Address:
Phone:
Membership:
- Annual Dues
- Patron: $125
- Family: $35
- Individual: $25
- Corresponding Member: $20
- Student: $7.50
Suncoast Dixieland Jazz Society Preserves Dixieland Tradition:
The Suncoast Dixieland Jazz Society boasts members from all over the Tampa Bay area and west central Florida, including the counties of Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota. Founded to ensure the preservation of Dixieland jazz music, the society promotes ongoing jazz concerts and jazz-related activities and hosts an annual festival on Clearwater Beach.
Concerts
The Suncoast Dixieland Jazz Society sponsors concerts throughout the year featuring a number of regional, national and international acts such as:
- Bobby Tess and the Dixie Chaps
- Pepper and Fine Thyme
- Charlie Bertini and Monster Dixie
- Kid Dutch and his New Orleans Music
- Bob Crosby’s Bobcats
- CanAmGer Jazz Band
Education
The society plays an active role in the presentation of Dixieland jazz activities in area schools and colleges. Jazz scholarships, offered to high school seniors in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties who will be attending college and plan to continue studies in music, allow the society to have a hand in the development of a new generation of talented jazz artists.
The society also provides an opportunity for budding young jazz musicians to attend a summer jazz camp in Sacramento, Cailf.
Jazz Festival
The society hosts the annual Suncoast Dixieland Jazz Classic in mid-November. The first Dixieland Classic took place in 1990 at the Belleview Biltmore.
In 2007, the three-day event featured performances by 15 top festival bands, performing music from the early 1900s through the 1950s in both Dixieland and swing style. Special sets of Banjorama boasted as many as 25 banjo players performing simultaneously.
Bands such as High Sierra Jazz Band, Titan Hot Seven, Banu Gibson and the New Orleans Hot Jazz, Titanic Jazz Band, Sister Swing, Jean Kittrell and the St. Louis Rivermen and Wolverine Jazz Band have performed at the annual festival.