{"id":36186,"date":"2025-11-06T18:54:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T18:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/36186\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T18:54:27","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T18:54:27","slug":"photos-chris-cortez-and-friends-took-the-stage-at-the-blue-bamboo-center-for-an-emotional-farewell-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/36186\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos: Chris Cortez and Friends took the stage at the Blue Bamboo Center for an emotional farewell show"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cTonight we are going to celebrate both his dream and his reality,\u201d said Jeff Flowers in front of a packed house at Winter Park\u2019s Blue Bamboo Center late last week. \u201cChris Cortez, the stage is yours!\u201d<\/p>\n

With these words, Flowers \u2014 the Blue Bamboo\u2019s Board Chairman \u2014 yielded the floor to Bamboo guiding light and guitarist Chris Cortez, taking his stage with his musical Friends for a final Thursday Night Hang.<\/p>\n

It would be an emotional but celebratory night for both performers and audience. Cortez \u2014 musician, founder of the nonprofit performing arts haven, and the man who guided the venue to its expansive new home at the old Winter Park Library building on New England Avenue with wife Melanie \u2014 was recently diagnosed with brain cancer. He\u2019s decided to step away from his day-to-day duties at the venue (though he fittingly retains emeritus status) and prepared to head west with Melanie to California to be near family.<\/p>\n

But before their departure, Cortez would anchor one more night of hot jazz at the venue he helped build in front of a standing-room only crowd. Joining Cortez on the evening were Paul Parker (drums), Ed Krout (piano\/keyboards), Dan Jordan (sax\/flute) and Dimas S\u00e1nchez (percussion). Filling in for Cortez during a second set was guitarist Bobby Koelble.<\/p>\n

It was a fitting bow for a titan of Orlando music, both on and off the stage.<\/p>\n

The Blue Bamboo Center for the Performing Arts will continue under the direction of Flowers, building on the rock-solid foundation laid down by Cortez. \u00a0\u201cHis artistic vision and legacy continue to guide our mission and inspire our work,\u201d said Flowers.<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Jim Leatherman<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cTonight we are going to celebrate both his dream and his reality,\u201d said Jeff Flowers in front of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[25032,25033,139,141,25034,140,1628],"class_list":["post-36186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-blue-bamboo-center-for-the-arts","tag-chris-cortez","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-jazz","tag-orlando-news","tag-slideshow-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}