jazz

We’ll hear a selection of jazz classics performed live in studio ahead of the “Halloween Retro Dance Costume Party” on Oct. 30 at the Spatini Teabar on Sanibel Island. Concerts at the venue raise funds to support students studying jazz at FGCU’s Bower School of Music & the Arts through the Sanibel Jazz Society, LLC.

Gulf Coast Jazz Collective celebrates the music of Chick Correa tonight. A wizard of melody and improvisation, Corea was equally at home in a quiet acoustic trio or at the forefront of the jazz fusion revolution. He is one of the most nominated artists in the history of the Grammys, with 71 nominations and 27 wins.

On a fall night in 1958, Nancy Wilson joined friends at a jazz emporium in Columbus, Ohio, to hear an up-and-coming saxophone player by the name of Cannonball Adderley. The willowy singer performed some unrehearsed off-the-cuff tunes with the band. Impressed, three years later Adderley invited her to collaborate with him on an album. It’s the focus of Resident Artist Zach Bartholomew’s jazz concert at Arts Bonita on Oct. 15.

Resident artists Zach Bartholomew and Mark Sanders return with a variety of jazz and cabaret performances. Joining Hotel California, Bee Gees Now and Chicago Transit are new tribute acts Sabbath: Long Live Ozzy, The Brit Pack and Given to Fly. The theatre company brings “Dear Evan Hansen,” “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Oklahoma!” to the stage, along with a staged reading of an original new musical, “Velvet Curtain.” The Bonita Improv Group returns for a third season. And laughs abound with a host of new and returning stand-up comedy acts.

On September 24, the Gulf Coast Jazz Collective will perform jazz standards inspired by the music of Gershwin and Porter, Berlin and Kern, Rodgers and Hart – composers who wrote melodies so perfectly constructed that jazz musicians have been reinventing them for nearly a century.

We listen back to our show from 2025 featuring Emmy-nominated jazz trumpeter, vocalist and composer Benny Benack III performing live in studio with musicians from the FGCU Jazz Combo.

September at the Music & Arts Community Center features A Band Called Honalee and The Conjurors.

The final performance of the inaugural Sanibel Summer Jazz Concert series, July 31, features vocalist Dana Paul, bassist David Pastorius, pianist Stu Shelton, and percussionist Tony Vigilante. The concert series is presented by the Sanibel Jazz Society, LLC, founded by Amy Sbarra to promote the art of jazz and support student musicians.

Stevie Wonder wrote his first Motown hit at 13. Today, his catalog spans six decades. His repertoire covers a wide range of genres, but he has not really been associated with jazz – until now. On July 30, the Gulf Coast Jazz Collective will perform the music of Stevie Wonder - all jazzed up.

The Gulf Coast Jazz Collective has been celebrating famous jazz musicians this season. In June, it’s Thomas “Fats” Waller.