This weekend offers a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it opportunity to hear one of the extraordinary players in Richmond’s semi-recent history.
After moving here from New York City to raise a family, baritone sax player Glenn Wilson was a fixture on the local scene through the ’90s. His quartet, the Jazzmaniacs had a standing biweekly or monthly gig at Bogart’s (now Flora) where they played with high-level virtuosity and humor. (One of Wilson’s compositions is a mashup of Coltrane’s “Giant Steps,” “Seven Steps to Heaven,” and “If I Only Had a Brain” from “The Wizard of Oz.” It was titled, naturally, “If I Only Had Seven Giant Brains.”)
Sunday’s late-afternoon gig at the Camel brings back two thirds of the Jazzmaniacs, bassist Jimmy Masters, drummer Tony Martucci, along with Tidewater pianist John Toomey and frequent Jazzmaniacs collaborator (and fellow NYC-scene expatriate) trumpeter John D’Earth.
The show is at an uncommonly early 4 p.m.This is not a typical RVA “arrive late and miss nothing” situation. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door.