• well known tunes from American composers and songwriters such as
   Geroge and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Johnny Mercer to name a few.
 • selections from musicals.
 • jazz standards from Duke Ellington
 • other jazz standards that would include up beat swing tunes as well as slow ballads.
 • a sprinkling of other jazz forms such as jazz rock, fusion, and Latin American.

A sampling of the venues we perform at:
 • Park concerts
 • Festivals and parades
 • Private parties
 • Wedding receptions
 • Corporate events, shows and exhibitions
 • Restaurants and coffee houses
 • Library concerts and events
 • Jazz education

Download MP3 Clips
St. Thomas
Girl From Ipanema
Perdido
Cantaloupe Island

The Jazz Lizard's Concert Programs

A common thread for all the programs is we like to promote jazz as American music and play a variety of the jazz standard library from about the 1910s' to the 1970s'. During the performance of the music we will talk about some of the interesting aspects from a musicians standpoint or from the composer's, and its place in American history and culture. Many of the programs that we have performed often begin with a New Orleans stroll from back of the room. This stroll makes for a more interesting entrance and visual impact. When we arrive near the stage we break into When The Saints Go Marching In. This immediately gets the audience involved, and excited, and eager to hear what else we have to offer in the program.

A sampling of some of the concert programs we have to offer:

Lizards Out Of The Blue
The common denominator for this CD and program by the Jazz Lizards is that all the tunes have the word blue in their titles. Whether they be the blues, or, the tunes simply offer some wonderful contrasts in the jazz literature. Such contrasts as Blue Moon followed by the Afro-Latin tune in a waltz meter called Afro Blue. Some of the other tunes performed would be the following:
 • Blue Monk
 • Blue Seven
 • Blues By Five
 • St. Louis Blues
 • Blue Bossa
 • Bluesette
 • Blueberry Hill
 • Black and Blue

The Seasons In Jazz
The seasons, as a theme, have been portrayed in many different types of art media, and this program incorporates standard jazz tunes that have seasonal titles such as; Autumn Leaves, Autumn In New York, Summertime, Winter Wonderland, Up Jumped Spring, to name a few. As usual, we talk a little about the nature of each of the tunes, their composers and significance in the jazz standard repertoire.

Southern Latitudes
This is the title of one of our CDs and comprises of jazz standards that you may associate with in the southern latitudes of the globe.
We typically start with an up tempo tune called St. Thomas that provides a very catchy melody in a latin jazz flavor. From there we would play some of the following jazz standard tunes:
 • Green Dolphin Street
 • Girl From Ipanema
 • Summer Samba and others

We like to get the audience invovled as well. When we play Duke Ellington's Caravan our percussionist/drummer discusses each of the percussion instruments used. We then pass out a number of maraccas/shakers to the audience and direct them into action when the band is in an all percussion break. We return back into the tune and end with all members in a brief jam that fades away.

We typically end this program with a jazz rock fusion tune called Cantaloupe Island. This shows some of the other directions jazz moved into during the 1960s' and 70s'.

The Lizards Meet The Beetles
Jazz musicians, composers, and arrangers often find great music in lots of different places. Perhaps some of the greatest tunes that have lasted the test of time is from John Lennon and Paul McCartney from the Beetles. The Jazz Lizards will take some of these great tunes such as, Yesterday, Ticket To Ride, The Fool On The Hill, and others, and give them a personal jazz twist.

The Lizards Go To The Movies
Jazz throughout it's history has entered many different areas including having an impact on Hollywood. All the tunes in this program originated from Hollywood movies. Again we give these great tunes our personal jazz inscription. Audience participation begins by being able to guess the name of the tune and in which movie it was played.

Stars and Stripes and Jazz
This is our patriotic selection of tunes and typically we start off playing the Star Spangled Banner and immediately segue into When The Saints Go Marching In. We emphasize traditional jazz and traditional American songs. Makes for a great summer concert!

Jazz Through The Ages, or some other titles we have used:
 • Jazz, The American Music
 • The History Of American Music, Jazz
 • Straight Jazz
 • Just Jazz
 • Jazz In America
 • A Brief History Of Jazz
This 1 hour and 15 minute program takes the audience through a history of Jazz from its documented beginnings in New Orleans to its spread throughout the Untied States and then the world. Each of the major Jazz eras will be discussed with associated selections of that particular era.

"Jazz N Art"
This program contains both a musical and visual component. The Jazz Lizards will play any of the programs above, or combination of, and also include an interesting musical theme photo exhibit typically placed inside the room where the performance is given. The musical theme still life photos have all been created by Gabe Kasperek (trumpet player in the group) in his Notable Images photo studio. These photos can be seen on the Notable Images web site (NotableImages.net).