Mike Barris, second from right, shown performing at Middletown Arts Center in November 2008 with Tom Bender, left, Jennifer Jordan and Vincent Corrao. (Photo by Bonnie Marvel)

RED BANK -- Mike Barris & Friends will play another rousing tribute to such prewar jazz and blues stars as Louis Armstrong, Django Reinhardt and Bessie Smith on Friday, April 30 at "Reckless Steamy Nights" at the Woman's Club of Red Bank.

Making its eighth appearance in the concert series since 2006, the band features the soul-stirring vocals of Jennifer Jordan, the effortlessly swinging lead guitar of Doug Clarke, the exuberant trumpet of Tom Bender, and the relentlessly driving rhythm guitar of music writer and show host Mike Barris.

Music goes from 8:30 to 11 p.m. at the historic Sen. Anthony Reckless Estate, 164 Broad St., Red Bank, NJ 07701. A donation of $10 is suggested, in support of scholarship programs sponsored by the Woman's Club of Red Bank and the Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Foundation. Snacks will be provided.

“This music is the very soul of jazz,” says Barris, who writes on jazz, blues and musicianship for Acoustic Guitar, Jazz Journal International and The Asbury Park Press. “Not only are we highlighting the achievements of Django, Satchmo and Bessie, we’re also spotlighting composers like George Gershwin and Hoagy Carmichael, who wrote many of the classic tunes on which jazz artists base their improvisations. There will be a mix of great musical moments and interesting facts about the people who created this music.”

Barris, a master of traditional-jazz rhythm guitar, is known as much for his well-crafted concerts under the auspices of the Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Foundation as for his acumen with the written word. The Elberon resident also has taught a long-running Frank Sinatra music-appreciation class at Brookdale Community College.

Red Bank’s Jennifer Jordan, best known as the vocal powerhouse behind Terraplane Blues and the Jennifer Jordan Band and an oft-featured artist at the Red Bank Jazz & Blues Festival, puts her own stamp on such Bessie Smith chestnuts as “After You’ve Gone” and “I Need A Little Sugar in My Bowl.” Jordan has shared stages with such legends as Buddy Guy and Koko Taylor and has been nominated multiple times for the Asbury Music Awards as top female vocalist.

Guitarist Doug Clarke, a resident of Asbury Park, has performed with Joe Williams, shared stages with Wynton Marsalis and Jon Faddis, and worked with Joe Piscopo and Jerry Lewis, among many others. A guitar instructor at Rutgers University, Clarke has created several college courses which use his book, “A Practical Approach to Guitar.”

Trumpeter Tom Bender, who has been with the group since its debut at “Reckless Steamy Nights” nearly four years ago, has shared the stage with Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Cecil Payne and Lou Donaldson and has worked with Sammy Davis Jr. and Tony Orlando in a career that has taken him from Romania to Lake Tahoe to New York. Blessed with a big, thrilling sound reminiscent of his idol, Bunny Berigan, the Middletown resident has also performed with the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra and The Jazz Lobsters.