Series of jazz musicians set to entertain

The arrival of spring will be accompanied by music in Columbia County.

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Columbia County's Community Events department is holding the second annual Sounds of Jazz series during the month of March. The first concert is slated for Friday, March 9, when former John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School soprano Julia Easterlin will perform with pianist Tom Rogers.

The four-part series will be held in the Jabez Sanford Hardin Performing Arts Center at the Columbia County Library, in Evans.

"Last year we had the Garden Jazz Series to use the new amphitheater," Community Events Specialist Brooke Willis said. "We moved it to the Performing Arts Center to use that facility as well."

Easterlin, who recently released the jazz CD Why Can't You Behave, was selected for the second time to perform with the prestigious Gibson/Baldwin Grammy Jazz Ensemble.

The Grammy Jazz Ensemble performs with established musicians throughout the week before the Grammys and also attends the ceremony.

The series will continue with a March 19 performance by Kings of Swing.

Air Apparent, a former regular Saturday night band at The Partridge Inn, will hit the stage with modern jazz March 23. Air Apparent was voted Best Band 2001 and Best Jazz Band 2002 by the readers of Augusta Magazine.

The series will end with a March 30 performance by Nikolai Svishev, a Charleston, S.C., guitarist known for samba, bossa nova, gypsy swing, Brazilian jazz and classical music.

Tickets cost $10 for each concert or $30 for series tickets.

They are available at the door or at the Columbia County Community Events office on Ronald Reagan Drive, in Evans.

For more information, call (706) 312-7191 or visit columbiacountyga.gov.