St. Petersburg Jazz Festival - #1 James Varnado Funk/Jazz Band

The St. Petersburg Jazz Festival opens with spirited funk, jazz and NOLA grooves from the James Varnado Jazz/Funk Band in the outdoor courtyard of ARTpool. Admission is $10 at the door.  The concerts starts at 7:30 PM.

James Varnado was born in New Orleans and when he was young his family moved to Houma, La. where he began playing drums in the Baptist Church. In pursuing his love of drumming he was honored to sit with some of the finest names in Louisiana including: Dixie Cups (Chapel Of Love), George Porter of the Meters (Sissy Strut), Charmaine Neville of the Neville Brothers Family, Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Wild Magnolia's and the Mardi Gras Indians, Tad Benoit ' Swamp Blues Band and Mem Shannon and the Membership Blues Band.

James' recent 8 year tenure with Dickey Betts gave him the opportunity to share bookings with such music greats as Ted Nugent, Thin Lizzy (Tommy Aldrich), Santana and BB King. Having 22 tours out of the United States to South America and Europe, including Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, Holland, Belgium and of course the UK, he is a well travelled drummer. After much consideration James chose to leave Dickey Betts and the 'Southern Rock' music venue to pursue his love of Jazz, Funk and Fusion.

See www.stpetejazzfest.com for more info.