January 6

The Streamliners Swing Orchestra
with very special guest R. B. Morris

$12 General Admission
$8 with Membership or student ID
Free for ages 17 and under

The 2012 Winter Series of Alive After Five starts off in a grand way, as we present two of Knoxville’s biggest names in music, together for the very first time anywhere - The Streamliners Swing Orchestra and R. B. Morris!
Formed as a smaller band over 13 years ago years ago by bassist Mischa Goldman and trumpeters Mike Spirko and Thomas Heflin, the Streamliners soon blossomed into the fabulous 17-piece unit that they are today. This swingin’ big band plays the classics of Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Peggy Lee, with a little Louis Jordan and Louis Prima mixed in for extra fun! One of Knoxville’s best known singer-songwriters, R. B. Morris is also a poet, playwright, and actor. He has had a long career as a solo performer, in a duo with Hector Qirko, and with his own band, and tonight will be his debut with a big band. This will surely be a show you won’t want to miss!

Food By TBA

January 13

Wallace Coleman

$10 General Admission
$6 with Membership or student ID
Free for ages 17 and under

A native of Morristown, TN, Wallace Coleman was captivated by blues music as a young boy listening to Nashville’s WLAC. Coleman left Tennessee in 1956 to find work in Cleveland, Ohio, and, to his delight, an active Blues community where Jimmy Reed, Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, B.B. King and others that he had heard on the radio came to perform live. A self-taught musician, Coleman was playing harmonica in Guitar Slim’s band when he caught the ear of Robert Lockwood, Jr., stepson of legendary Bluesman Robert Johnson. He played in Lockwood’s band for ten years and performed on the Grammy nominated CD "I Gotta Find Me A Woman." Coleman formed his own band in 1997, and he recently recorded his fifth CD, “Blues in the Wind”, a tribute to Lockwood.

Food By TBA

January 20

Jenna & Her Cool Friends

$9 General Admission
$5 with Membership or student ID
Free for ages 17 and under

This 7-member all-star band won the Smoky Mountain Blues Challenge and will represent our area at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis the week after next. Vivacious vocalist Jenna Jefferson & Her Cool Friends (“Detroit” Dave Meer on guitar, Keith Ford on guitar, Michael Crawley on harmonica, Larry Joe Dunsmore on drums, and Glyn Loyd on bass, and Ben Maney on keyboards) are sure to perform a fabulous show for their Knoxville fans tonight as they get ready to conquer Memphis and the Blues world!

Food By TBA

January 27

Chad Volkers “Solar Maximum”
CD Release Party & Pat Metheny Tribute

$8 General Admission
$4 with Membership or student ID
Free for ages 17 and under

Jazz guitarist, Chad Volkers, is a member of several area bands, including The Streamliners, The Jazz Continuum, and Frog & Toad. He recently recorded his second CD ‘Solar Maximum’, an original composition album exploring various instrumental jazz textures of edgy hard-bop, colorful Latin rhythms, and smooth jazz grooves. The CD features talented local musicians with Taylor Coker on bass, Jason Day on piano, Martin Whitaker on drums, David Knight on percussion, Jason Thompson and David King on saxophones, Tom Lundburg on trombone, and Vance Thompson and Mike Spirko on trumpets. Chad and his ensemble will perform a tribute to famed jazz guitarist Pat Metheny.

Food By TBA

March 9

Tall Paul & Crawdaddy

$10 General Admission
$6 with Membership or student ID
Free for ages 17 and under

Tall Paul (aka Paul Bobal) and Crawdaddy (aka Michael Crawley) each have their own separate music careers that keep them quite busy, Paul based in Nashville, and Michael in Knoxville, but they have played together many times over the last ten years. They are extremely popular among “Parrot Head” and Trop-Rock fans all across the country, touring from Key West to Vermont and out to Las Vegas, coming back year after year to perform for their many fans. They’ve been invited to perform in Manassas, Virginia for eight years in a row, and in Key West for the past six years. Though Michael Crawley has performed at Alive After Five numerous times with several different bands, this will be Tall Paul’s first performance here, and the first performance of the two of them together here in Knoxville in quite a while.

Food By TBA

March 16

The Jaystorm Project

$8 General Admission
$4 with Membership or student ID
Free for ages 17 and under

A native Tennessean and raised in a musical family, Jaystorm’s earliest exposure to music came through relatives who performed in church and from a soulful mix of Blues and R & B listened to by his family and friends. The Jaystorm Project performs a wide range of musical genres, but for tonight’s performance, they will return to his musical roots and focus on the Memphis and Motown sounds of classic R & B and Soul. www.jaystorm.net

Food By TBA