August at the Music and Arts Community Center in Fort Myers will be characterized by soul, jazz and one enchanted evening. It all kicks off Aug. 15 with CeCe Teneal’s “Divas of Soul.”
“Ms. Teneal was a headliner for the 2019 Citrus Bowl,” noted Andrew Kurtz of the Gulf Coast Symphony. “She's won awards for her own music that she's written. It's her, two backup singers and a seven-piece band. She will be singing ‘Midnight Train to Georgia,’ ‘River Deep, Mountain High,’ music of Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin.”
On August 20, the Gulf Coast Jazz Collective will focus on the music of Wayne Shorter.
“Wayne Shorter has been a really important influential figure in the jazz world with all kinds of groundbreaking work that he did with Art Blakey, and the collective is bringing in two guest artists to perform with them on that particular show,” said Kurtz.
On Aug. 22, the Gulf Coast Symphony Pops celebrates Richard Rodgers and Broadway’s Golden Age with “Some Enchanted Evening.” The evening will feature vocalists Elizabeth D’Aiuto and Mark Sanders performing songs from “Oklahoma!,” “Carousel,” “South Pacific” and contemporary pieces.
“On Aug. 29, Saturday night, we're bringing back HEAT Latin Jazz, a Latin jazz group that was formed at FGCU 12, 13 years ago,” said Kurtz. “I first started bringing them in even before we had the Music and Arts Community Center, when they were still students. They perform high-energy Latin dance party. We've been bringing them in at least once a year.”
With 300 seats, the MACC combines state-of-the-art acoustics and professional staging that makes every performance feel personal. It’s located on Shire Lane off Daniels Parkway in Fort Myers.
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Divas of Soul
“Divas of Soul” is a celebration of 50 years of chart-topping music from artists like Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, and more, featuring hits from the disco era (“Bad Girl,” “Best of My Love”) to Motown/R&B (“Dancing In the Street,” “Killing Me Softly”) and pop (“What’s Love Got to Do with It,” “How Will I Know”).
Teneal is an award-winning songstress in her own right. In 2022, Mayor Buddy Dyer and Mayor Jerry Demmings proclaimed Sept. 17 as annual Cece Teneal Day in Orlando and Orange County, respectively, to celebrate her 20 years of arts and entertainment contributions.
“An opportunity to bring in a really wonderful performer like CeCe Teneal accords with our commitment to supporting Florida-based artists,” said Kurtz.
Footprints: A Celebration of Wayne Shorter
Few musicians have shaped the sound of jazz across as many decades, or in as many directions, as celebrated jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter. From his groundbreaking work with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis to the electric landscapes of Weather Report, Shorter’s compositions remain some of the most performed and beloved in all of jazz. With a featured guest saxophonist, the Gulf Coast Jazz Collective honors Shorter’s timeless voice and extraordinary legacy.
Founded in 2021, the Gulf Coast Jazz Collective brings the best of live Jazz performance to Southwest Florida. Under the artistic direction of drummer, educator, composer & arranger Paul Gavin, the Jazz Collective invites the best artists from the country to collaborate in concerts that span the entire jazz genre.
Since graduating from the University of South Florida in 2015, Gavin has made his living exclusively as a freelance musician. By playing all kinds of music all around Florida, teaching privately and in schools, and writing for school programs and his own original music, he maintains an active schedule.
He has played regularly with great musicians in the Tampa Bay area including trumpet player James Suggs, singer Gloria West, and bassist Michael Ross. He also plays regularly in the Fort Myers area with guitarist Dan Heck, bassist Brandon Robertson, and the Stardust Memories Big Band. He played regularly also with the late trumpeter Dan Miller.
After almost 4 years of supporting others’ musical projects, Gavin is now focusing on building his own brand. He currently has two bands. The Vanguard plays his original music, and Mosaic plays the music of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers.
Gavin has received honors for his musicianship. In 2013 he was one of the winners of the VSA International Young Soloist Competition, flying out to Washington DC to play with members of the Airmen of Note at the Kennedy Center on the Millennium Stage. In the same year he also won the Downbeat Student award for a collaboration with flutist and composer Jose Valentino. Most recently Gavin won a grant from the Young Artists Awards in Fort Myers, which will fund the creation of his debut album of his original music – to be recorded this year.
