2008 Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival Entertainment Sonny Abelardo Productions 1770 Cheyenne Trail Maitland, Florida 32751 (407)628-4231 Fax(407)628-4164 SAbelardo@aol.com PERFORMING ARTS As a top-rated national art festival, the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival presents more than painting, fine arts and sculptures. During the three-day event, The Holler Classic Automotive Group Stage comes alive with music and performing arts. Thanks to the music produced by Sonny Abelardo Productions and Smooth Jazz 103.1 WLOQ, the generous contributions of Holler Classic Automotive Group, and the media support of WFTV Channel 9, the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival board is proud to present this year's outstanding entertainment lineup. Schedule Friday, March 14 4:30 pm-5:30 pm Winter Park High School Band 6:00 pm-7:00 pm Robert Harris Group 7:30 pm-9:00 pm Rick Braun Saturday, March 15 10:00 am-10:45 am Rollins String Ensemble 11:00 am-11:45 pm Rollins Brass 12:00 pm- 1:00 pm Duvall Dance Academy 1:30 pm-2:30 pm Lauren Lester 3:00 pm-4:00 pm Jazz Spy 4:30 pm-5:45 pm Les Sabler Sunday, March 16 10:00 am-10:45 am Time Out Flute Ensemble 11:00 am-12:00 pm Pop Shop 12:30 pm-1:30 pm The Cook Trio 2:00 pm-3:00 pm Jazz Professors 3:30 pm-4:45 pm Brian Simpson Performers Robert Harris Group Robert Harris grew up in Detroit, Michigan. It was there his musical aspirations started at the early age of 12 when he played trumpet through junior high and high school. At 16, he began playing guitar, and within a year was playing throughout the Detroit area. Robert made his way to the Seattle area where he began touring with a show called Vocal Point. He spent several years touring the West Coast before heading to South Los Angeles. Within a year of being in L.A., Robert was signed with West Management/Record Company. Richard West, founder of the company, became his manager. West Production produced Harris’ first CD project. Robert spent the next 10 years in L.A. working as a studio musician, as well as arranging and producing projects. He had a natural talent for the engineering side of the recording business, and as the years passed, became the head engineer at the control panels. However, he missed performing and moved to Central Florida, where his band, The Robert Harris Group, is now one of the premier Jazz/R&B groups in Central Florida. Rick Braun Rick Braun has flourished through the usual musician’s life on the road, which has now come full circle – a family man, a successful musician, a respected sideman, trumpet phenomenon, composer/arranger, producer and, most recently, a record label co-owner. He attended the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, but dropped out when offered a record deal in L.A. with his jazz-fusion band, Auracle. Beat Street, his first solo album, topped the charts for 13 weeks, became the No. 1 Smooth Jazz Record of the Year. Rick’s latest CD, Yours Truly, draws from his diverse musical tastes and boasts clever, engaging arrangements to rebirth tunes you know by heart. Despite his numerous awards and accolades, Rick keeps a low profile. “I try not to be proud of anything; it gets me in trouble,” he said. “There’s a pride thing, then entitlement, and an ego. That’s trouble.” Jazz Spy Jazz Spy started two years ago as a solo CD project. The idea was to form a group of musicians who were looking to be different, to be part of a solid band – composing and arranging work with a passion for the music, not only for the money. New talents in Orlando, from different countries and influences, are put together to form a band, with the goal of being one of the best in Central Florida. The Jazz Spy project produced a group with a new sound in the gender of smooth jazz. Its music is the fusion of different cultures – Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Brazil, Costa Rica, United States – using different styles and rhythms such as Latin, Samba, Rock, Funk, Fusion, Pop, etc. to create a new style called Latin Smooth Jazz. The band has a powerful presence on stage along with an amazing live performance element with a tight groove. Les Sabler Montreal is a culturally rich and diverse Canadian city that has always had a fervent ardor for jazz. While Les Sabler attended Concordia University as a music student, he would go to many of the local jazz gigs. “Seeing those shows was my real (music) education” Les said. “Montreal had a big jazz scene, including some terrific local players, who also influenced me,” said the guitarist. “Initially I studied piano, but I felt I could really express myself when I picked up the guitar. I could literally feel the notes. I taught myself to play and didn’t have any formal music training until I got to college.” Les moved to Florida to undertake graduate studies at the highly-regarded University of Miami jazz department. While there, he performed and toured with a variety of jazz, Latin and R&B bands, which enabled him to hone his guitar style and songwriting technique. His first recording project came in 1989 when a friend asked him to score a Canadian Television Network documentary. The following year, he released Hidden Treasure on his own record label. “For the first time, I started to believe that I mattered as an artist,” recalled Les. In the autumn of 2007, Les released his fourth album, Sweet Drive, which just might become a primer for young contemporary jazz musicians to study. Sweet Drive confirms that Les has remained true to his commitment to maintain lofty standards. It’s a varied, soulful body of contemporary jazz, R&B and adult pop music that delivers a masters class level of musicianship, performance and production. Brian Simpson An exciting force on the contemporary jazz scene for years as a keyboardist and musical director for saxophonist Dave Koz, Brian Simpson’s breakthrough as a solo artist with It’s All Good was the genre’s major story of 2006. In the years leading up to joining Koz’s band in 1997, the keyboardist was the go-to contemporary jazz sideman, playing with George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Najee and many others. Simpson moved to Los Angeles after graduating from college, quickly immersing himself in the local jazz scene. “I’ve had some great success as a songwriter and a sideman,” Simpson said, “but ultimately, I came to Los Angeles to become a solo artist, and it’s so exciting to be achieving that goal after working at it for so long.” The Cook Trio Formed in April of 2005, Central Florida's The Cook Trio consists of brothers Ian and Jason Cook, as well as Kyle Jones. This acoustic group performs traditional Gypsy and classic American Jazz standards, as well as original compositions all in the Gypsy Jazz style. Paying homage to American Jazz legends such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk, The Cook Trio's unique approach to music is characterized by both song selection and their use of tempo and dynamic variations to achieve greater emotional effect.