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As summer heats up, so will the jazz scene

By Casey Cora, Times Staff Writer
In print: Wednesday, July 9, 2008

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ADVERTISEMENT [SCOTT KEELER | Times] The Jim Morey Jazz Quartet opened the summer jazz series at the Museum of Fine Arts.

ST. PETERSBURG

With the Palladium Theater shutting its doors during renovations, several area art houses will swing to the rescue, blowing a cool jazz presence through the otherwise blustery summer.

Jazz at the MFA, the weekly concert series at the Museum of Fine Arts, 255 Beach Drive NE, continues this and every Friday through Aug. 29 from 6 to 9 p.m.

The $20 admission covers gourmet hors d'oeuvres, two tickets for Peroni beers and world-class jazz played by local bands in a scenic glass conservatory. Organizers say the new MFA Cafe will also feature special menus.

If fancy isn't your scene, then head south to the return of S'Real Fridays at the Dali Museum, 1000 Third St. S. Friday's feature is Lounge Cat, a St. Petersburg-based six-piece outfit playing "Rat Pack nouveau" that promises to entertain crowds with old-school blues, jazz, swing, Ska and Motown sounds at the museum's weekly art-infused happy hour.

"It's just trying to have a little looser edge to it all," said bandleader Eddie Rosicky, 44, of the Lounge Cat sound, which he said bodes better with the "more of our tribe" art crowd.

"It's fun to be eclectic," Rosicky said. "I think it keeps it somewhat fresh for us and for the crowd, throwing curveballs in there."

The event is set for Fridays through August. Come for the tunes, stay for the weird and enjoy half-price museum admission after 5.

And later this month, discerning jazz aficionados will converge on Studio@620 for In a Mellow Tone: Nate Najar and John Lamb, set for July 31 and again on Aug. 28 at the studio, 620 First Ave. S.

Najar, a jazz guitarist in the classical tradition, will blend styles with John Lamb, a longtime bassist for the Duke Ellington Orchestra, for what Najar bills as an "intimate musical conversation."

"John plays off the cuff. He likes it loose, anything goes and anything happens," Najar said. "And I'm a guy who's always liked to have things worked out.

"What you get between the two of us is a real full sound, but because of the way he plays bass, what you get is a really solid sound."

The popular Side Door Jazz series at the Palladium, shelved this summer while the theater renovates its heating and cooling system, returns for the theater's grand reopening Oct. 11 with a performance by Najar and the Statesmen of Jazz.

Casey Cora can be reached at (813) 226-3386 or at ccora@sptimes.com