✔️= Critic’s Pick
✔️ James Suggs Trio A lot of James Suggs’ recent appearances in Music Week have found the Bay area trumpet player filling the role of sideman in other bands, but this one is special since it comes a week before Suggs releases a new album, You’re Gonna Hear From Me. The Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey Orchestra alum takes to a criminally overlooked St. Petersburg live music stronghold, The Ale & The Witch, for this Thursday night set where Suggs’ unpredictable melodic ideas, unique phrasing and ridiculous breath control will be on full display. No cover and a nice selection of Witch drafts make this a no-brainer, especially for Bay area fans of jazz. (The Ale & The Witch, St. Petersburg) INFO
✔️ Grateful Dead Nite w/Uncle John’s Band/Jay Blakesberg In 1978, Jay Blakesberg photographed the Grateful Dead at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. The rest is history, literally. Less than a decade later, the now 57-year-old photographer became the house photographer at famed Haight Street club The I-Beam. It’s where he shot bands like Jane’s Addiction, the Pixies and Soundgarden, and it’s where Blakesberg launched a career that’s seen him work with a laundry list of rock and roll’s biggest names. He joins Tampa Bay’s longest-running Dead tribute act — Uncle John’s Band — for this concert and photography exhibit which chronicle’s Blakesberg’s long strange trip. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) INFO
Justin Martin One of two Dirtybird Records signees playing the area this week (Baby Anne is at Pegasus on Saturday). Martin is one of EDM’s chattier, more gregarious personalities, which should bode well for all the bassheads that’ll be at the rail at Orpheum on Thursday night. (Orpheum, Ybor City) INFO
JJ Grey Good luck getting into any one of the two long-sold-out solo shows (Thursday and Friday) featuring Mofro frontman JJ Grey, whose name adorns “JJ Grey’s Nare Sugar Brown Ale,” one of the best beers that Tampa-based brewery Rock Brothers makes. (The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing, Ybor City) INFO
✔️ Blest Presents: Guest Episode 1 w/Maude/Bushi/Blestian There are many who consider Blestian to be the best thing going in the Bay area these days, but the electro-pop duo is turning attention towards acts it admires for the first of what the band hopes turns out to be a monthly, curated showcase featuring solo or small-group collaborative performances. “Life is constantly changing but one thing that hasn’t changed is Maude and Bushi’s ability to play excellent and life-affirming musical performances,” the group said about November’s guests. This show is free to attend. (The Bends, St. Petersburg) INFO
ALSO PLAYING
Venus Bleu presents The Venus Flytrap (SubCentral at Iberian Rooster, St. Petersburg) INFO
Kimi Tortuga (Ringside Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
Christmas at the Plaza w/Bayside String Quartet (Belleair Bluffs Plaza-The Plaza 100, Belleair Bluffs) INFO
Lil Xan (The Ritz, Ybor City) CANCELED
Closest Relative w/Fly Mordecai/TBA (Red Light Café at The Bunker, Ybor City) INFO
Ben Buffington (Gaspar’s Grotto, Ybor City) INFO
Southern Yankees (Ferg’s Live, Tampa) INFO
Swampland Symphony (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin) INFO
The Florida Orchestra Coffee Concert: Let’s Dance (Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg) INFO
The Angelus Jam Session w/Eddie Montgomery (Hard Rock Café at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa) INFO
Piano Guys (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) INFO
This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 6, 2018.
