Jazz and Blues on the Square is Saturday

Holton native and Grammy Award winner Jim Seeley will once again return to Holton this Saturday to headline an evening of jazz, blues and good food and beverage in the fourth-annual Jazz and Blues on the Square event.

The annual event — part of the Holton/Jackson County Chamber of Commerce’s monthly Second Saturday lineup of events — will also showcase the return of Kansas City-based blues singer/songwriter Kelley Hunt and feature tenor saxophonist Ivan Renta along with other area musicians.

As in previous years, participants in the event will also have the opportunity to visit five businesses on Holton’s Town Square for samplings of gourmet food, along with a choice of at least three wines and one craft beer to sample. Those who purchase VIP passes will also have access to a sixth stop for tastings of more wines, beer and gourmet foods.

Chamber director Carolyn McKee said $30 general admission tickets are still available for Saturday’s event, although the number of remaining VIP passes, at $75 each, is shrinking by the day. Tickets may be purchased through the Chamber’s Web site — www.exploreholton.com — or at the Chamber office at 118 E. Fifth St. in Holton or at Holton’s three banks; regular tickets will also be available at the event.

Saturday’s activities start at 4 p.m. with food and beverage samplings around the Square, along with other businesses opening their doors with special offers for shoppers. The concert featuring Seeley, Hunt and Renta will begin at 7 p.m. on the Jackson County Courthouse lawn.

A 1978 graduate of Holton High School, Jim Seeley — son of the late Dr. James and Anita Seeley of Holton — has headlined three previous Jazz on the Square events and is a featured member of Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra. Seeley’s work was featured on the Jazz Orchestra’s 2008 album, “Song for Chico,” which won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album (Vocal or Instrumental) that year.

Seeley has played with the likes of Ray Charles, Harry James, Woody Herman and Artie Shaw since graduating from HHS and from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass. He continues to live in New York, where he and the Chico O'Farrill Afro Latin Big Band, led by Arturo, have a regular Sunday gig at Birdland.

One of Seeley’s bandmates in the Jazz Orchestra is sax player Ivan Renta, a native of Puerto Rico who joined O’Farrill’s group after playing with the likes of Tito Puente, Wynton Marsalis, Ron Carter and Marc Anthony. Renta has also been a featured player on three Grammy-winning recordings, and he is also an active music educator and clinician.

Kansas City-based blues vocalist Kelley Hunt is making her second Second Saturday trip to Holton, the first coming in January as part of that month’s “January Jump” promotion. Hunt has released six albums — the most recent being “The Beautiful Bones” — and has performed more than 1,500 times in North America and at international festivals, as well as on the “Prairie Home Companion” radio program.

Local musicians will also be featured around the Square, including Jay and Brett Branam and Friends, the Holton High School Jazz Ensemble, the Jazzy Flutes and the Washburn Jazz Combo. VIP ticket holders can also enjoy the music of Topeka-based jazz guitarist Joe Schoonover.

Businesses on the Square that will offer beverage tastings and gourmet treats will include Heart to Home, with catering by Gloria Stavropoulos of Boomers’ Steakhouse and Grill; the J. Richard Lake office, with catering by Coltara Segenhagen of Your Place or Mine; More than Lemons Art Studio/El Milagro, with catering by Pablo Carvajal; Penny’s, with catering by Erin Lassey; and expressions, with catering by Kirk Liu of China Restaurant. Stavropoulos will also be the featured caterer at Homestead Affordable Housing’s VIP stop.

Wrist bands will be required in conjunction with concert tickets for access to the tasting rooms as well as the concert and will be strictly enforced, it was reported. Participants are asked to have their tickets available for wine and beer servers.

For more information on this or other upcoming Chamber and Second Saturday promotions, call the Chamber office at 364-3963 or visit the Chamber’s Web site, www.exploreholton.com