MUSIC
JAZZ GROWS at garden
Music, nature lovers really dig
society’s sweet swinging sounds
It’s been a marriage made, if not in heaven, at least in one
of the loveliest sites in Port St. Lucie.
For five years, musicians with the Fort Pierce Jazz &
Blues Society have been performing regularly at the Port
St. Lucie Botanical Gardens.
The gardens, a 20-acre preserve in the heart of the city, were
established from scratch five years ago.
“We were one of the first groups in there on a regular
basis,” said jazz society president Don Bestor, a pianist. “We
were there in the beginning when the gardens were just
planted. Now, they’re getting there!”
The gardens, complete with a lake and fountain, sit on the
west side of Westmoreland Boulevard just south of Port St.
Lucie Boulevard, on the banks of the North Fork of the St. Lucie
River. The musicians perform in the atrium-style entrance
building. They play every other Wednesday from 6:30 to 9:30
p.m., year-round. During the peak months of the winter tourist
season, attendance reaches 180 or more. A 30-minute break
gives folks in the audience time to stroll through the gardens.
Bestor jams with four to eight musicians at a time and
draws from a sizable stable of talented players.
“We have a number of piano players, a number of bass
players, a number of drummers,” he said.
Also joining the mix are horn players, including tenor and
soprano saxophone, as well as trumpet and trombone, and
several singers.
A FAMILY TRADITION
Bestor started playing the piano when he was 5 years old,
partly, perhaps, out of family tradition. His father worked >>
44 Port St. Lucie Magazine
FORT PIERCE JAZZ & BLUES SOCIETY PHOTOS
The late Chris Hulka, former vice president of the jazz society, plays bass, Jim Tucci plays drums and Norm Guarni plays keyboard during an outdoor
concert in Port St. Lucie.
BY JANIE GOULD