On Friday, March 7, The Mainstay in Rock Hall, Maryland welcomes another season of its “First Friday with Joe Holt” series. Holt is well known on the Eastern Shore for his imaginative, whimsical improvisations on the piano, as well as being a sensitive accompanist and creative collaborator. He commands a repertoire of ballads, classic and swing jazz tunes, as well as up-tempo burners in the style of piano great Dave McKenna. The First Friday series allows Joe to stretch these limits by inviting different musical guests each month, often from quite different musical genres, to explore their common ground.
Joe’s guest for this season’s opener is Rhythm and Blues/ Soul Music/ Jazz vocalist Paula Johns who hails from Philadelphia. Paula is often compared to Ella Fitzgerald, and some of the great contemporaries of that era. But Paula brings her own distinctive panache to each song she sings. Notably, she has presented special tribute programs to the female icons of jazz and popular music, such as Dionne Warwick and Nina Simone. As one reviewer described her, “With a voice like butter, she enjoys a great melody that tugs at your heartstring, as well as a lyric that will make you fall off your seat with laughter.
Paula and Joe’s First Friday program pays tribute to American jazz superstar Nancy Wilson. Wilson’s career spanned over five decades. She recorded more than 70 albums and won three Grammy Awards for her work. She was labeled a singer of blues, jazz, R&B, pop, and soul. The title she preferred, however, was “song stylist”.
When Wilson met jazz legend “Cannonball” Adderley, he suggested she move to New York City. Four weeks after her arrival in New York she was given a contract with Capitol Records.
Between March 1964 and June 1965, four of Wilson’s albums hit the Top 10 on Billboard‘s Top LPs chart. Over the course of her career Wilson recorded with jazz stars Hank Jones, Chick Corea, Joe Henderson, Ramsey Lewis, and Stanley Clarke.
After making numerous television guest appearances, Wilson eventually got her own series on NBC, The Nancy Wilson Show (1967–1968), which won an Emmy.
Wilson was also the radio host on NPR‘s Jazz Profiles
In 1986, she was dubbed the Global Entertainer of the Year by the World Conference of Mayors. She was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1999. Wilson received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990. Wilson was also the recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Fellowships award in 2004, the highest honors that the United States government bestows upon jazz musicians.
Showtime for the Mainstay concert event is 8 pm. Tickets are $20 in advance of the show and can be purchased online at mainstayrockhall.org. Phone reservations are accepted by calling (410) 639-9133 (tickets reserved by phone are $25 when paid at the door). The Mainstay is located at 5753 N Main Street in Rock Hall.
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