Events Calendar

It’s one thing to attain popularity as a musician, but it is another to receive the kind of acclaim Pat Metheny has garnered from critics and peers. Over the years, Metheny has won countless polls as “Best Jazz Guitarist” and awards, including three gold records for (Still Life) Talking, Letter from Home, and Secret Story. He has also won 20 Grammy Awards spread out over a variety of different categories including Best Rock Instrumental, Best Contemporary Jazz Recording, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, Best Instrumental Composition at one point winning seven consecutive Grammies for seven consecutive albums. In 2015, he was inducted into the Downbeat Hall of Fame, becoming only the fourth guitarist to be included (along with Django Reinhardt, Charlie Chrisitan and Wes Montgomery) and its youngest member. Metheny has spent much of his life on tour, often doing more than 100 shows a year since becoming a bandleader in the 70’s. At the time of this writing, he continues to be one of the brightest stars of the jazz community, dedicating time to both his own projects and those of emerging artists and established veterans alike, helping them to reach their audience as well as realizing their own artistic visions.

With an incredible career already under his belt, Pat Metheny is launching a new playing environment called “Side Eye”, for this upcoming season. “I wanted to create an ongoing setting to feature a rotating cast of new and upcoming musicians who have particularly caught my interest along the way.”

Pat continues, “From my earliest days in Kansas City, onward, I was the beneficiary of so many older musicians giving me a platform to develop my thing through the prism of their experience and the particular demands of what their music implied. I have been feeling like I wanted to have a specific platform to focus on some of the many younger musicians I have enjoyed recently who I have felt some kind of a kinship with.”

“I hear regularly from new players on the scene who have professed an influence from my records and tunes and I often invite them up to my house to play. Very often, it is really natural and organic to the music to play with them, they have literally grown up with it. I find myself inspired by how they deal with the musical challenges that come with the territory of some of those older tunes, and at the same time I find myself intrigued with the possibilities of what might be possible in writing new music just for them. This band setting is what that will be all about.”

The first edition of “Side Eye” will feature keyboardist/ pianist James Francies and drummer Nate Smith.

Tab Benoit is a Cajun man who’s definitely got the blues. Born November 17, 1967, he grew up in Houma, Louisiana. A guitar player since his teenage years, he hung out at the Blues Box, a ramshackle music club and cultural center in nearby Baton Rouge run by guitarist Tabby Thomas. Playing guitar alongside Thomas, Raful Neal, Henry Gray and other high-profile regulars at the club, Benoit learned the blues first-hand from a faculty of living blues legends. The nightly impromptu gigs were enough to inspire Benoit to assemble his own band – a stripped down bass-and-drums unit propelled by his solid guitar skills and leathery, Cajun-spiced vocal attack. He took his show on the road in the early ‘90s and hasn’t stopped since.

Benoit is a three-time GRAMMY-nominated musician and five-time “Contemporary Male” Blues Music Award Winner. Benoit began releasing music in 1993 with the release of Nice and Warm. In 2006, he received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Traditional Blues Album for Brother to the Blues, a collaboration with Louisiana’s LeRoux. LeRoux joined Benoit on Power of the Pontchartrain in 2007 and the live Night Train to Nashville in 2008. In 2007, Benoit won the dual awards of B.B. King Entertainer of the Year and Best Contemporary Male Performer at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis.

Known for his signature “Bayou Blues” sound, Tab Benoit is Louisiana’s #1 roots export. More than just an acclaimed bluesman, he is an indefatigable conservation advocate. Benoit is a driving force behind Voice of the Wetlands, an organization working to save Louisiana’s wetlands. In 2010, he received the Governor’s Award for Conservationist of the Year from the Louisiana Wildlife Federation. Benoit also starred in the iMax motion picture Hurricane on the Bayou, a documentary of Hurricane Katrina’s effects and a call to restore the wetlands. Benoit was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2010 at the LMHOF Louisiana Music Homecoming in Erwinville, Louisiana.

In 2011 Benoit released Medicine, featuring Anders Osborne, Michael Doucet of Beausoleil, and Ivan Neville. Medicine showcases a lean, energetic young band, and vibe-wise it’s hipper and groovier than anything Benoit has ever done before. The recording also spotlights the work of keyboardist Ivan Neville, drummer Brady Blade and bassist Corey Duplechin.

After years of touring, The Weight Band has released a new album of original material, packaged for today’s vibrant Americana base and capturing The Band’s rich musical tradition. Released in February 2018, World Gone Mad is a Roots Rock masterpiece of the Woodstock sound.

