The St. Petersburg boat shop lookedclosed for the evening.
Panels hidshelves of gears, ropes, fishing rods and hooks in the warehouse behind the towering Harborage Marina at Bayboro Harbor. Few people walked in or out of a nearby seafood joint.
Through Conway Marine’s glass side door, two red stage lights illuminateda small bandstand.
About a dozen musicians who’ve toured with stars like Frankie Valli and Diana Ross readied their instruments. The saxophones and trumpets jumped into a loud, brassy burst of music, following a score that seemedto go on for miles.
Carl Fischer, Billy Joel’s longtime trumpet player, wasat the center — soloing, conducting and cracking jokes.
Since April, the Carl Fischer Nouveau Big Band has performed at the boat shop once a month, usually on Wednesdays to fit around touring schedules. Fischer taps twocollege students to play alongside the veteran musicians. He and Tim Conway, a drummer who owns the shop, hope the concert series can bring big band jazz to younger generations.
This isn’t the same easy-listening music you hear at most bars and restaurants in Tampa Bay, Fischer said. In the two-hour show, he and his bandmates dazzle audiences with swing rhythms and flavors of bossa nova, Latin, samba and funk. The bass and drums pound through the chests of those sitting close by, like at a stadium show.
“I don’t think you’re going to find a group of this high caliber of musicians sitting on a stage (anywhere else) in Florida,” Conway said.
Teaching the new blood of big band 
Everyone in the band is responsible for themselves, Carl Fischer said in a phone interview a few weeks before the show. He said his mentors threw him into the deep end early on.
“Trumpets, watch your background volumes,” Fischer called.
The day-of rehearsal wasalmost over, and after a dinner break, the band wouldbe back onstage. Fischer studied sheet music while deliveringcritiques and directions. He explained when to come in louder and when to start a little later. He nodded and smiled when the players gotit right. When a song was outstanding, he flashed a double thumbs-up.
When a song fell flat, Fischer held up his hand and shook his head.
“I know the pizza’s here, and everyone’s tired, but this is sloppy.”
Everyone in the band is responsible for themselves, Fischer said in a phone interview a few weeks before the show. His mentors threw him into the deep end early, he said, and he wants to pass on that approach.
Fischer has toured with Joel for over two decades and previouslyplayed with legendary trumpeter Maynard Ferguson for 12 years. He was a soloist for Ross and served as the music director and lead trumpet player for the jazz-rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears.
He’s not a St. Pete guy by choice. He grew up in New York and firstmoved with his parents when they retired. He later came back because he lost his house in New York to Hurricane Sandy in 2012. When Fischer is not catching flights out of Tampa International Airport to play shows back in New York and across the country, he teaches at the University of Central Florida.
It’s a natural place for him to work, he said. Fischer performed for colleges and high schools all the time while on tour with Ferguson.
“With so much funding cut in collegiate and high school music programs (today), the music is really suffering,” he said.
George Vernazza Aguilar, a bass player and senior at UCF, and Preston Rupert, a trumpet player and junior at The Julliard School, joined Fischer’s band at its August show. They both want to build a professional career. The other musicians’ eyes shine when the students improvise solos.
Vernazza Aguilar saidhis background is rock — he grew up listening to bands like Queen, Toto and AC/DC.
George Vernazza Aguilar, 20, said performing with Carl Fischer and his band is everything he’s been working towards.
“This is everything to me,” he said. “This is what I’ve been practicing for.”
Young folks coming up through professional big bands is nothing new, Rupert said. He and Vernazza Aguilar are part of a lineage of thousands.
Play soft, Fischer reminded the players as they rehearsed the last song again. With two and a half hours left in the night, they need to preserve their stamina.
Midway through, Fischer turned to face them and stepped back. He listened and nodded.
”Good job,” he mouthed.
Double thumbs-up.
Jazz, boats and improvisation
The Conway Marine is a boat supply and repair shop by the Harborage Marina. It turns into a small concert hall occasionally.
“Man, you guys are quiet,” Fischer said to the audience before the first song of the night.
Only about 20 people had come to watch — a pair of older women, a few families and friends of the band members. Fischer had expected more, maybe 60 or so. Past concerts have drawn close to 100, he said.
He worea black T-shirt, dark jeans and one silver hoop earring before adding a blue suit jacket for the start of the show. Two chains hungaround his neck. One held an anchor charm, the other a trumpet.
In St. Pete, many musicians are also boaters, he said. Fischer is a 100-ton captain’s license and used to work as a broker at Bertham Yachts in Tampa.
“I’m a fisherman, and when you’re on the water, it’s freedom. You’re charting your course,” he said. Same thing in jazz music and improvisation.”
Earlier this year, when Conway invited Fischer to come look at the new boat supply warehouse he bought, they walked around and clapped to hear what the reverb sounded like. They had talked about buying a venue or sponsoring concerts for years.
Fischer looked around.
“Man, that would be kind of a cool place for a stage,” he recalled thinking.
He grabbed his pocket trumpet from his car and played a few notes. The warehouse sounded better than any place he’d played in Tampa Bay, he said, except for maybe Ruth Eckerd Hall.
The next day, they started building the bandstand. They hung up drum heads showcasing bands that Conway played with: The Bellamy Brothers, Jake Castro, The Drifters. They put up posters of yachts. Fischer’s longtime friends said yes when he asked them to play, even though they wouldn’t make much money.
Preston Rupert, 20, said lots of cities have big band jazz hubs, but they might be hard to find.
Fischer likes the unassuming venue and wants to make the concerts special, not exclusive. It’s unpretentious, he says.
“Do you guys have two songs left in you?” heasked the small audience, under the glow of the red stage light.
“Or,” he said, pointing to the back counter, “does anyone need boat wash?”
The Conway Marine looks quiet the night of the big band jazz concert.
Carl Fischer Nouveau Big Band
The band’s next show is 7 p.m. Wednesday at Conway Marine, 201 15th Ave. S, St. Petersburg. Tickets are $20, or $10 for students.