Palm Harbor Library hosts a "Jazz in the Stacks" big band concert featuring the Clam Bayou Jazz Band at 6 tonight.
By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published April 16, 2004
PALM HARBOR - Tonight, why not go to the library?
Boring stuff for Friday night, you say?
Not if you like live big band music.
Tonight, you get . . . a lagniappe.
That means "a little something extra" for you non-Cajuns.
It's an additional "Jazz in the Stacks" concert by the Clam Bayou Jazz Band starting at 6 p.m. at the Palm Harbor Library.
"Our patrons absolutely love them," said Lois Verville, coordinator of adult programs at the library. "I've seen some people get up and dance. They love those sentimental songs."
The band, led by Frank Greenstreet, has played at the Largo, Seminole, Palm Harbor, Dunedin and Pinellas Park libraries for more than four years, offering a program of songs, historical information and humor.
"We're doing shows," Greenstreet said. "We don't just go there and play tunes. "It's a shame I'm so old," he said, laughing. "I'm having so much fun."
And this time, the guys will swing, playing Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Chick Webb and Count Basie.
The pianist will use a 1929 Everett grand piano (made just a few years before the big band era started), and in between songs, Greenstreet will narrate, telling who wrote and who recorded them.
Typically, at least 200 people turn out for the free concerts, sometimes even more.
"During one concert at the height of the tourist season, we had to put seats in the lobby," Verville said.
Offering live entertainment at the library is not unusual.
"We have become something of a cultural center," Verville said. "The idea is pleasing our patrons."
For example, at 3 p.m. Sunday, soprano Julia Coulmas will sing operatic arias in the community room.
"We try to suit their fancy," said Verville.
As for Jazz in the Stacks, the series "just caught on," Greenstreet said.
He plays with a rotating list of performers. This time it will be Dr. Byron Goldberg ("Doc") on piano, Werner Homuth on bass, Art Sarafino on trumpet, Wes Bowen on the trombone, Bob Poloncarz on reeds and Greenstreet on the drums.
They will perform for an hour and a half. Free cookies and coffee will be served.
The concerts are sponsored by the Friends of the Palm Harbor Library and the Music Performance Fund.
"This is an older crowd," Greenstreet said, "and they have nowhere else to hear (big band) music. Nobody is catering to this market but us. We have a bunch of people who follow us around."
