Sunday-Afternoon Concerts in Ybor City
The Tampa Jazz Club continues its 2026–2027 season with saxophonist Pete Carney and his quintet featuring vocalist Scotty Wright, bringing the music of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story into a contemporary jazz setting. Since its Broadway debut in 1957, West Side Story has remained one of the most recognized works of American musical theater. With music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents, the musical produced a collection of songs that have long attracted jazz musicians as vehicles for interpretation and improvisation. For this Tampa Jazz Club presentation, Carney takes that familiar material beyond its original theatrical setting, creating new jazz arrangements for his quintet and Wright, with selections associated with the score including “Tonight,” “Maria” and “Somewhere.”
Pete Carney
Originally from Chicago, saxophonist, arranger and educator Pete Carney is Director of Jazz Studies at the State College of Florida in Bradenton. His career has crossed jazz, blues, soul and gospel, with performance experience including work with Kirk Franklin, Tito Puente, The Winans, Milt Jackson, Curtis Fuller, Arturo Sandoval and Otis Clay, along with international touring and appearances in the United States and Europe. Carney studied at the University of Michigan and the University of Miami, earned a master’s degree in jazz performance from Florida International University and later completed a doctorate in jazz at the University of Illinois. He also developed Interactive Listening, an educational approach built around active questioning and focused listening intended to help students and audiences develop a deeper understanding of music. That combination of performer, arranger and educator provides a strong foundation for reworking familiar West Side Story material through a jazz perspective.
Scotty Wright
Jazz vocalist Scotty Wright brings more than three decades of professional experience to the program. After spending many years associated with the San Francisco-area jazz scene, Wright relocated to Florida and has become a familiar presence to Tampa Bay jazz audiences. His vocal approach draws on the jazz tradition while emphasizing rhythmic freedom, harmonic awareness and individual interpretation of lyrics, with repertoire ranging from the Great American Songbook to compositions associated with Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Wayne Shorter and Billy Strayhorn. Wright is also a songwriter and pianist, and improvisation remains an important part of his musical approach. His work with Carney adds another dimension to the West Side Story material by combining the score’s theatrical origins with the flexibility and spontaneity of jazz performance.
West Side Story Through a Jazz Lens
The connection between West Side Story and jazz is longstanding. Bernstein’s score incorporates jazz-influenced harmony and rhythm alongside elements drawn from classical music, Latin music and Broadway tradition, giving generations of musicians substantial material to explore beyond the original stage production. This Tampa Jazz Club program places that music directly into the hands of jazz musicians, where arrangement and improvisation can provide another perspective on compositions that have remained part of American musical culture for nearly seven decades.
Butch Thomas with Elias Tona: Jaco 75
Jeff Rupert, Nate Najar and Daniela Soledade: Getz–Jobim Centennial Celebration
Whitney James: Love Notes
Hot Tonic
Allison Nash
LaRue Nickelson Plays Pat Metheny
Cabaret-Style Evening Performances in New Tampa
Bryan J Hughes & The Crew: Christmas CD Release Concert
Diego Figueiredo with La Lucha
Paul Gavin Sextet Plays Blakey & Cannonball
Tickets for both concert series are available through the Tampa Jazz Club. Tampa Jazz Club members receive an automatic ticket discount.
VIEW ALL SHOWS AND PURCHASE TICKETSJOIN OR SUPPORT THE TAMPA JAZZ CLUB
The Tampa Jazz Club was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1995 with the objective of generating interest in preserving, understanding and performing jazz. Proceeds from its programs support the Tampa Jazz Club scholarship fund and community activities.
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