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A musical mixer
The Verizon Music Festival has a taste of tunes for every palate, from rock 'n' roll to swing to world beat.
By GINA VIVINETTO
© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 25, 2001
[Photo: AP]
Chuck Berry will perform at Ruth Eckerd Hall at 8 tonight.
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The Verizon Music Festival hits the Tampa Bay area this weekend, sponsored by the telecommunications giant we used to call GTE.
The festival's only previous stagings were in New York and Los Angeles. The lineup changes in each area and is organized largely by George Wein.
Yep. That George Wein, the guy who put together the famed 1954 Newport Jazz Festival, the Newport Folk Festival, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the JVC Jazz Festival Worldwide.
So, Wein, 75, knows a thing or two about putting on a good show.
The Pop Calendar has all the ticket information, but here's a leg up on who's performing:
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TONIGHT
Chuck Berry's 75th Birthday Bash with Little Richard, 8 p.m., Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater: Come on, what do you need to know about these two? Chuck Berry is one of rock 'n' roll's most important and influential players. The guy invented the teen anthem. Berry's a totally innovative guitarist. And the duckwalk -- how cool is that? Berry inspired everybody from the Beatles to the Beach Boys to the garage band down the block.
Little Richard is a maniac on piano. He blessed us with Tutti Frutti, Good Golly, Miss Molly, and the radical, sexy The Girl Can't Help It. Little Richard wears lip liner better than any man, except maybe RuPaul, and he was hilarious in Down and Out in Beverly Hills. Local jazz hotshots the Michael Ross Quartet performs outdoors before the show.
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"Jazz the Way You Like It: An Evening of Swing and Dance" with George Wein, the Newport All-Stars with Warren Vache, Ken Peplowski, Howard Alden and the Johnny Varro Swing Seven, 7 p.m., the Coliseum, St. Petersburg: George Wein isn't just an organizer extraordinaire; he's also an important jazz impresario and musician in his own right. Tonight he boogies with his swingy Newport All-Stars, making beautiful, timeless music. Wein does his thing on piano, but maybe he'll croon a bit, too. That cat can sing.
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Wynnona
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Papa Grows Funk, 8 p.m., Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa: Papa Grows Funk consists of a handful of New Orleans luminaries playing ecstatic funk, peppered with saucy guitar and sax. With Sarasota's blues giants the Damon Fowler Group.
FRIDAY
Wynonna, 8 p.m., Ruth Eckerd Hall: Miss Wynonna blew our socks off the last time she was here, more than a year ago. Don't write her off as just a country singer; Wynonna belts out soul, R&B, pop and that twangy stuff, all with conviction. The girl has music in her bones. With Daniel Lee Martin. Tampa talent Halcyon plays pristine folk pop outdoors before the show.
SATURDAY
[Photo: AP]
Arturo Sandoval takes the stage Saturday at Coachman Park in Clearwater.
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Arturo Sandoval, Femi Kuti & Positive Force, Larry Coryell & Count Jam's Band (includes Steve Marcus, Jeff Berlin and Danny Gottlieb), Claudia Acuna, 1 p.m., Coachman Park, Clearwater: A stellar lineup of jazz and world beat music. Arturo Sandoval is an Afro-Cuban pop legend. Sandoval played with Dizzy Gillespie and back then began merging Latin polyrhythms with bebop. The concoction is powerful and delicious.
Femi Kuti is an Afrobeat sensation, son of the late African superstar Fela Kuti. Femi Kuti blows a saxophone with both madness and melody, and he leads the exciting Positive Force.
Larry Coryell, a pioneer in the fusion movement in the 1960s, is a favorite among jazz guitar enthusiasts.
Chilean jazz vocalist Claudia Acuna rounds out the bill, with locals Halcyon and the Damon Fowler Group performing, too.
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Merl Saunders
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Merl Saunders, 8 p.m., Skipper's Smokehouse: Merl Saunders plays a mean Hammond B-3 organ, has toured with the likes of the Grateful Dead and Bonnie Raitt, and scored the music for weird movies like Tales From the Crypt, Twilight Zone and the nasty, animated Fritz the Cat. With the talented King Johnson Band and local luminaries Ronny Elliott and the Nationals.
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