The Good Thing

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Kim Jade Fry    The Good Thing Kim Jade Fry’s father was a bebop jazz bass player in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and her mother was a singer, originally from Minnesota. Kim was born in Miami. After four years in warm weather, her mother forced the family to move to a cooler climate – they relocated to […]

Key West is a kaleidoscope of talent

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Izzy Zaidman – Izak Gabriel Zaidman (aka Izzy) was born in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. His father was a professional guitarist, teaching and performing roots blues and ragtime in the New York area. Izzy was twelve years old when his father bought him his first guitar. He attended Charles Evans Hughes […]

face is hurting from smiling so much

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Chris Burchard. – his face is hurting from smiling so much Born in Pittsburgh, PA, Chris Burchard spent time in California but his formative years were spent in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He began playing piano at six years old and received his first guitar in the 4th grade. Early in high school, he played […]

Sweet Pappa Walt and the Jam!

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Walter Yarbrough    “A much better person because of music” Walter Yarbrough is from Albany, New York.  A younger brother received a guitar when he was six but quickly gave it up. Walter confiscated the guitar and never stopped playing. He bought a Beatles album and the sheet music to go with it. He soon heard […]

If you throw a rock in Key West you’ll probably hit a guitar player

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Mike Emerson –  if you throw a rock in Key West you’ll probably hit a guitar player Mike Emerson was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. He began playing guitar, which his brother Glenn bought him, at age 12. He attended high school in Northern Kentucky and would perform with bands in local country bars […]

Loves His Gypsy Jazz

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Alexander Michael – and his gypsy jazz Alexander Michael hails from North Minneapolis. His father, Greg, played guitar and started   teaching Alexander music at eight years old, around camp fires and in the kitchen. When Alexander was 20, he took a month long, 200 miles, confidence building sojourn along the Lake Superior Trail alone. He […]

Remembering Mike Gillis

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Remembering Mike Gillis John Michael Gillis has passed. He now performs on a much bigger stage – you know they got a helluva band. We lost a lot of music in Key West in 2022 and none more impactful than Mike Gillis. I visited Mike a dozen or so times at his Kennedy Avenue apartment […]

The garage never had a car inside.

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Andy Westcott     The garage never had a car inside. Andy was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, near Detroit. He grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, where he attended school through his freshman year, later moving to Germantown, Pennsylvania, where he finished high school. His father was a drummer so naturally Andy started playing drums. Their […]

Never Worked A Day In My Life

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Michael Gillis    –  “Never worked a day in my life.” By Ralph De Palma   John Michael Gillis was born in Hudson, New York.  He spent his childhood in Atlanta, Georgia and Grove Hill, Alabama.  Michael said, “I became obsessed with music by the time I was 10 years old. Even when I really […]