You can get a preview of Thursday night’s From Rio With Love show tonight on WUSF’s All Night Jazz, with Mike Cornette. Nate Najar brought the band into the station to do some songs and talk about the show and the new album they are recording with Brazilian singer Daneila Soledade.   The band will […]

I caught up with Nate Najar and Daniela Soledade at Nate’s studio, just before recording starts on what will be Daniela’s first album.   They are recording the album this week and taking a break to play the Palladium on Thursday, April 18, with an all Brazilian show he’s calling From Rio With Love.  You […]

Although they only did one album together, Sarah Vaughn and Billy Eckstine, are considered one of the best duos in jazz history.     Last April, Synia Carroll sold-out the Side Door with her Sarah tribute show. She returns Friday, this time with California-based vocalist Scotty Wright. Wright will be singing Eckstine tunes and the […]

Rhonda Vincent returns to the Palladium tonight, with her full band, The Rage. She’s again bringing her talent, charisma and a combination of bluegrass and country that is strictly her own.   I was really impressed when she was here last time – it was all the way back in 2012! – and I’m looking […]

Our  Beacon Dance series, that debuts its 2019 incarnation tonight, drew lots of media attention from the weekly Creative Loafing and the daily digital magazine St. Pete Catalyst.   Creative Loafing made the show a pick of the week calling Beacon “a singularly collaborative and evocative interdisciplinary experience.”   And St. Pete Catalyst did a […]

I caught up with Helen Hansen French and Lauren Ree Slone, the two dancers and choreographers behind our Beacon Dance project during rehearsals at the Palladium this week. The show goes up at 8 p.m. tonight.   Here’s a link for tickets.   I asked these two talented and visionary women about this year’s version […]

All of us at the Palladium are so proud to be the performance home of Beacon 2019.   Our artistic directors, Helen Hansen French and Lauren Ree Sloane, promise another an evening of dance, film and performance that will inspire and entertain you. It seems like were just only yesterday talking about the first Beacon […]

Spring is here and it’s time for another magical visit from The Florida Bjorkestra. Mark your calendar for this Sunday, March 31, at 6 p.m. when the 20-piece ensemble presents the music of Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush.   I’m not exaggerating when I tell you the Bjorkestra brings together the finest musicians in our […]

After Nancy Wilson died last December several singers approached me about a tribute show. I knew Katt Hefner had been singing a lot of Wilson’s repertoire and had a show together even before Wilson passed.   At our John Lamb birthday concert in Janaury, we talked and now this Thursday, Katt and her band will […]

Straight outta NYC, Svetlana and the Delancey Five are the hottest swing jazz ensemble in the Big Apple. And Thursday they’ll be lighting up the Side Door, along with some of the bay area’s best lindy hoppers and swing dancers.   We’re bringing in a wooden dance floor so the Side Door will be alive […]

The amazing ensemble known as the Florida Björkestra returns to their home turf at the Palladium on Sunday, March 31, this time with a show called: The Secret World: The Music of Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush.   After hits with shows featuring music by their namesake artist, along with Buffyfest I and II, and […]

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of our Boogie Woogie Blues Piano Stomp means bringing in some veterans – like 90-years-young Bob Seeley – and a new player, Eden Brent.   We’re excited to have Eden on the bill, with four other great boogie woogie and blues artists. To get your tickets just follow this link.   […]

I’m not sure if James Suggs qualifies any longer as the new kid in town. Since arriving from Argentina four years ago, James has become a favorite on the local jazz scene, he’s gotten his masters in music from USF and he married Carolina Ticeira, his sweetheart from Argentina.   And now, he’s released a […]

This year is the 10th Anniversary of the Palladium’s Boogie Woogie Blues Piano Stomp. This year we’re not only celebrating Bob Seeley’s 90th birthday, but we’re bringing back a player from our first year, Ricky Nye, out of Cincinnati.   Ricky puts on a similar concert in Cincy every year and Liz Pennock and lots […]

Thanks to St. Pete Catalyst, the ‘burg’s daily on-line newsletter, for featuring the Palladium Chamber Players just prior to Wednesday’s concert.   There is one more concert in our 2018-19 series, on April 17. For tickets and information you can follow this link.   And here’s a link to the Catalyst article by Bill DeYoung. […]

  Jeff Multer is back leading the Palladium Chamber Players this Wednesday in the fourth of our five-concert season.   The 7:30 p.m. concert features two piano quartets, one by Mozart and one by Gabriel Fauré, along with Ernő Dohnányi’s Serenade for Violin, Viola and Cello, Op. 10. Along with Multer on violin, the ensemble […]

WOW!!!!!!   (Okay, maybe more than one word. Cuban jazz pianist Chuchito Valdes tore up the Side Door Friday night. His playing was at various times percussive and exciting, and tender and gentle. I lost count of the standing ovations during the show. If you missed him, stay tuned. Chuchito will be back next season […]

The St. Petersburg Jazz Festival is returning to the Palladium next week. Five amazing shows on five consecutive nights starting Wednesday, Feb. 27. Four of the shows are in our intimate Side Door Cabaret. Saturday night’s show, featuring singer Alexis Cole and the 17-piece Helios Jazz Orchestra, is upstairs in Hough Hall.   The festival […]

Yes, Puddles is a very sad and very silent clown. But just seconds after Puddles took the Palladium stage last year everybody in the sold-out crowd was smiling (and laughing out loud!)   That’s because (one) Puddles is very funny. And (two) when this silent clown opens his black lip-sticked mouth and sings, it’s a […]

Chris MacDonald’s introduction to the King of Rock and Roll, came from watching old Elvis movies on TV with his Mom, who was a fan.   “Elvis was cool in those movies – he beat up the bad guys and had cute girls in bikinis chasing him – it looked like a good gig,” says […]

We are welcoming back Amy Schwartz Moretti Wednesday night as she joins the Palladium Chamber Players for a special concert that celebrates Shakespeare.   The concert is part of a city-wide celebration of the Bard of Avon, that included St. Petersburg Opera’s production of Kiss Me Kate , an upcoming concert by Tampa Bay Symphony […]

Wow. I was one of the lucky folks in the audience Tuesday night for the St. Pete Opera production of Kiss Me Kate.   It’s a “don’t miss” production, with a stellar cast, great Cole Porter songs, terrific dancing, and the powerhouse 20-piece St. Petersburg Opera Orchestra live on stage. I was still smiling Wednesday […]

Kiss Me Kate, which St. Petersburg Opera is producing at the Palladium over the next two weekends, was actually Cole Porter’s “comeback” musical.   After a string of hit shows throughout the ’30s and early 1940s, Porter wrote a couple of flops that produced no hit songs and the critics were saying Cole’s best days […]

That red-letter day that honors love is coming up fast. To help you celebrate the Palladium’s offering a bouquet of shows that make great gifts. And if your current status is solo, getting out to a show is a great way to meet new people.   Here’s what we’re offering starting on Feb. 12 and […]

The Funniest Man Alive is coming back to the Side Door this Saturday night (1-19) at 8 p.m. and this time, I’ll be in the audience to laugh along with everyone else.   The last time G. David Howard played the Side Door I was on vacation and missed the show. Not this time. And […]