The final Sundown Jazz Concert for this series will feature bassist Lamar Gaines and pianist David Thomas on Sunday, April 5 at 4:00 p.m. in Drinko Recital Hall, located in Cleveland State University’s Music and Communication Building at the corner of East 21st Street and Euclid Avenue.

As always, the concert is free and open to the public.

Lamar Gaines began to play the bass professionally in 1963, working with drummer Fats Heard, pianist George Peters, and various vocalists at the Tangiers in Akron. Engagements at exclusive supper clubs followed, and he became a member of the house band at Cleveland’s Theatrical Grill. Gaines appeared daily on live TV with the Mike Douglas Show, the One O’clock Show, the Don Webster Variety Show, and the Three On The Town Show, playing with traveling jazz greats who came through the area. He also performed for many years at the Boarding House with his own band that featured countless Cleveland musicians and visiting artists.

Gaines has played with such notable pianists as Earl “Fatha” Hines, Errol Garner, Teddy Wilson, Dorothy Dunegan, Freddy Cole, Wynton Kelly, Monte Alexander, Willie Pickens, and Clevelander “Skeets” Ross. He has also performed with many jazz legends, including Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Charlie Byrd, Sonny Stitt, James Moody, Jackie McLean, Rashaan Roland Kirk, Milt Jackson, Joe Williams, Sonny Fortune, and Carmen McRae.

Pianist David Thomas, a native of Youngstown, is a graduate of Case Western Reserve and Cleveland State Universities and recently completed doctoral studies at Kent State University. He toured with Dizzy Gillespie, recorded with jazz saxophonist Phil Woods, and has performed with most of Cleveland’s finest jazz musicians. As an educator, he has been an instructor at the Cleveland School of the Arts, Cuyahoga Community College, Case Western Reserve University, and Cleveland State University. He is currently on the faculty at John Adams High School.

# # #