RESERVED: $40.
GENERAL ADMISSION: $20 in advance, $25 day of show.
STUDENTS & SPC: $10 (General Admission only)
Children ≤12: FREE with purchase of adult ticket. (General admission only)

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In celebration of Women’s History Month, sax star Valerie Gillespie appears with an all-female band, featuring Gillespie on sax and vocals, Judi Glover on piano, Linda Nash on flute, Meghan Lock on drums, and Megan Baker on bass.
 
As the nation celebrates 2019 Women’s History Month with this year’s theme, “Visionary Women: Champions of Peace & Nonviolence,” co-presenters Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association and the Palladium join to honor women who have led efforts to end war, violence, and injustice and pioneered the use of nonviolence to change society. “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”
 
Valerie Gillespie
Born in Pennsylvania, Valerie Gillespie picked up a saxophone for the first time at the age of eight. Her first professional gig was when she was fourteen. She studied at Carnegie Mellon University and now plays throughout our area. Involved in music in so many ways, not only does she play numerous instruments and sings, but she shares her talents by teaching at the University of South Florida and in addition, plays with the Florida Orchestra. She’s a great leader for this wonderful group of women musicians.
 
Judi Glover
Judi Glover is a graduate of Rowan University (Glassboro, NJ) with a degree in Classical Piano Performance. In addition to classical studies, she took private lessons in jazz piano, improvisation, and arranging, in Philadelphia, PA. She became a faculty member at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and worked extensively in Atlantic City Showrooms, and aboard Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Since 2013, she has resided in the Tampa area and maintains a private teaching studio and freelances with several artists, ensembles, and theaters. Currently the Principal Pianist in the Venice Symphony; other performances include the Naples Jazz Orchestra, the Straz Theater in Tampa and the Asolo Theater in Sarasota.
 
Linda Nash
Linda Nash has been smitten with playing music since the age of four & sees music as the Breath of Life. She’s studied music performance at USF and Berklee College of
Music. Currently, she is back to playing music with her trio, The Linda Nash Trio which is chord-less with flute & vocals, upright bass and percussion. She also performs as a duo with her life partner, upright bassist Glenn Stevenson. In addition to being a flutist, she is a vocalist, arranger & composer. Highlights of her music career have been performing in the Al Downing All Stars, with Bobby Enriquez, jass pianist and “Slide” Hampton, jazz trombonist.
 
Meghan Lock
Meghan Lock (Meg) is a 16-year-old drummer who has spent the last five years dedicated to Jazz drumset. She has had the opportunity to play throughout the country with summer scholarships to the Brubeck Institute Jazz Colony, The Manhattan School of Music, and Berklee Global Jazz Institute to name a few. Meg is homeschooled but attends Tarpon Springs High School for Jazz Ensemble and Combo. She also plays throughout the community and is a member of the Ruth Eckerd Hall Jazz Combo and Big Band.
 
Megan Baker
Megan Baker has been playing bass since the age of 13. Starting with jazz and later learning classical, she went on to attend the Tarpon Springs Leadership Conservatory for the Arts and was a part of their wind ensemble, jazz ensemble, outdoor performance ensemble, and other ensembles. She was also a part of the Pinellas Youth Symphony and the Ruth Eckerd Hall Big Band One and Combo. While in high school, she was a winner of the Pinellas Youth Symphony Senior Concerto Competition and placed second in the Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association Scholarship Competition. She currently studies both classical and jazz double bass at the University of Miami Frost School of Music.