The Weight Band originated in 2013 inside the famed Woodstock, New York barn of Levon Helm when Jim Weider and Randy Ciarlante — both former members of The Band — performed “Songs of The Band” with Band founder, Garth Hudson, alongside Jimmy Vivino and Byron Isaacs. Inspired to carry on the legacy of the unforgettable rock group, Weider, Ciarlante and Isaacs began performing fan favorites from The Band catalog to audiences across the country, inviting Brian Mitchell and Marty Grebb to complete their sound. The Weight Band later added Albert Rogers, Michael Bram and Matt Zeiner to cement their current lineup.  With a heavy US tour schedule slated for 2018 and beyond, the concerts blend The Weight Band originals with songs from The Band’s treasured catalog including “Up On Cripple Creek”, “The Weight” and “Dixie”- complimenting The Band’s timeless legacy while pushing forward with new original material off their first record World Gone Mad. Jim Weider (guitar, mandolin & vocals) is a former member of The Band. From 1985 to 2000, Jim replaced Robbie Robertson as their lead guitarist, writing songs and performing on their three studio albums, Jericho, High on the Hog and Jubilation. He toured internationally with original Band members Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko for fifteen years and was featured with them on numerous albums, films, videos and in television appearances.

Michael Bram (drums & vocals) is a soulful singer and multi-instrumentalist. Michael splits his time drumming for The Weight Band and Jason Mraz.  He has been a staple in the New York music scene for almost two decades- other career highlights include working with Willie Nelson and recording tracks with Bob Margolin of The Last Waltz fame. Brian Mitchell (keyboards & vocals) is a current member of Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble Band and is well-known within the circles of the music industry and beyond for his solo career and his high-profile collaborations. Matt Zeiner (keyboard & vocals) began his career with Hartford’s Street Temperature band, then hit the road with Matt “Guitar” Murphy of Blues Brothers fame. Albert Rogers (bass, vocals) has shared the stage with Levon Helm and Garth Hudson in The Jim Weider Band, and has also performed with Sid McGinnis, Hubert Sumlin, Jimmy Vivino, Albert Lee and many others.

“Feral blues guitar… non-stop gigging has sharpened his six-string to a razor’s edge… his eloquence dazzles… he achieves pyrotechnics that rival early Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.” – Rolling Stone

Since his Alligator debut 30 years ago, Southern blues-rock guitar wizard, vocalist and songwriter Tinsley Ellis has become a bona fide worldwide guitar hero. The Chicago Sun-Times says, “It’s hard to overstate the raw power of his music.” Ellis recently made his triumphant return to Alligator Records with a powerful new album, Winning Hand. Armed with his signature molten licks, melodic riffs and rousing, intense solos, Ellis, as his legions of fans will attest, is among the blues world’s best-loved, hardest working and most well-travelled statesmen. He has performed in all 50 United States as well as in Canada, Western and Eastern Europe, Australia and South America, earning legions of fans with his guitar virtuosity, passionate vocals and memorable original songs. Ellis is also revered as a guitarist’s guitarist, with famous friends including Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, Oliver Wood, Jonny Lang and members of Widespread Panic calling on him to sit in and jam. “A musician never got famous staying home,” he says.

Born in Atlanta in 1957, Ellis was raised in southern Florida. He discovered the blues through the back door of British Invasion bands like The Yardbirds, The Animals, Cream and The Rolling Stones as well as Southern rockers like The Allman Brothers. One night he and a friend were listening to records when his friend’s older brother told them if they liked blues, they should really be listening to B.B. King. As luck would have it, King was in town for a week; Tinsley and his friend went, sitting transfixed in the front row. When B.B. broke a string on Lucille, he changed it without missing a beat, and handed the broken string to Ellis. Tinsley’s fate was now sealed; he had to become a blues guitarist. And yes, he still has B.B.’s string. Already an accomplished teenaged musician, Ellis left Florida and returned to Atlanta in 1975. He soon joined a gritty local blues band, the Alley Cats. In 1981, along with veteran blues singer and harpist Chicago Bob Nelson, Tinsley formed The Heartfixers, a group that would become Atlanta’s top-drawing blues band. After cutting a few Heartfixers albums for the Landslide label, Ellis was ready to head out on his own.

Georgia Blue, Tinsley’s first Alligator release, hit the unprepared public by surprise in 1988. Critics and fans quickly agreed that a new and original guitar hero had emerged. Tinsley’s subsequent releases—1989’s Fanning The Flames, 1992’s Trouble Time, 1994’s Storm Warning, 1997’s Fire It Up, 2005’s Live-Highwayman, 2007’s Moment Of Truth and 2009’s Speak No Evil, further grew his fan base and his fame. He has since self-released four successful albums on his own Heartfixer label.

Over the course of his career, Ellis has shared stages with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Otis Rush, Willie Dixon, The Allman Brothers, Leon Russell, and many others. Whether he’s on stage with his own band or jamming with artists like Buddy Guy, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Gov’t Mule or Widespread Panic, he always plays with grit, soul and unbridled passion.

Apex Theatre Studio presents Disney’s “Freaky Friday”, a musical version of the beloved Disney family film classic live on stage at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall.

When an uber-organized mother and her spontaneous teenage daughter magically swap bodies, they have just one day to put things right. Masquerading as each other, they must work together to solve the mystery of how to break the spell. By spending a day in each other’s shoes, Katherine and Ellie come to appreciate one another in a way they never could have imagined. In the end, both learn the true power of love and the strength of the bond between a mother and daughter in this heartfelt and hilarious adaptation.

