A photograph by Steve Splane showing jazz guitarist Dominic Walker performing live outdoors at DI Coffee Bar on Davis Islands in Tampa, Florida, on June 7, 2024. Positioned center frame in a medium shot, Walker smiles warmly while playing a sunburst hollowbody electric-acoustic guitar. He wears a short-sleeve printed button-down shirt over a white undershirt, glasses, and a dark baseball cap, set against a background of lush green tropical foliage under dramatic evening stage lighting with microphone stands in the foreground.Dominic Walker at DI Coffee Bar on Davis Islands in Tampa, Florida on June 7, 2024. Credit: Stephen Splane

Last Monday, Tampa Bay area jazz guitarist, songwriter and DJ Dominic Walker spent three hours guest hosting WMNF Tampa’s “Jazz In the Night Program” where he celebrated all the jazz musicians that made it to the voting round of the 2026 Best of the Bay awards.

The show is always a great listen and proved to be especially enriching this week on account of Walker’s infectious enthusiasm for his colleagues in the scene. It’s the same energy he brings to the Friday night back patio night on Davis Islands, which has become a hot ticket on the calendar. Get there early, and plan to take a cab home.

There’s a $5 cover for Friday Night Jazz at DI Coffee Bar on Tampa’s Davis Islands.

This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 05, 2026.

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Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief…
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