A little magic always happens when pianist Judy Carmichael and guitarist Nate Najar get together for a night of music. After sold out shows in 2022 and 2023, we’re welcoming them back to the Palladium Side Door this Saturday night at 8:00pm.
Palladium audiences know Nate, but maybe not everyone knows Judy Carmichael. She’s a Grammy nominated pianist and vocalist, but in every inch of her lanky frame Judy is an entertainer. Her personality. Her stories. And that stride piano. There’s nobody else quite like Judy.
Count Basie nicknamed her “Stride,” acknowledging the command with which she plays this technically and physically demanding jazz piano style. Judy has been featured on A Prairie Home Companion, NPR’s Morning Edition, Entertainment Tonight, CBS’ Sunday Morning, CNN’s Business Unusual, Mornings With Margaret Throsby for the Australia Broadcast Corporation, Jo Soares in Brazil and the BBC’s Loose Ends, In Tune, Up All Night, Woman’s Hour and numerous other shows.
She’s got arguably the best jazz podcast out there. Judy created/produces/hosts, Judy Carmichael’s Jazz Inspired that’s now in its 25th year on NPR stations across the country and podcasting on all platforms.
She’s also just published a memoir called Swinger: A Girl’s Jazz Adventures From Hollywood to Harlem. The book is a humorous, candid account of the creative life, the pursuit of one’s dreams, of staying strong, and refusing to suffer. When, in her late forties, a doctor told Judy that he thought she had cervical cancer, she responded, “I’m a jazz musician, doctor. To tell you the truth, this isn’t the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.
The book’s earning rave reviews. Like this one from the award-winning actress Blythe Danner:
“Guts, sass, humor and a phenomenal stride pianist and terrific singer too! All this is Judy Carmichael and so much more. She knows how to beguile on stage and in the pages of this book, which you’ll lap up. This is her story, a brave young woman who rides the waves of her life with grace, spunk and resilience, even in choppy waters.”
Judy says she loves playing with St. Pete favorite Nate Najar and bonded with him during their first phone call together years ago.
“Nate is a beautiful musician. It’s bringing out something very different in both of us. Because he never plays my kind of music.”
During their initial, hour-long phone conversation several years ago, they bonded as friends. “He even warned me – ‘this isn’t what I normally do’ – but we just had a great time. There’s a great quote – ‘love isn’t looking into someone’s eyes, it’s looking in the same direction.’ And I felt that Nate and I looked in the same direction. So even though this wasn’t a natural pairing, right off the bat, because we want the same things out of music, and we hit it off so much personally, I thought ‘We’re going to make great music together. This is really going to be fun.’”
I could go on and on about Judy but the best thing I can tell you is you have to come see her this Saturday night in the intimate Side Door. For tickets and more info you can follow this link.
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