compositions earned Neals a 2015 Detroit Music Award for Outstanding Blues/R&B Songwriter.
Her 2017 release 10,000 Feet Below featured guitarists Billy Davis and Paul Nelson, and Neals wrote or co-wrote 10 of its 11 tracks. She went on to win Blues Artist of the Year from the Detroit Black Music Awards in 2018. Eliza Neals and the Narcotics, credited to that ‘band,’ was released in 2019, as was her solo EP Sweet or Mean. Popa Chubby oversaw production of the collection, which included horn work by Ian Hendrickson-Smith and Michael Leonhart.
NEALS
Neals’s next album was 2020’s reflective Crow Moan. Neals described it as “... more sentimental – a lot of stuff coming from way, way back. I think it’s more heartfelt. More like a confessional.” Recorded pre-pandemic, the CD featured guest appearances from Joe Louis Walker and Derek St. Holmes.
While Crow leaned heavily toward ballads, Neals next CD, 2022’s Badder to the Bone was a return to her fuller blues rock sound. She wrote or co-wrote every song bar one, and she arranged and co-produced the collection in conjunction with Michael Puwal, partly at his Milton, FL-based Univox1 studio, using analog equipment. The single “Queen of the Nile hit No. 5 on Sirius XM’s Bluesville’s Rack-of-Blues. The album had Neals providing both vocals and piano work, with Lance Lopez guesting on guitar, Peter Keys guesting on Hammond organ, along with additional featured artists delivering another tasty serving of Neals’ signature modern blues-rock, validating her spots performing with or opening for such names as George Clinton, The Four Tops, Mike Zito, Walter Trout, Victor Wainwright, and Joe Louis Walker.
Her new CD Colorcrimes was born on the stage, in an effort to help people soothe their souls in this troubled world. The album is simply brimming with stellar contributors including the late Strong, a Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame inductee, who co-wrote three songs. (Neals is credited as co-songwriter and co-producer on Strong’s 2008 release Stronghold II.) Guitarist, co-producer, and songwriter Michael Puwal has returned with his outstanding slide playing. The collection, which received a five-star review from Roots Music Report, travels a path strewn with real-life bluesy narratives drawn from her life and times. The real evidence, though, is in seeing Neals perform live, with an energy matched only by her keyboard mastery and four-octave vocal range. Prepare to be blown away. More at elizaneals.com.
Black
NOVEMBER 9
WITH NICOLAS BEARDE
MOSS CENTER
MIAMI
Nat Adderley, Jr.
As Luther Vandross’ long-time musical director, pianist Nat Adderley’s compositions include the Grammy-nominated “Give Me the Reason,” along with numerous arrangements. Adderley also produced many numbers for Vandross, including the Grammy-winning duet with Beyonce “The Closer I Get To You,” and Vandross’ final project, Live at Radio City Music Hall. Adderley wrote “The Wave” for Kirk Whalum, arranged Natalie Cole’s 1987 recording of “When I Fall In Love” and parts of Aretha Franklin’s 1982 Jump To It album, produced projects for Gloria Lynne, the Temptations, and Nicolas Bearde, and appeared as pianist on Jay Hoggard’s 2016 Harlem Hieroglyphs CD. After a decades-long absence from theater, Adderley served as arranger and musical director for Sarah Sings a Love Story in 2017, and for Sophisticated Ladies in 2019. In recent years, the Nat Adderley Jr. Quartet (or Trio) has performed in Beijing, Singapore, and New York City. One highlight as a sideman was a 2019 New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day gig with Regina Carter at The Jazz Standard NYC. In 2020 and 2021 the Quartet packed houses from Austin, TX to Jacksonville, FL to Washington, D.C. and beyond. Adderley also streamed various widely-viewed concerts from his living room for the Queens Public Library and the New Jersey Jazz Society. He also streamed the Tribute to Phyllis Hyman duo with Alyson Williams from Birdland. A trip to Austria in 2021 found the busy Adderley on stage in a production of Porgy and Bess in Vienna, and performing at the Inntone Jazz Festival in Diersbach. More at natadderleyjr.com
NOVEMBER 13
COTTONMOUTH
KITCHEN BRADENTON
NOVEMBER 14
ENGLEWOOD’S
NOVEMBER 16
CAPE CABARET
CAPE CORAL
NOVEMBER 17
HEIDI’S
COCOA BEACH
The Jimmys
2024 Wisconsin Area Music Industry Award winner for Organist of the Year, keyboardist/vocalist Jimmy Voegeli leads Wisconsin blues group The Jimmys, a good-time powerhouse band influenced by raw Chicago blues and second line New Orleans funk. The band has been ripping up stages with their blend of blues, soul, funk and R&B for more than a decade now, with Voegeli sharing stages with the likes of Tinsley Ellis, Buddy Guy and Keb Mo, among many others. Earlier this year, the band was once again awarded Artist of the Year by the Madison Area Music Association (MAMA). Due to their long-term popularity in the Upper Midwest, the band has built a powerful following of ‘snowbirds’ who catch their shows during their annual Florida tour. Voegeli took up the trumpet at an early age, but ended up flunking band class as a high school junior. That report card became the cover of Voegeli’s debut, 2006’s F Is For Blues. After playing with the Westside Andy and Mel Ford band for 18 years, Voegeli launched The Jimmys. The group has won a truckload of Wisconsin-based music awards starting in 2012 and including in their 2020 induction into the MAMA Hall of Fame, and awards for Best Blues Album, Blues Song and Unique Song. They also received 2020 Best of Madison Awards for Best Local Blues Band and Best Local R&B Band. Voegeli also earned a 2021 Indepen dent Blues Award – Best Contemporary blues song for “Write A Hit” with Marcia Ball and Tony Braunagel, all from the band’s latest collection, 2019’s Gotta Have It. More at thejimmys.net
