Sunday, March 1 Post-Festival Jazz Jam Session – 6 p.m. The Manhattan Casino 642 22nd St. S, St. Petersburg, FL 33712 Join us in this free jazz jam session at the historic 2015 Manhattan Casino as we celebrate the conclusion St. Petersburg of the Seventh St. Petersburg Jazz Festival.

Venues: ARTpool Gallery Courtyard Five evenings 2030 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, FL 33712 The Manhattan Casino The Palladium Side Door of great jazz in Feb. 25 - March 1 253 Fifth Ave. N, St. Petersburg, FL 33701 Jazz Festival St. Petersburg College Music Center St. Petersburg! 6605 Fifth Ave. N, St. Petersburg, FL 33710 The Manhattan Casino 642 22nd St. S, St. Petersburg, FL 33712

Festival Director David Manson teaches jazz studies, recording arts and low brass students in the Music and MIRA (Music Industry/Recording Arts) program at St. Petersburg College. He is director of the EMIT series, a nonprofit presenter in its 20th season. His current ensembles include the Helios Jazz Orchestra, Helios Swingtet and O Som Do Jazz, a Brazilian jazz group.

The 2015 St. Petersburg Jazz Festival is sponsored by:

Articulate Pinellas ARTpool Paradise News Tampa Bay Magazine WUSF-FM

15-0004-01 A word from the director... Thursday, February 26 Saturday, February 28 Thank you for attending the St. Petersburg Jazz Festival! Killer B3 with the Shawn Brown Group – 7:30 p.m. Kevin Mahogany & Helios Jazz Orchestra – 7:30 p.m. This is our seventh annual jazz festival and we are particularly Palladium Theater Side Door St. Petersburg College Music Center thankful to the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and 253 Fifth Ave. N, St. Petersburg, FL 33701 6605 Fifth Ave. N, St. Petersburg, FL 33710 Chamber Music America for awarding us with one of three Jazz There is nothing like the mighty sound of a B3 or Shawn “The standout jazz vocalist of his generation.” - Newsweek Presenter Consortium grants given in the U.S. this year. We also Brown. He has become known as one of the top Hammond With eleven recordings as a leader, vocalist, businessman appreciate our local sponsors and audiences, as we continue to organ players in the jazz community, and was featured in and educator Kevin Mahogany has been the standard the 2013 documentary Killer B3. Shawn was born and raised build this annual jazz festival. setter for jazz vocalists for three decades. Kevin Mahogany’s in Baltimore, Maryland. As a child, guidance from an equally – David Manson sudden prominence in the mid-’90s was a relief to many talented mother taught him the fundamentals of music. who felt that male jazz singers under the age of 60 were “When I was a little boy, we used to practice. The whole non-existent. His swinging style is reminiscent, but not family used to play music, and I ended up learning the blues derivative of Joe Williams. Mahogany played piano, clarinet, Wednesday, February 25 changes basically by playing Gospel. It all kinda comes from and various saxophones while growing up before deciding each other... compliments each other.” Shawn has shared James Varnado Jazz/Funk Band – 7:30 p.m. to specialize in singing. He attended Baker University in the stage with Al Green, Clarence Clemons, Christopher Claudia Quintet Kansas and sang locally in some R&B groups. In the early ARTpool Gallery Courtyard Cross, Earth Wind & Fire, Keith Sweat, Ronnie Earl, Lucky ‘90s, Mahogany dedicated himself to jazz and, after two 2030 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, FL 33712 Peterson, Little Milton and Percy Sledge. Performers for this Claudia Quintet has evolved and grown, developing a fine albums for Enja, he signed with Warner Bros. for LPs performance include Shawn Brown - B3, Nate Najar - guitar, James Varnado was born in New Orleans and when he dynamic live sound based on trust and spontaneity. They including 1997’s Another Time Another Place and 1998’s Jeremy Carter - saxophone and Anthony Breach - drums. was young his family moved to Houma, Louisiana, where he bring this powerful energy into the studio, where they My Romance. In addition, he has recorded as a guest on began playing drums in the Baptist Church. While pursuing record the old-fashioned way, live, playing as a band. dates by Elvan Jones and arranger Frank Mantooth. In his love of drumming, he was honored to sit with