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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRebecca Zapen directing her son<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRebecca Zapen directing her son<\/p>\n
Starting off our Live Music Showcase with \u201cThe Girl from Ipanema\u201d you\u2019ll be hard pressed to miss the duo being jazz oriented. The mother \/ son pair is comprised of mother, Rebecca Zapen, and her son Joel Douglass. Touching on the classical roots of jazz, Zapen\u2019s violin pairs flawlessly with Douglass\u2019s piano. As they harmonize over the famous jazz standard you can hear the work that they have put into their craft. The smooth melodies they described as \u201cinfectious\u201d left me in fact humming the melodies for a good ten minutes after their performance. The breezy tunes give feelings of relief and contentment, leaving the listener feeling at ease. Though the duo favors jazz the two play many genres, covering not only jazz and bossanova, but also classical, singer-songwriter, and even as far as soundtracks.<\/p>\n
Listen to the Live Music Showcase<\/a><\/p>\n Studying violin from the age of three, Zapen has deep roots in music. Coming from a musical family, she is the third generation of musicians. Her son Joel Douglass, marks four generations. Zapen\u2019s album Nest received Florida\u2019s Album of the Year, 2011 \u2013 but that is just a side note to the various awards she\u2019s received throughout her career as a lifetime musician. She has four albums total released as of writing this. She is an instructor at Eckerd College here in Tampa, where she teaches violin and viola to her pupils, and is also a co-director of the string orchestra at the college. <\/p>\n Zapen\u2019s talents extend beyond violin to other instruments, including guitar double bass, and others. She is originally from Jacksonville and has since grown to call St. Petersburg home to her and her musical family. Their family is a \u201cmusical\u201d family in both senses of the word, her husband and former performance partner is now involved in theater and had to step away from the duo. Zapen stated \u201cit\u2019s really nice that Joel can step in\u201d. Instead of choosing to face the camera, the two choose to face each other focusing on their interactions as they play.<\/p>\n I personally appreciated their sense of humor, choosing to play a song from Charlotte\u2019s Web, a children\u2019s movie about the fictional relationship between a spider and a pig on a farm. The song is filled with hilarity, displaying many jokes all in the form of rhymes. This was a nice intermission between their performances showing some of their character and own personality as a mother and son act.<\/p>\n Joel Douglass is actually a self taught pianist. At only sixteen, he is playing better than most adults. Because of this, he was recently awarded a scholarship for FSU\u2019s Jazz Camp this year 2026. Studying jazz himself, you can tell how inspired he is by his depth of knowledge \u2013 during warm ups I heard him start to play \u201cA Night in Tunisia\u201d an early jazz classic, playing that among other notable jazz songs. Douglass has only recently started playing piano, but when you hear him, you\u2019ll think that he\u2019s a well established professional.<\/p>\n During our interview portion of the program, Douglass mentions how his family, a grandmother in particular, helped usher him along in his exploration of piano \u2013 pushing him in the right direction. He started on violin but instead eventually ended up choosing piano as his preferred instrument. Douglass plays an original solo piano piece for us live on the show, starting with alluring arpeggios, the song seems to reference the romantic era of classical.<\/p>\n Every Friday at 2PM EST our WMNF Live Music Showcase works hard to bring you live music. Tune in to 88.5 WMNF Tampa to hear the latest and greatest from South Florida and the surrounding areas. The showcase is available afterwards here on the website<\/a> for your further enjoyment. You can also catch the Live Music Showcase streamed via our Facebook page and YouTube page:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0798-1024x683.jpg\")
Rebecca Zapen, violinist<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0806-1-1024x1024.jpg\")
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Rebecca looking fondly at her son<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0795-1024x1024.jpg\")
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