The sleigh bells are faintly ringing, the fake snow is melting but glistening, and amid the holiday happenings, The Ale & The Witch, St. Petersburg's newest craft beer oasis, heated our already too-warm holiday with the sizzling hot jazz of The Nate Najar Trio.
The trio's namesake, Nate Najar, is a multi-talented American jazz guitarist-composer-producer who is reintroducing the finger-style nylon string classical guitar technique to a new generation of music lovers. The band's bassist, John Lamb, is an internationally known jazzman who calls St. Petersburg home. Lamb recently retired after 30 years as a music teacher. He most notably performed, recorded and toured with jazz icon Duke Ellington. Rounding out the trio is drummer Stephen Bucholtz, who has performed in Boston and Florida clubs, festivals and theaters as well as with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and Florida Orchestra. Saxophonist Jeremy Carter jammed with the Trio. Carter is a member of Tampa's Bird Street Players and has recorded with numerous national acts as well as recording and producing his own solo albums.
So whether you've been naughty or nice, for goodness sake, skate on down to the The Ale & Witch for a variety of outstanding free music and some damn good beer!
This article appears in Dec 22-28, 2011.