some of fall 2000, Portrait of Kevin Mahogany was released. After Over the past decade, the group has released six CDs the finest names in Louisiana including: Dixie Cups George a short hiatus, Kevin returned to the scene in 2002 with that are critically acclaimed worldwide and whose appeal Porter of the Meters, Charmaine Neville of the Neville Telarc records and released Pride and Joy, a tribute to the extends well beyond, as well as including traditional jazz Brothers Family, Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster music of the great Motown era. In the autumn of 2003, audiences. The group’s first album, “The Claudia Quintet,” Gentlemen, Wild Magnolia’s and the Mardi Gras Indians, Mahogany, along with Kurt Elling, Jon Hendricks and Mark was released on the Blueshift CRI record label. The group Tad Benoit ‘ Swamp Blues Band and Mem Shannon and the Murphy toured extensively as The Four Brothers. A year of has since established a long time relationship with the Membership Blues Band. James’ recent 8-year tenure with worldwide touring in 2004, Mahogany brought his big band Cuneiform label, releasing five albums with them. The Dickey Betts gave him the opportunity to share bookings program to South Africa, Russia, the Caribbean, as well as personnel for this concert includes John Hollenbeck - with such music greats as Ted Nugent, Thin Lizzy, Santana selected US venues including Kennedy Center. The release drums, Drew Gress – bass (work with John Abercrombie, Uri and BB King. Having 22 tours out of the United States to of Kevin Mahogany Big Band, on Mahogany Jazz with Warner Caine, Ravi Coltrane); Matt Moran – vibraphone (Slavic Soul South America and Europe, including Brazil, Spain, Germany, Brothers - WEA distribution in 2005 would find Mahogany Party, Mat Maneri, Nate Wooley); Red Wierenga – accordion Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, Holland, Belgium and of #3 on the charts and the #1 male vocalist on jazz radio. (Respect Quartet, Signal, Brad Lubman); Chris Speed – course the UK, Varnado is a well-travelled drummer. After Billboard declared, “Kevin Mahogany is unquestionably one clarinet and tenor saxophone (Uri Caine, Endangered Blood, much consideration he chose to leave Dickey Betts and the of today’s most exciting and musically adept jazz vocalists.” Alas No Axis) and Fabian Almazan - special guest pianist. ‘Southern Rock’ music venue to pursue his love of Jazz, Funk A forward-looking jazz big band in the Tampa Bay area, the and Fusion. His bandmates are Scott Stevenson - guitar, Jack The performance of John Hollenbeck and the Claudia Helios Jazz Orchestra has performed at the Clearwater Berry - bass, and Justin Green - saxophone. Quintet, presented by EMIT in collaboration with South Jazz Festival, Palladium Theater, Ybor Jazz Festival, WMNF Florida Composers Alliance, for Subtropics and the Timucua Jazz Jam, the Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg Jazz Arts Foundation, is supported by Presenter Consortium for Shawn Brown Group Festival and other events. The 18-piece jazz big band is Jazz, program of Chamber Music America funded through directed by David Manson and is ensemble-in-residence at the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Friday, February 27 St. Petersburg College. In 2014, the group released “Radiant Forces”, a dvd of live performances. The Claudia Quintet + 1 – 7:30 p.m. St. Petersburg College Music Center 6605 Fifth Ave. N, St. Petersburg, FL 33710 “...one of the most characterful small jazz groups of recent times.”– John Fordham, The Guardian From NYC, the Claudia Quintet has walked a unique path in contemporary jazz since their founding in the in 1997 by drummer/composer John Hollenbeck. This ensemble continues to explore the edge without alienating the mainstream, proving that genre-defying music can be for everyone. The Claudia Quintet has amazed audiences from Alabama to the Amazon. Their singular sound has inspired dancing hippie girls at a New Mexico noise festival, the avant-garde cognoscenti in the concert halls of Vienna and Sao Paolo, and a generation of young musicians worldwide. James Varnado In the course of the thousands of miles they have traveled together and hundreds of concerts they’ve played, the Kevin Mahogany Kevin Mahogany joins Helios Jazz Orchestra