We’re kicking off our Summer of Soul series this weekend with two “must-see” shows in our intimate Side Door Cabaret.
Saturday night we’ve got a powerful R&B double-bill featuring The Dukes of Juke and the big horn band, Blue Dice. I’ll be writing about that show later this week.
I’m going to tell you today about our Friday night show with the great sax player, Jeremy Carter and a top-notch band he’s put together.
Stevie Wonder
In keeping with our theme, I asked Jeremy to pull tunes from the R&B and soul greats of the ’60s and ’70s and he’s done just that – putting together a night of music by folks like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Michael Jackson among others. For Jeremy, a jazz man who knows his way around the Great American Songbook, taking on the Classic Soul Songbook feels like a homecoming.
“This the music you heard on Sunday with your family, corn fritters cooking up, friends around, it’s a little more in the bones,” he said. “And it feels really different (than the traditional jazz repertoire), it’s coming from a very different place.”
For tickets to Jeremy’s show (and they are going fast!) call the Palladium box office at 727-822-3590 or follow this link for on-line tickets and information. Showtime is 8 p.m. on Friday, July 27. John Capouya, author of Florida Soul: From Ray Charles to KC and the Sunshine Band, will be on hand to sell and autograph his University Press of Florida book. Some of John’s subjects, including Little Jake Mitchell and Benny Latimore, will be appearing later this summer as part of the series.
Jeremy and I chatted during a visit to the Palladium on Monday with a camera crew from WTVT’s Good Day Tampa Bay. They’ll be airing several live segments from the Side Door with Jeremy this Wednesday between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. If you’re still asleep for a lot of it, like me, set the DVR.
Jeremy Carter
Jeremy will also be a guest this week on Mike Cornette’s show, All Night Jazz on WUSF Radio. That will air this Thursday, at 9 p.m. and will also be available at the website.
Jeremy told me he picked some songs based on the players he’s gathered for this show. They include: Nathan Mitchell, piano; Omar Rios, guitar; James Varnado, drums, Daniel Navarro, bass. He chose the funky, guitar-driven Stevie tune – Front Line – because “This song is right up Omar’s alley.”
He had to resist an urge to do an all Stevie program.
“The harmonic structures he’s using are really exceptional to play jazz over,” Jeremy told me. “They aren’t so cookie cutter. He literally takes you on a ride.”
I asked if there was a song he was really excited to play Friday. And I was surprised at his answer.
“I’m anxious to do I’ll Be There by the Jackson 5,” Jeremy said.
He said that song and other pop tunes are in the show because the open themselves up to musical exploration.
“We play the song and then take it around at length and extract as much from that as possible,” he told me.
I’m planning to be in the house to hear all these great songs with Jeremy and the band. Join me, but don’t wait too long, both of this weekend’s show will likely be sold-out by showtime.
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