Fiddler brings the blues to Manatee High

Manatee High School student Isaiah Patrick Paul closed his eyes, settled into his folding chair and visualized a man and a woman in an alley, the woman leaving and the man begging her to stay.

The senior was surrounded by his classmates in the Manatee High School Auditorium, but the wailing fiddle of visiting blues musician Ilana Katz Katz had taken him elsewhere.

“She got me really into it,” he said afterward as he described the scenes Katz’s music had evoked in his mind. “I’m into so many genres of music, and blues is the last one I thought I’d get into.”

As a precursor to this weekend’s Fifth Annual Bradenton Blues Festival, Katz visited Manatee High on Friday for “Blues in the School,” where she performed several songs for an auditorium of students who clapped along and cheered. Her performance — played on a $5 fiddle her father bought at a yard sale — inspired Paul, who said he would be attending the Saturday festival to hear Katz play between sets.

Before the show, several students said they were not sure what to expect.

Stephanie Calvillo, 16, summed up the response many of her classmates had given when asked if they enjoyed the blues.

“I listened to the blues once. I liked it. It was alright. Then I changed the station,” said Calvillo.

But Gabrielle McCoy, 17, said she liked listening to the blues because of the message behind many of the songs.

“A lot of teenagers don’t listen to the blues because we got all the hip hop and rock, and it’s not as high energy as that,” McCoy said. “But (the blues) lets people know even if they’re going through a rough time, they can get through it.”

Moments into Katz’s first song, several students were bobbing their heads along with the rhythm, and the crowd applauded enthusiastically between songs.

Manatee Class of 2005 graduate Undine Shorey, 29, joined Katz on stage for a dueling-banjos-esque back and forth. The two women volleyed tunes, riffing and responding.

“Blues is a conversation between musicians,” said Katz, who described herself as an “improvisational musician” who made her chops fiddling in the Boston subway.

“I was happy as a clam in the subway,” she said. “I like bringing music to people.”

Although some students said after the show they were just excited to be out of class, and others were smitten by the musician from Boston — one boy asked Katz if she was single during the Q&A session — the consensus after hearing Katz play was that the blues were alright.

“It really showed the power of music and how it can motivate people to connect and share what they love,” Fabrizio Molina, 14, said.

Details: 11 a.m. Dec. 3, Bradenton Riverwalk, 452 Third Ave. W., Bradenton. $30 general, $10 children ages 4-12, children ages 4 and under free, $75 front-of-stage reserved seats. There will be food and drink available for purchase. bradentonbluesfestival.org.

This story was originally published December 2, 2016 at 1:13 PM with the headline "Fiddler brings the blues to Manatee High."