The Matt Barber Experience Christmas Show at the Grape Life Wine Store & Lounge -- December 23.
Thursday, December 23, 8 p.m.
The Grape Life Wine Store & Lounge, 3402 Elmore Avenue, Davenport IA
Performing a delightful repertoire of jazz standards, iconic pop hits, and seasonal favorites, a 2005 graduate of Rock Island High School returns to the Quad Cities in the Matt Barber Experience Christmas Show, a December 23 concert at Davenport's Grape Life Wine Store & Lounge that will find Barber and his longtime touring musicians performing classics from the six albums he has recorded since 2007.
With his traditional song list boasting standards by Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, Nat King Cole, and more, the artist's touring act the Matt Barber Trio features the headliner on vocals, Twewanta Lopez on keyboard, and David Saelens on drums. Barber's father Mark was a longtime radio personality on Davenport's KUUL-FM, and helped manage Matt when he started performing during his days at Rock Island High School. In 2005, the younger Barber went on the road, playing in numerous coffee houses, cafés, and wherever he could from Los Angeles to New York City. Over the years since, Barber's music has been featured on Los Angeles jazz radio station KKJZ (KJAZZ) 88.1 FM, and he has had the honor of performing at such notable venues as The Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Andy Williams’ Moon River Restaurant in Branson, and at the Illinois State Fair.
Barber recorded his album debut Romancing Nashville in 2007, following it with Love Notes from Paradise in 2009, It's Been a Merry Christmas in 2009, The Masterpiece Collection in 2011, More Today Than Yesterday in 2015, and Moments in Time in 2018. And while Barber performs beloved standards, his repertoire also runs the gamut of musical genres, with his albums also boasting covers of everything from Barry Manilow's “Copacabana” to Judy Garland's “Over the Rainbow” to the Righteous Brother's “Unchained Melody” to Tony Bennett's “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”
In addition to touring alongside Lopez and Saelens in the Matt Barber Trio, Barber has frequently performed alongside singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Brother Day Kelly – famed for his work with Stevie Wonder, James Brown, and the Ray Charles Orchestra – as “The Jazz Brothers,” with which Barber accompanied by Day on vocals, trumpet, and soprano saxophone. He has also been a co-star in the long-running touring production Love Is a 4-Letter Word, a musical comedy that finds Barber and his co-stars crooning such timeless hits as “Moon River,” How Do You Keep the Music Playing,” and the Sinatra classic “My Way.”
Advance reservations are strongly suggested for the Matt Barber Experience Christmas Show on December 23, admission is a $10 minimum per person for the 8 p.m. concer, and more information is available by calling (563)355-7070 and visiting TheGrapeLife.com and MattBarberExperience.com.
