This week's concert picks will feature an eclectic lineup of live music spanning various genres, accolades, and countries.
A Grammy-winning vocal group whose sound blends jazz, gospel and R&B will help launch a new Jazz Club of Sarasota series, while a Cuban vocalist and co-founder of a Grammy-nominated Latin jazz ensemble will perform at The Ringling's kickoff party for their new season. Oscura in Bradenton will host a two-day festival of punk bands from Greece, Austria and Costa Rica, as well as across the U.S.
Other notable shows will include a singer-songwriter who counts Jackson Browne and The Who among her fans (and appeared on a Grammy-nominated album by the former), and a Blues Music Award-winning harmonica player who played alongside
Tom Morello and Zac Brown at a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Here are this week's highlights. Event details are subject to change.
Leslie Mendelson
Fogartyville will welcome back singer-songwriter Leslie Mendelson on Friday. Mendelson's fans include Jackson Browne, who featured her on the song "A Human Touch" that appeared on his 2021 Grammy-nominated album "Downhill from Everywhere" and said of her music "I hear traces of Burt Bacharach and Carole King," and The Who, who had her open for them at two Madison Square Garden shows in 2019.
Mendelson's 2024 album "After the Party" was recorded at Browne's studio Groove Masters and features songs such as "Rock and Roll on the Radio," which wonders why they don't play the former on the latter anymore. 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show Friday; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $30, $25 members, $15 students ages 13 and up; 941-894-6469; fogartyville.org
José 'Pepito' Gómez & La Royal Orquesta
The Ringling will kick off its 2026-27 season with Night of Wonder, featuring Cuban vocalist José “Pepito” Gómez performing with La Royal Orquesta, in the museum's courtyard. Gómez also co-founded Orquesta Akokán, which earned a Best Tropical Latin Album Grammy nomination for their 2018 self-titled debut full-length.
The evening is part of The Ringling's third annual Wonder Symposium, though you can also buy tickets to just Night of Wonder. 6 p.m. Friday; The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 5401 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota; $45, $40 members (Night of Wonder), $100, $90 members (full symposium); 941-359-5700; ringling.org
Take 6
Jazz Club of Sarasota will kick off its new Saturday Night Jazz SRQ series at the also-new-to-the-club The Venue @ LEC, with Grammy-winning vocal group Take 6. The group blends genres, with its Grammy wins spanning categories such as jazz vocal and soul gospel, and has collaborated with artists including Spike Lee, Quincy Jones and Stevie Wonder, winning a Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal Grammy for a cover of Wonder's classic "Love's in Need of Love Today" performed with Wonder himself.
The group, which still features founding members Claude McKnight and Mark Kibble, earned their first No. 1 Billboard contemporary jazz album with 2018's "Iconic." 7 p.m. Saturday; The Venue @ LEC, 3650 17th St., Sarasota; $62.15 and up; 941-260-9951; jazzclubsarasota.org
Greg Billings & the Stay Up Lates
Rock group Greg Billings and the Stay Up Lates will return to the new Sarasota venue Encore Live, which opened earlier this year, with a show Saturday. Billings was a member of the Epic Records-signed band Stranger, previously named Romeo, before pursuing a solo career.
His releases include 2016's "Boom! Boom! All Night!" featuring two other locally based and famous rockers, AC/DC singer and Sarasota resident Brian Johnson and Cheap Trick frontman and Safety Harbor resident Robin Zander, as guest musicians. 7 p.m. Saturday; Encore Live, 8341 Lockwood Ridge Road, Sarasota; 941-373-7976; facebook.com/encoremusicvenue
Jason Ricci & the Bad Kind
Blues harmonica player and singer-songwriter Jason Ricci will return to Bradenton's Cottonmouth at its new location at Flamingo Bay Brewing Co. with his band the Bad Kind. The visit comes a few months after the group released the new album "13 Hours" also featuring Kaitlin Dibble, Ricci's wife.
Ricci has won multiple Blues Music Awards in the Instrumentalist — Harmonica category, most recently in 2024, and played with Tom Morello, Zac Brown and Paul Shaffer at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction of Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Mark Telesca, who used to play with Ricci in the Keith Brown Trio, will open. 5 p.m. Sunday; Cottonmouth Southern Soul Kitchen at Flamingo Bay Brewing Co., 1910 14th St. W., Bradenton; $20; facebook.com/cottonmouthsoul
Tampa Bay Pre-Fest 10
Before Gainesville's punk extravaganza Fest returns for its 24th year Oct. 23-25, concert promoter Savage Beat will hold its tenth and final Tampa Bay Pre-Fest at Bradenton's Oscura. Tuesday will feature Chicago's Time Thieves, Nashville's The Dreaded Laramie and New York's Common Sage, as well as Florida acts Telling, Artemis, Floating Boy and In Transit.
Wednesday will offer an international lineup including Greece's The Overjoyed, Austria's Hyperdog and Costa Rica's La Versión Extendida de las Cosas, as well as Florida's The Antidon'ts, St. Louis' Vallencourt, California's Middle-Aged Queers and Madison Bloodbath, and Richmond's Barbed Wires. 5-11 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday; Oscura, 816 Manatee Ave. E., Bradenton; $20 advance, $25 day of Tuesday, $25 advance, $30 day of Wednesday, $40 both days; oscura.live
Email entertainment reporter Jimmy Geurts at jimmy.geurts@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota area concerts this week include multiple Grammy-winning group