As a composer & arranger, Gavin has written and arranged music for his own bands since his college days. He is currently writing and arranging for his own bands The Vanguard and Mosaic. He is also the percussion arranger for the Sickles High School Wall of Sound, the Plant City High Raiders, and Indian Rocks Christian School.
Some Enchanted Evening & the music of Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers’ contributions to the musical theatre of his day were extraordinary, and his influence on the musical theatre of today and tomorrow is legendary. His career spanned more than six decades, his hits ranging from the silver screens of Hollywood to the bright lights of Broadway, London and beyond. He was the recipient of countless awards, including Pulitzers, Tonys, Oscars, Grammys, and Emmys. He wrote more than 900 published songs and 40 Broadway musicals.
Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) and Lorenz Hart (1895-1943) wrote their first shows together when both were still students attending Columbia University. Their breakthrough came with the score for a 1925 charity show, “The Garrick Gaieties,” which introduced the classic valentine to their hometown, “Manhattan.”
Over the next five years, they wrote 15 musical comedies for Broadway and London’s West End before relocating to Hollywood in 1930, where they contributed songs and wrote the scores for several movie musicals, most notably “Love Me Tonight” starring Maurice Chevalier.
In 1935 they returned to New York to write the score for Billy Rose’s circus musical “Jumbo,” launching a golden era that included “On Your Toes,” “Babes in Arms,” “I’d Rather Be Right,” “I Married an Angel,” “The Boys From Syracuse,” “Too Many Girls,” “Higher and Higher,” “Pal Joey” and “By Jupiter.”
In 1943 the partnership disbanded temporarily when Rodgers collaborated with Oscar Hammerstein II on “Oklahoma!,” but it resumed with a revision of their 1927 hit “A Connecticut Yankee,” which opened on November 17, 1943 — less than a week before Lorenz Hart’s death.
For the next two decades Richard Rodgers collaborated exclusively with Oscar Hammerstein II on such musicals as “Carousel,” “Allegro,” “South Pacific,” “The King and I,” “Pipe Dream” and “The Sound of Music.” Collectively, their musicals have garnered dozens of awards including Pulitzer Prizes, Tonys, Oscars, Emmys, Grammys; Drama Desk, Drama Critics’ Circle, Outer Critics’ Circle, Laurence Olivier, and Evening Standard awards.
After Hammerstein’s death in 1960, Rodgers continued to write for the musical stage, including "No Strings," and collaborations with Martin Charnin, Stephen Sondheim and Sheldon Harnick. His 40th, and final, Broadway musical, “I Remember Mama,” opened on Broadway less than eight months before his death on Dec. 30, 1979.
The Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway was renamed in his honor, and Rodgers and Hart were each commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp at the end of the past century.
HEAT Latin Jazz Band
The high-energy six-piece ensemble has been a Fort Myers favorite for nearly a decade. It is known for delivering authentic Latin grooves, soaring horns, and irresistible percussion that keep audiences moving all night long.
Founded on an idea from Keith Doxie, music instructor at Lexington Middle School, the band has grown to provide Southwest Florida with a unique presentation of Afro-Cuban music, played by musicians from diverse training backgrounds. The band’s concept has been not only to play music that is not ubiquitous to the music scene of SWFL, but also to bring up-and-coming musicians into the fold by playing music that is as technically challenging as it is fun to play.
“Half of them have other careers, but they still perform together,” noted Kurtz.
In fact, the band comprises musicians from different walks of life and training. Bandleader and trumpeter Diego Azcuy is a professional pilot and civil engineer. Assistant bandleader, drummer and percussionist Miguel Azcuy is a registered nurse. And co-founder and keyboardist Juan Enrique Diaz is a professional welder.
The rest of the band includes musicians from FGCU, each equally active in the Southwest Florida music scene.
Whether you’re an experienced dancer or just ready to sway to the beat, this is a night where the dance floor calls your name – and dancing is definitely encouraged.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