Tyreek McDole
NOVEMBER 1
ARSHT CENTER
MIAMI McDole is only the second male to ever win in the competition’s 12-year history. More at tyreek mcdole.com
Haitian-American vocalist Tyreek McDole’s star is rising in the bustling New York Scene. McDole made his vocal debut at the acclaimed Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2018 Essentially Ellington National Competition, winning the prestigious Outstanding Vocalist Award. McDole’s performances have seen him sharing the stage with an impressive roster including NEA Jazz Master Gary Bartz, Miki Yamanaka, Mike King, and many others. As a child McDole was exposed to the gospel and R&B stylings of Marvin Gaye and Luther Vandross. In his early teens, McDole found swinging baritones like Billy Eckstine, Milt Grayson and the legendary Joe Williams. Then, as a student at the Osceola County School for the Arts in Kissimmee, FL, McDole was playing classical percussion for a performance of the musical Into the Woods. “During rehearsal, one of the actors got sick… so I sang the part for the wolf,” he recalls. “Heads started turning in the room. I guess I found out I had a voice then. Little did I know that the Jazz Director was listening. So, he asked me to join the jazz band and to sing at the competition.” Then he won. McDole went on to earn a degree in Jazz Performance from The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and he was recently declared the winner of the Sarah International Jazz Vocal Competition. Noted as one of the most prestigious events in jazz,
Jimmy Carpenter
NOVEMBER 13
HEIDI’S
COCOA BEACH
NOVEMBER 14
ART & MUSIC CENTER
SAFETY HARBOR
NOVEMBER 15
PHILLIPS CENTER
ORLANDO
NOVEMBER 16
BUCKINGHAM
BLUES BAR FT MYERS
NOVEMBER 17
BOCA BLUES FESTIVAL
BOCA RATON (2017),
After winning the 2021 and 2022 Blues Music Award for Best Instrumentalist/Horn, saxophonist, singer-songwriter, and arranger Jimmy Carpenter is now a Grammy-winning composer, for a piece he contributed to the New Orleans Nightcrawlers’ album Atmosphere. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he is the Musical Director of one of the hottest blues festivals in the world, The Big Blues Bender, and leader of the Bender Brass, The Bender’s house band. If that wasn’t enough, he is the current president of the Las Vegas Blues Society. Since beginning his musical journey over 40 years ago, Carpenter has toured internationally with the likes of Tinsley Ellis, Jimmy Thackery, Eric Lindell, and Walter Wolfman Washington. Starting out in the 1980s, Carpenter toured the east coast with renegade blues band The Alka-Phonics, and in the 1990s with blues-rock band The Believers, with whom he learned about the music business. In 2012 Jimmy joined Mike Zito, his long-time friend and musical cohort, as a touring and recording member of Mike Zito and the Wheel. In addition to touring nationally and internationally, Carpenter has written, arranged, and recorded horns for a long list of artists while also releasing solo Toiling in Obscurity Walk Away (2014), Jimmy Carpenter Plays the Soul Doctor (2019) The Louisiana Record (2022). Carpenter’s latest is this Just Got Started, which debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard Top U.S. Blues Albums chart in July. More at jimmycarpenter.net
NOVEMBER 13
BROWARD
NOVEMBER 14
LYRIC THEATER STUART
Tuba Skinny
For more than a decade Tuba Skinny has grown steadily in popularity, releasing about an album a year and touring the world. They’ve attracted a wide variety of fans – young and old, neophytes and niche-enthusiasts – with the strength of their musicianship and the scope of their jazz and American roots music catalog. The band is composed of Shaye Cohn (cornet), Barnabus Jones (trombone), Todd Burdick (tuba), Craig Flory (clarinet), Gregory Sherman (guitar and Vocals), Max Bien-Kahn (banjo), Robin Rapuzzi (washboard), and Erika Lewis (vocals and bass drum). While they’ve become known as world-class interpreters of traditional jazz, over the years they’ve branched out into jug band music, spirituals, country blues, string band music, ragtime, and New Orleans R&B. Their approach is a true reflection of Americana, encompassing the full genealogy of popular American music from an early 20th century perspective. As Offbeat magazine (which has given them four Best Traditional Jazz Albums in a row) states, “If jazz is the bread, then the blues is the butter for Tuba Skinny.” In 2023 the band was recognized by The Arhoolie Foundation, which honors musicians, organizations, and individuals who carry on and uplift tradition-based music. Their latest release is 2024’s Live At d.b.a., bringing their discography to a baker’s dozen starting with their self-titled 2009 debut. They are also very popular on YouTube, with more than 500 videos, many with 100,000-plus views, in a variety of languages. Their Broward County stop is for the Gold Coast Jazz Society’s season opener. More at tubaskinny.com
