Where can you catch winners of the Emmys and Latin Grammy Awards, Guggenheim Fellows, people who’ve graced the nation’s most renowned concert halls, and those who’ve been recognized by the U.S. government for their musical gifts?
At Naples Botanical Garden!
February 18 kicks off a special four-part Rhythms & Blooms concert series, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the Garden and Florida Gulf Coast University’s award-winning Jazz Combo, based at the Bower School of Music.
If you have a pre-conceived idea of what jazz sounds like, drop it. You will not hear tribute bands replicating genre-defining icons (no offense to the Dorsey Brothers and their ilk). Instead, the Performance Lawn stage will feature some of today’s best-known, genre-bending artists, committed to shaping jazz to fit their voices and our times.
“My mission is to revive the jazz scene here in Southwest Florida,” says FGCU Music Instructor and Director of Jazz Brandon Robertson, who teaches by day, plays double bass by night and has been nominated for an Emmy for his directing. A few years ago, he told university administration he’d make big things happen if they promoted him from adjunct to full-time staff. They did, and he has. He secured an endowment from philanthropists John and Dorothy Guigon, developed a full-scale jazz curriculum, and combed his considerable contact list to arrange residencies with top-tier artists, giving his students a chance to learn from and perform with the greats.
Rhythms & Blooms is part of that residency experience, and audiences will get to see its full scope with the student ensemble performing before the headliners take the stage.
Robertson and Sten Kerwin, the Garden’s Curator of Arts & Culture, longtime acquaintances, began talking about introducing jazz to the Garden back in 2024. The pair tested audience response to jazz last year with a single concert, featuring Benny Benack III. Buoyed by audience’s enthusiastic response to that show and the notion of a jazz series, they moved forward to make Rhythm & Blooms a reality.
Top Photo: Etienne Charles, photo by Jason Henry
The roster is impressive and diverse:
- Wednesday, February 18: Etienne Charles is a critically acclaimed, Trinidadian-born musician and 2015 Guggenheim Fellow who travels to regions around the world, immersing himself in local communities and writing compositions that reflect their unique cultural heritages.
- Wednesday, March 11: Barbara King is a Grammy nominee with a sound reminiscent of jazz icon Sarah Vaughn. Roberston describes her sound as “Great American songbook” classic.
- Friday, April 24: Kate Kortum is hailed as “one of the most compelling new artists in jazz today.” The Julliard School graduate won the 2025 Sara Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. Young people, take note: She’s also a TikTok star!
- Wednesday, May 6: José Valentino is a four-time Latin Grammy Award Winner and 33-time Global Music Award Winner who was the first-ever U.S. Speaker of Creative Economy & Global Arts Entrepreneurship by the U.S. Department of State.
All shows are from 5:30 – 7:30pm.
“Sometimes there’s the feeling that jazz is like something of the past. It’s not!” Kerwin says. “We really just want to get people excited about and energized about this genre that is, in my opinion, one of the most exciting.”
Robertson’s quest to promote jazz extends beyond growing audiences. He’s something of a cultural ambassador for Southwest Florida, luring touring artists who generally favor cities like Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami.
“All of these famous jazz musicians go to the East Coast, and none of them ever come to our area,” Robertson says. “It’s because they aren’t aware of what we offer, the performing arts centers and different non-profit organizations like Naples Botanical Garden and Artis-Naples and the Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers.”
The musical partnership adds a new layer to the Garden-University relationship, which, to date, has been centered around the sciences, with the Harvey Kapnick Research & Education Center, an offshoot of The Water School, located on the Garden’s grounds.
Photo by John Pinderhughes
“This was an opportunity to do something unique,” Roberston says. The Bower School of Music is approaching its 20th season and looking to expand its community presence through performance opportunities and partnerships like this one.
There are other tie-ins, too. The Caribbean-inspired music of Etienne Charles complements the Garden’s vast involvement in that region. In addition to showcasing island flora in our Kapnick Caribbean Garden, the Garden steers the Caribbean and Central American Botanic Gardens Network, a collaborative of nearly 500 plant specialists working to advance conservation.
“Jazz is a living thing, vibrant and interactive. It’s a conversation between musicians, and, at times, the audience,” Kerwin says. “Rhythm & Blooms invites listeners from all experience levels to gain a new appreciation of this genre in a setting only Naples Botanical Garden can provide.”
Rhythm & Blooms is included with Garden admission, free for Members.
