For years, Stan and Carol Fiore went to the music. On Tuesday the music came to them.
Considered two of Tallahassee’s biggest jazz fans, they’ve traveled as far as Cuba to experience the music they love so much. On Tuesday evening in Tallahassee, in a world turned upside down by COVID-19, the couple got to experience something new — a pop-up jazz concert by the FSU Jazz Band in the driveway of their Piney-Z home.
“Surprised? Oh yes,” said Carol Fiore, former Chair of the FSU Musical Association. “I’m just thankful I was wearing a mask when everyone started to arrive or my jaw would have hit the floor.”
The pop-up concert was the idea of Carla Reid, former owner of Black Dog on the Square in the Railroad Square Arts District, who became friends with the Fiores while she was the owner.
Stan and Carol were regular visitors there and at B Sharps in Frenchtown where their love of jazz took them wherever the music was good.
“One of the things we look forward to every year is the Jazz Cruise which is operated by a major cruise line,” Carol Fiore said. “Where does it go? I have no idea. With 6 to 8 different locations on the ship playing good jazz, we don’t think about getting off.”
Since the beginning of this year’s COVID-19 crisis, maintaining safe social distancing practices and self-isolation left them without the live music that is such a big part of their lives.
So, the Fiores relied on their music library of over 400 CDs and vinyl albums. In addition, the couple adds to their jazz ensemble with “real” jazz from satellite radio and jazz stations from cable television.
Reid, however, sought to remedy the void left without live music.
“I could tell how much they missed having jazz in their life, so I reached out to Scotty Barnhart, leader of the Count Basie Orchestra and the Jazz Instructor for the FSU Jazz Band, to see if he would be interested in stopping by their place and play for them,” Reid said. “Scottie, being Scotty, outdid himself and brought the entire FSU Jazz Band with him to play for Stan and Carol.”
Judging by the smiles from underneath the protective masks Stan and Carol Fiore wore Tuesday evening while the band played, you could tell that Reid had hit all the right notes in planning this event for them.
Never miss a story: Subscribe to the Tallahassee Democrat.