Will Downing
With a career that spans over 37 years and 27 albums, vocalist Will Downing’s repertoire consists of signature interpretations of R&B classics like “I Go Crazy” and “I Try,” with original hits “A Million Ways” and the show-stopping duet with Rachelle Ferrell, “Nothing Has Ever Felt Like This.” His distinctive baritone voice has resonated in hearts world-wide and carved a unique niche in the music marketplace. His latest CD is 2023’s Soul Rising, on which Downing and co-writer/producer Hubert Eaves IV masterfully weave another luscious dose of loving pillow-talk lyrics with the infectious back-beats th calling card of classic R&B. Born and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY, Downing was singing demos at age 16. His 1988 self-titled solo debut featured a cover of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” that reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs record chart. 1989’s One was followed two years later by A Dream Fulfilled success. A few albums later, All the Man You Need received a 2000 Grammy nomination for Best Traditional R&B Album. In 2002, Downing received the International Association of African-American Music Diamond Award. In 2006, Downing was diagnosed with polymyositis, a rare disease occurring most often in Black males, in which inflammation causes debilitating muscle weakness. After recovering from a three-month hospital stay, he continues to release an album every two to three years. He also hosts his weekly radio show The Wind Down which airs on more than 20 stations around the world. More at willdowning.com
that have long been the
Come Together as – his first commercial
NOVEMBER 3
HCC YBOR
TAMPA
NOVEMBER 7
SCF NEEL CENTER
BRADENTON
NOVEMBER 14
THE GRILL AT 1951
PORT CHARLOTTE
NOVEMBER 22
SUNCOAST JAZZ
FESTIVAL
CLEARWATER
Synia Carroll
With her smooth, soulful vocals and uniquely refreshing style, Synia Carroll is a storyteller that captivates audiences with every inspiring performance. She energetically engages with the crowd, seamlessly interjecting anecdotes and adding her personal flair to match the mood and story of each song, spiced with nuances of Nina Simone, Natalie Cole, Sara Vaughan, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Diane Reeves. Her 2014 arrival in Sarasota, FL brought Carroll the opportunity to take the leap to pursue her life-long passion for singing and performing. In 2016 she released her well-received debut Here’s To You, featuring renowned Miami pianist Billy Marcus. Carroll has appeared at area music festivals, and headlined concert venues throughout Central Florida. She is regularly called upon to perform by area jazz organizations such as the Sarasota Jazz Club and The Al Downing Jazz Club, and has been a featured vocalist with The Helios Jazz Orchestra, The Sarasota Jazz Project and The Florida Jazz Project. Carroll is currently working on her next recording project, which will feature original and reimagined compositions in collaboration with some of the finest musicians on Florida’s Sun Coast. She has described jazz as an “approach to life, a force that opens my heart and expands my sense of self and connectivity. Within jazz’s inherent
complex chord structure I find a freedom to creatively respond and create in the moment. How exciting is that?” synia carroll.com.
NOVEMBER 8
TOP HOG
GAINESVILLE
NOVEMBER 16
DELAND ORIGINAL MUSIC FESTIVAL
DELAND
NOVEMBER 20
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS RV
NOVEMBER 23
MELROSE CENTER
MELROSE
Bill Ricci
Singer-songwriter and guitarist Bill Ricci is having a very busy year. In 2024 he received four nominations each from the International Singer Songwriters Association and the Americana Musicians Association. His busy schedule features regular performances in The Villages, Melrose, Gainesville, St. Augustine, and Jacksonville Beach, along with visits to spots like Sea Island GA, and Myrtle Beach, SC. Ricci has also performed at the Tallahassee Bike Festival and The Deland Original Music Festival, among others. A member of the American Music Association and the Blues Foundation, Ricci describes himself as the Americana Bluesman, releasing On The Shoulders of Giants in 2022, Rib Shack Blues in 2023 (ISSA Awards finalist for Album of the Year), and now Lonesome Road Blues, released late last month. “The Search for the 4th Chord Tour” began in January 2023, and included the Captiva Island Songwriting Festival, The Deland Original Music Festival, the Ormond Beach Live Music Festival, and the Deland-APalooza. The tour continues at lesser-known local venues throughout 2024. Ricci has been an opening act for many headliners including Leon Russell, Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, and The Georgia Satellites. Previously, Ricci worked with VH1’s Save The Music Foundation, collect ing musical instruments and donations to support school music programs which have suffered from budget cuts. He also performs as a duo or trio setting with upright bass and drums. More at billricci.com
