For Vero fans of blues, jazz and R&B music doing some soul searching as to why they haven’t been to a concert in years, search no more: The soul can be found a half-hour’s drive away, with the first of many outstanding performers this season appearing next Friday night.
Sunrise Theatre in Fort Pierce has been the Treasure Coast’s epicenter of such music for years, though in Vero, it is better known for its offerings of ‘70s and ‘80s rock and country. Of those genres, there is plenty again this year, with Dave Mason, Melissa Etheridge and Kenny Rogers in November, and Wynonna Judd and Trace Adkins slated for December. After that, the Beach Boys, Olivia Newton-John and Michael Bolton. And the usual parade of “tribute” bands covering Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Bee Gees, and Abba take up where earbuds and an oldies playlist leave off.
For those who consider rock a lot of racket, Sunrise hosts dual deans of swooning seniors: Engelbert Humperdinck and Paul Anka in March.
But for the audience that appreciates music rooted in rhythm and blues but modern enough to move even an under-40 crowd, Sunrise rents its stage out for the artists of Bluebird, a Fort Pierce-based production company owned by Darryl Bey.
Bey, whose day job is paint contracting, is best known as co-founder of the Fort Pierce Jazz and Blues Society, which dates back to 1996, and still stages Tuesday night Jazz Jams at the Sunrise twice a month or more. A year later, in 1996, Bey started Bluebird Productions to provide music for corporate events and private parties. It soon expanded to public venues including the Sunrise and the Fort Pierce Amphitheater.
Bey is no longer active with the jazz society. But between the three groups, he has lured majorly marquis-worthy names in blues, jazz, Latin and R&B: the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Ramsey Lewis, David Sanborne, Tito Puente Jr. and David “Fathead” Newman, plus many Florida-based groups with musicians of national renown.
In recent years, Bluebird has added a non-profit division for performers who also give master classes and workshops for kids in schools and for musicians all ages at Sunrise’s black box theater.
The first such workshop of the season, on the afternoon of Oct. 31, prior to next Friday’s concert, will be offered by a name synonymous with masters of music: Jason Marsalis, an acclaimed drummer and vibraphonist. He is the younger brother of Branford and Wynton Marsalis, whom Bey has also brought to Fort Pierce, in 2005. Bey himself, who for a year studied trombone at the Cleveland Institute of Music, played with a third Marsalis brother, Delfeayo, back in the 1980s; he hopes to bring him to town one day soon, he says.
Jason Marsalis is offering the drum workshop at 5 p.m. Tickets are $10, with some free need-based tickets available. All ages are welcome, Bey says.
That night, Halloween, the Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet performs at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 for the black box theater performance, a more intimate setting with only 200 seats and a cash bar. Jason’s 2013 album, “In a World of Mallets,” earned him a Rising Star award in Downbeat magazine’s poll of music critics.
Then the next night, Saturday, Nov. 1, a not-to-miss 29-year-old blues guitarist: Selwyn Birchwood, winner of the 2013 International Blues Challenge and named best guitarist in the same competition, plays electric guitar and lap steel on his own compositions. Rolling Stone magazine called Birchwood “a young powerful guitarist and soulful vocalist.” The Washington Post called him an “indelibly modern and original next-generation bluesman.” Originally from Tampa, he now lives in Orlando; this is his third appearance at the Sunrise. The first time he came, opening for Zach Harmon, “He killed ‘em,” says Bey. Birchwood is performing at 8 p.m. at the Black Box with tickets only $25.
Then on Nov. 21, the sound shifts to a five-piece band from Miami, Oriente, with a soulful blend of Afro-Cuban jazz to New Orleans blues.
On Dec. 5, a Gainesville group Bey raves about, Little Jake and the Soul Searchers, plays classic soul tunes including James Brown and Ray Charles. “They’re incredible,” says Bey.
And in February, he is bringing back jazz pianist Robert Navarro and his Latin Jazz Orchestra for a wild night in the Black Box, if last year is any indication. “We called it the Piano Jazz and Salsa Dance Party,” he says. “We took out a third of the seats and created a dance floor and halfway through the first set, people were on their feet ‘til the end of the night.”
The season wraps up in March with 21 Blue, musicians who bill themselves as “blues for the 21st Century,” from Howlin’ Wolf. Flutist and trumpeter Longineu Parsons, who has played or recorded with an extraordinary list of jazz greats including Cab Calloway, Nat Adderly and Nancy Wilson, earned his master’s degree in classical trumpet from University of Florida and currently teaches at Florida A&M University. He’s is joined by guitarist Ted Shumate, another Florida-based musician and graduate of Eckerd College.
As for Bey, he has left the jazz society because his interests veer toward modern jazz, including Latin and fusion, while the jazz society tends to focus on big band era music. “I am trying to market to a slightly younger demographic, people who are my age or younger,” says Bey, who is 63. “I’m trying to bring kids – high school, middle school – to expose them to this to keep the genre alive and grow the art form. I tell them, if you don’t like my show, I will give you your money back.”
Sunrise Theatre is at 117 S. Second St., on Fort Pierce’s historic downtown riverfront. The box office can be reached at 772-461-4775 and event information is online at www.sunrisetheatre.com.
