On 8/8/88, 8 Pianists to Do a Number of Numbers

Blues master Charles Brown and his quartet will open Monday’s “Day of the Piano” concert in the Ventura High School Auditorium at that moment in the 20th Century when all eights converge.

On the eighth day of the eighth month of the century’s 88th year, at 8:08 p.m., Brown and seven other pianists will salute their instrument--and its 88 keys.

Co-sponsored by the Ventura Arts Council and the Society for Jazz and World Music, “Day of the Piano” will showcase a variety of piano styles, including jazz, European classical, and ragtime on a Steinway concert grand, and finishing with a piece for electronic synthesizers performed as a trio.

Brown, whose slick brand of blues earned him 20 top-10 hits in the decade after World War II, will open the show. Second on the bill is George Cables, a jazz veteran who has jammed with Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and Art Pepper. Sophia Cosma, who left Romania for the United States in 1980, will perform solo works for classical piano, and UC Santa Barbara graduate Jim Turner will treat the audience to stride piano in the Fats Waller/James P. Johnson fashion.

After barrel-house boogie-woogie from Rob Rio and Ken Stange, Kei Akagi, now playing in Flora Purim’s band, will provide a set of modern jazz. George Friedenthal will join Akagi and Stange in the synthesizer trio.

Admission is $17.50 at the door and $15 in advance, with a $2 discount for members of the sponsoring groups. For information, call (805) 646-7230 or 653-0828.