Continuing the Legacy of WUSF Jazz
Celebrating Florida Jazz
JAZZ ON ARTS AXIS FLORIDA celebrates Florida's rich jazz history and the large community of musicians and venues that make live performances possible by continuing WUSF Jazz's 56-year legacy: showcasing the best of live, local jazz through providing digital resources and advertising opportunities to jazz musicians, organizations, and venues throughout Florida.
Recent Studio Performances
For nearly 20 years, Friends of Fil has performed across Tampa Bay, Florida, and beyond, combining straight-ahead jazz, fusion, and original music.
MR. DINOSAUR is an independent, originals-focused Jazz Fusion project, taking pride in providing a wide variety of styles within the vernacular. From Rock, Funk, R&B, Electronic, and more, you can expect a diverse and dynamic repertoire that explores a multitude of musical palettes.
Born and raised in the American Southwest, Eliana Joy is a jack of all trades (master of…some!). After a euphonium degree and a spell with the Santa Fe Opera, she moved to Brooklyn to explore The Great American Songbook.
Latest Jazz Updates
The Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association celebrated the legacy of jazz educator, musician, and community leader Alvin Joseph Downing during its 2026 Honors Awards program, which also marked what would have been his 110th birthday.
The maestro strikes again! In collaboration with chart-topping gospel icon Ricky Dillard, Ron Carter pays tribute to his late mother, Willie May, through a collection of her favorite hymns and spirituals on his latest release Sweet, Sweet Spirit.
In celebration of the X-Files LEGO set, the unreleased version of I Want to Believe, and the upcoming reboot, we hand crafted several playlists including Mulder's playlist and Scully's playlist.
Spoken Word Poetry Performances
Leandra Diaz, known as SlimTruth, is a spoken word artist, author, coach, and workshop facilitator based in Orlando. She’s nationally ranked and known for using her voice to highlight mental health and uncover personal truths.
Nicole has always had a love for writing and especially poetry, one she has only expanded on through high school and college. Inspired by lyricists, other poets, and the natural world, she commonly writes about internal and external struggles and how language shapes our understanding of ourselves. For more of her work, check local literary magazines and community poetry events in the St. Pete area, where she appears regularly.
Ty Scott King is an award-winning, multi-Billboard charting poet and hip hop artist and a best-selling author. Ty has successfully showcased her poetic talent on the National Poetry Slam level and hosted both an internationally aired TV show and her own radio show. Learn more at tyscottking.com.
Travis Van Bumble and Stephanie Ruscito are The House Cats: a husband and wife, guitar and vocals duo, playing straight ahead-jazz, bebop, and swing. Travis and Stephanie grew up near Clearwater, and have been playing music together for over ten years. Travis’ walking baselines and chord melodies give The House Cats a big, swinging sound, but as soon as they play a ballad you’ll feel the mood shift, and see the two’s chemistry shine. The House Cats pull inspiration from many of the greatest names in American jazz including Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery and Sarah Vaughan. Their repertoire consists of timeless tunes from The Great American song book; the pair hopes to breathe new life into these songs with original and inspired arrangements.
Jeremy Carter is a true study of Jazz music, Nebraska native, and understudy of the Southeast’s best professors and musicians. Jazzy funk riffs, screaming over the sounds of the BSP is truly a spectacle, for the ears and the eyes. If you find yourself stop dancing in a dropped draw fashion, it is probably because of Carter’s riffs, his soul pouring over the speakers like sand. Carter has recorded with numerous national acts and has performed, recorded and produced solo albums and cameo appearances too many too list.
Born and raised in Leawood, Kansas, Angelus Matthew C. Roxas began playing piano at the age of three, and after a couple of years, he studied under Ms. Ying-Yu Emily Yeh. He began competing at a young age, and his passion and determination led him to perform four times at Carnegie Hall in New York, an invitation to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England, and a performance at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, Teatro Studio, in Rome, Italy. He obtained a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance Degree in 2022 at the University of Missouri - Kansas City Conservatory where he studied under Dr. Thomas Rosenkranz. Matthew is currently studying under Dr. Svetozar Ivanov as he pursues a Master of Music in Piano Performance Degree at the University of South Florida with an accompanying assistantship. Matthew teaches as a piano instructor at the USF Community Music Project.
Jazz Album Reviews
The maestro strikes again! In collaboration with chart-topping gospel icon Ricky Dillard, Ron Carter pays tribute to his late mother, Willie May, through a collection of her favorite hymns and spirituals on his latest release Sweet, Sweet Spirit.
Within the opening moments of the Premazzi/Nasser Quartet’s debut release From What I Recall, it becomes clear that this is the work of a distinctly unique and modern voice.
Make no mistake, Carlos Henriquez’s album A Nuyorican Tale is heavily influenced by its Latin music roots. However, there are threads of Straight Ahead Jazz, Afro-Jazz and even some Big-Band winding through the 9 songs that help broaden its appeal to a wider audience.
