James Speer

James Speer is playing the Continental Club Gallery tonight, August 13, and he's actually in the middle of a whole run. He started here on July 30 and keeps coming back every Thursday through August 27, so if you can't make it tonight, you've still got a few more chances to catch him before the series wraps.

Speer is an Austin-based piano virtuoso, and the set pulls from a few different places. He works across jazz, R&B, and modern standards, and he does both the playing and the singing. On the voice side, he draws from the soul and character of R&B legends like Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, and mixes that with the charisma and swing of more modern names like Michael Bublé and John Legend. He also works through a wide range of classic jazz standards, so the night touches on a fair amount of ground.

He's playing the Continental Club Gallery, which opened in 2008 in the upstairs space above the club's main room. It holds about 40 people and hosts rotating acts across jazz, singer-songwriters, and jam bands. It also puts on a quarterly 'Tertulia' in the Iberian tradition of mixing poetry, song, and performance. The Austin Chronicle named it a 2009 Critics Pick for Best Re-Opened Li'l Lounge and a 2015 Critics Pick for Best Intimate Music Moments.

Speer's set starts at 8:30 PM. There's a $10 cover at the door, and the room is 21+.