The 45th Annual Sarasota Jazz Festival is scheduled to take place from March 17-22, 2025, in Sarasota, Florida. This six-day event will feature a variety of jazz performances and activities across multiple venues in downtown Sarasota.
Sarasota Events Calendar will be promoting in the next few weeks some of the many great musicians who will be performing, some of whom are world-renowned. In this article, I will focus on the Jazz Trolley/Pub Crawl, one of the highlights of the Jazz Festival. The Jazz Trolley Pub Crawl is a rolling jazz party where attendees travel by trolley to different venues in downtown Sarasota to enjoy live jazz music.
Key details:
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: Tuesday, March 18, 2025
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: Trolleys run from 5:30 to 10:00 pm
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: Downtown Sarasota, with trolleys circulating among 8-10 venues. The designated parking area is at the Van Wezel Parking Lot, located at 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota.
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: The event offers a chance to experience multiple live jazz performances in different venues with a single ticket. For more information about the Jazz Festival, visit: www.https://www.sarasotajazzfestival.com/
Artist Profile: Barbara King
Performing at the Jazz Trolley/Pub Crawl on Tuesday, March 18
Born in Brooklyn, NY, Barbara King knew from an early age that she had great vocal cords. She grew up singing in church and school choirs and participating in high school musicals on the stage. When she attended Vassar College, she joined the choir, touring around the country to sing.
After graduation, she headed back home to New York City to teach special education, then enrolled in Brooklyn Music School to study voice. She met up with a number of musicians in New York, which led to tours and jazz festivals in Greece, Japan, Lithuania, Estonia, Dubai and Italy, and she says, “at that point wanted to pursue a full career in music.”
For the next 25 years she would work as a soloist in the tri-state area, working at top venues such as The Lenox Lounge, The Iridium, the Village Vanguard, Sweet Basil, Birdland, Mintons Playhouse and others. Her debut CD, entitled “Perfect Timing”, received a top rating in Downbeat Maga zine. In addition, for two years, she and her husband, Julian Phillips, were co-owners of ‘The Sound Bite’ – a news themed jazz and blues restaurant located in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC. As musical director, she hired many well-known musicians to perform there.
Barbara and Julian had been visiting Sarasota for years, and fell in love with its scenic beaches, beautiful weather, and cultural vibrancy. They finally decided to sell their Long Island home and relocate six months ago. “It was important to me to be in a city that had music, art and culture so I could pursue my passion for music,” says King, who promptly began networking with local musicians and securing bookings at various venues in Sarasota and surrounding communities.
She will perform as part of the Sarasota Jazz Festival’s Jazz Trolley Crawl on March 18th at the Art Ovation Hotel, from 5:30-9:30pm. Please see more about the Jazz Festival online: www.sarasotajazzfestival.com
(Jazz Festival begins March 17-22)
Buy tickets to Art Ovation Hotel and Barbara King’s performance: www.eventbrite.com/e/downtown-jazz trolley-pub-crawl-tickets-1094726389099? aff=oddtdtcreator
Read more about Barbara King: www.barbarakingjazz.com
To hear Barbara sing: www.facebook.com/wordpower/
videos/1270413814069164/?mibextid= rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
~Andrea Mastrocinque-Martone
