Matt Barber & Friends at the Grape Life Wine Store & Lounge -- May 30.
Saturday, May 30, 7 p.m.
The Grape Life Wine Store & Lounge, 3402 Elmore Avenue, Davenport IA
Fresh off his two-month tour of Southern California, Matt Barber returns to Davenport's Grape Life Wine Store & Cellar on May 30, the gifted crooner and Rock Island High School graduate performing a thrilling repertoire of jazz, pop, and '50s-'70s classics alongside Quad Cities musicians and brothers Kellen Meyers on keyboard and Logan Meyers on drums.
With the Peoria native's traditional song list boasting standards by Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, Nat King Cole, Barber's father Mark was a longtime radio personality on Davenport's KUUL-FM, and helped manage Matt when he started performing as a high schooler. 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 prior to the release of his 2023 album The Song Is You. 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 Brothers' “Unchained Melody” to Tony Bennett's “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”
In addition to releasing five albums (including 2023's The Song Is You) and touring alongside fellow musicians in the Matt Barber Trio and the Matt Barber Experience, the artist 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 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 in which Barber and his co-stars crooned such timeless hits as “Moon River,” How Do You Keep the Music Playing,” and the Sinatra classic “My Way."
Matt Barber & Friends play Davenport's Grape Life Wine Emporium & Cellar on May 30, admission to the 7 p.m. performance is $5, and more information is available by visiting TheGrapeLife.com.