Based on the beloved 1972 novel by Mary Rodgers and the hit Disney films, “Freaky Friday” features a book by Bridget Carpenter – the co-executive producer and writer on the beloved TV hits, “Friday Night Lights” and “Parenthood” – and music and lyrics by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey – the Pulitzer Prize-winning composers of Next to Normal.

Apex Theatre Studio presents Disney’s “Freaky Friday”, a musical version of the beloved Disney family film classic live on stage at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall.

When an uber-organized mother and her spontaneous teenage daughter magically swap bodies, they have just one day to put things right. Masquerading as each other, they must work together to solve the mystery of how to break the spell. By spending a day in each other’s shoes, Katherine and Ellie come to appreciate one another in a way they never could have imagined. In the end, both learn the true power of love and the strength of the bond between a mother and daughter in this heartfelt and hilarious adaptation.

Based on the beloved 1972 novel by Mary Rodgers and the hit Disney films, “Freaky Friday” features a book by Bridget Carpenter – the co-executive producer and writer on the beloved TV hits, “Friday Night Lights” and “Parenthood” – and music and lyrics by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey – the Pulitzer Prize-winning composers of Next to Normal.

Waltzing into disaster and its aftermath, The Milk Carton Kids’ brand new album, All the Things That I Did and All the Things That I Didn’t Do was released in June 2018 to much praise.

The new project marks the first time that acoustic duo Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale have brought a band into the studio with them. “We wanted to do something new,” Pattengale says. “We had been going around the country yet another time to do the duo show, going to the places we’d been before. There arose some sort of need for change.”

Since their last studio album, Monterey, in 2015, life has changed dramatically for The Milk Carton Kids. Pattengale has moved to, and is now producing records in Nashville. Ryan is now the father of two children and works as a producer on “Live from Here with Chris Thile,” the reboot of “A Prairie Home Companion.” A break from years of non-stop touring, Ryan says, has yielded “space outside of the band that gives us perspective on what the band is.”

But it’s not just the addition of the band here that creates something new. National politics left Ryan feeling disoriented and mournful. Pattengale’s relationship of seven years ended, and he found himself unexpectedly needing surgery for cancer.

Though they didn’t approach the new album conceptually, a theme of shattered realities began to emerge out of the songs that sparked to life. Recent events provided a bruising background for the record, yet the project is somehow bigger than any personal grief. Two-part harmonies ride acoustic guitars high above the haunting landscape created by the presence of the band, as if Americana went searching for a lost America.

Produced by Joe Henry and engineered by Ryan Freeland, All the Things That I Did and All The Things That I Didn’t Do was recorded in October 2017 in the Sun Room at House of Blues Studio in Nashville. Musicians who joined them there included Brittany Haas on violin and mandolin, Paul Kowert and Dennis Crouch on bass, Jay Bellerose on drums, Levon Henry on clarinet and saxophone, Nat Smith on cello, Pat Sansone on piano, mellotron, and Hammond organ, Russ Pahl on pedal steel and other guitars and Lindsay Lou and Logan Ledger as additional singers. Mixed by Pattengale, the album was mastered by Kim Rosen

The Florida Chamber Music Project is proud to celebrate its sixth year of providing a wonderful repertoire of chamber music for the Northeast Florida region. Although performances by small groups of musicians date back several thousand years, chamber music as we know it today reached great heights beginning in the early 1600s and continues to thrive in popularity in the 21st century. Often described as music performed in an intimate setting by an ensemble of friends for an audience of friends; chamber music lives on today through our musicians providing enjoyment for listeners of all ages. One of the factors contributing to the unique nature of these performances is the rich repertoire featuring one musician on a part. Within each composition, the technical skills and musical expression of each player contributes to an intimate musical conversation among friends.

The 2018-2019 season features widely varied music for string quartet and the return of pianist Hyunsoon Whang, who will join FCMP for music by Schumann. Selections include quartets from Joseph Haydn to Grammy award winning Jennifer Higdon. The ensemble will also present an American concert featuring a quartet by Mark O’Connor and Dvorak’s “American Quartet”. The season concludes with Beethoven’s famous String Quartet Opus 59, No, 3. Join the Florida Chamber Music Project for a remarkable sixth season of the finest chamber music at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall.

The complete 2018 – 2019 season is as follows:

September 30, 2018 Tragedy of Passion: La Oración del Torero, Turina; String Quartet in C minor, Opus 51, No. 1, Brahms

November 18, 2018 America: Matanzas Voices pre-concert talk; String Quartet No. 3, “Old Time”, O’Connor; String Quartet No. 12 in F major, “American”, Dvorak

January 13, 2019 Exaltation Larks: String Quartet in D Major, Haydn; An Exaltation of Larks, Higdon; String Quartet in D minor, K.421, Mozart

March 10, 2019 Arabesque, Widmung, Frühlingsnacht, and Piano Quartet in E flat major, Schumann with guest artist Hyunsoon Whang, piano

May 5, 2019 Introspection: Quartet No. 2,”Company”, Glass String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Beethoven