Timeless Tunes with the Gulf Coast Jazz Collective

by Abigail Duffy

Zachary Bartholomew will perform favorites from the Great American Songbook this month as part of the Gulf Coast Jazz Collective. Photo courtesy of Gulf Coast Symphony

Jazz lovers can experience enduring classics as the Gulf Coast Jazz Collective reimagines beloved standards during “The Standard Bearer: An Evening of the Great American Songbook” at the Music & Arts Community Center at Gulf Coast Symphony in Fort Myers September 24.

Brandon Robertson will perform favorites from the Great American Songbook this month as part of the Gulf Coast Jazz Collective. Photo courtesy of Gulf Coast Symphony

Led by drummer and Gulf Coast Jazz Collective Artistic Director Paul Gavin alongside Brandon Robertson and Zachary Bartholomew, the ensemble gives fresh energy to classics associated with George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hart, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Louis Armstrong.

“The Great American Songbook is essential repertoire for every jazz musician,” explains Gavin. “It’s the core to the tradition of our music. We all learn it early in our education and perform it regularly. One of the amazing things about jazz is that [songs are] never the same twice. The set of musicians, the mood of the day, and the energy of a crowd can all change a performance. The Gulf Coast Jazz Collective will breathe new vitality into this evergreen library but in a way that will be familiar to anyone who knows and loves the music.”

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