It was over 18 years ago when Palladium Executive Director Dar Webb handed over the keys to the office to me. She had a lot of good advice for me, but the best was about a young guitarist named Nate Najar.
“This guy is good. You need to keep doing this show.”
I’m thankful I followed her advice. The show at that point was called something like “An Ellington Christmas,” but it soon evolved into Nate Najar’s Jazz Holiday and it’s returned every December. This show will be the 19th anniversary!
This year’s version features a great band, with Simon Lasky, on piano, Eddie Metz on drums, and Charlie Silva on bass, Daniela Soledade, on vocals, guitar and flute, plus two of the best soloists in the business – Adrian Cunningham and Bruce Harris.
Known in swing jazz circles as “Professor Cunningham,” Adrian is a dynamic bandleader in his own right. A native of Australian, who divides his time between New York and Spain, Adrian sings and plays sax, clarinet and flute.
In a career spanning two decades and counting, the “down under sax star” (Wall St Journal) has performed alongside luminaries such as Jon Batiste, Chris Potter and Wynton Marsalis, and has appeared as soloist in some of the world’s great stages including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Blue Note (New York and Tokyo), Stravinsky Auditorium (Montreux Jazz Festival) and the Sydney Opera House.
He is the recipient of the Hot House Saxophone Award (NYC), and his band Professor Cunningham and His Old School, is the winner of international band competition World Jam, (Madrid) and Best Band award at Harlem Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania).
Trumpeter Bruce Harris is also a major jazz luminary. He’s played Smalls, Smoke Jazz Club, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Ginny’s Supper Club, Minton’s, Rockwood Music Hall, among others. Harris has made appearances on CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. In addition, he has appeared alongside a long list of legendary performers, including Wynton Marsalis & the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Dave Brubeck, Billy Taylor, The Count Basie Orchestra, Michael Feinstein, Barry Harris, Roy Hargrove, and Tony Bennett. In 2013, for Ebony Magazine, Wynton Marsalis highlighted Bruce as one of the five important young jazz musicians you should know.
And then there’s Nate, who has grown into one of the most sought after jazz guitarists in the country. He tours with Acoustic Alchemy and tours the U.S. and Europe as a duo with Daniela. His shows with his trio, which then featured John Lamb on bass, helped establish our Side Door Cabaret as a successful venue. For tickets and more information, please follow this link.
Ray Roa, of Creative Loafing, also previewed this show. I’m sharing his story here as well.
Nate Najar brings 19th jazz holiday concert to St. Pete this month
It’s his last yuletide throwdown before a major renovation at the venue.
By Ray Roa/Creative Loafing
Is it really the holiday season if Nate Najar isn’t at Palladium Theater leading a gang of the Bay area’s best jazz musicians through a yuletide jam session?
This Natemas includes vocals from Brazilian songwriter-guitarist Daniela Soledade along with a band that features Simon Lasky on piano, drummer Eddie Metz, Charlie Silva on bass, plus brass from trumpeter Bruce Harris and woodwinds by Adrian Cunningham handling saxophone, clarinet and flute.
And while next year is the 20th anniversary of Najar’s end-of-the-year throwdown, this one marks the last jazz holiday in a room that is set to undergo a massive renovation.
“At 19 years—which is very surreal to me—this is likely to be the last Nate Najar’s Jazz Holiday in the original Hough Hall and we are extremely excited to put a bow on the era with the most swinging holiday show we’ve ever played,” Najar told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “The frontline is composed of some of the greatest jazz soloists playing today and we have a brand new all star rhythm section that will swing us into the most grooving holidays ever. “
Leave a Reply