James Speer

James Speer is playing The Continental Club Gallery on Thursday, July 23, with a second date following on Thursday, July 30. Both shows start at 8:30 PM.

Speer is an Austin-based piano virtuoso who handles the keyboard and the singing himself. His sets pull from jazz, R&B, and modern standards, and he works across the great jazz standards. On the singing side, he draws from R&B legends like Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, and from the swing of more recent names like Michael Bublé and John Legend. It's a wide reach—jazz standards on one end, R&B on the other, and the modern repertoire in between.

He's playing the Gallery, the upstairs room at The Continental Club. It opened in 2008 and holds about 40 people, sitting above the club's main floor. The room books rotating regulars—jazz players, singer-songwriters, and jam bands—and hosts the quarterly 'Tertulia,' a tradition from the Iberian Peninsula that mixes poetry, song, and performance. The venue took home the Austin Chronicle's 2009 Critics Picks for Best Re-Opened Li'l Lounge and the 2015 Critics Picks for Best Intimate Music Moments.

Both nights are 8:30 PM at The Continental Club Gallery, 1313-A S. Congress, Austin, TX 78704. There's a $10 cover, and the room is 21+.