PJ Morton with Mwiza: Levitt AMP Ocala Music Series

The 2019 Levitt AMP Ocala Music Series presents PJ Morton with opening act Mwiza on Friday, July 19th from 6 – 9 p.m. at Webb Field at the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Complex.

The performance is free. Please bring your chairs and blankets. Food is available from a select food truck as well as from the Summer BreakSpot program. Beer and wine will also be available for purchase. Visit local vendors and have fun at the Ocala Recreation and Parks recreation vehicle.

Each concert in the series features a local non-profit organization working to create art accessibility in our community; tonight’s featured non-profit is Ocala Storytelling.

More information is available at www.levittamp.org/ocala or contact Ocala Cultural Arts at 352-629-8447.

HEADLINING ARTIST: PJ MORTON
It all starts and ends with the music.
For PJ Morton, the songs, records, and shows say everything that needs to be said—and more. Whether performing, playing, or producing, the GRAMMY® Award- and Dove® Award-winning singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, Morton Records founder, and Maroon 5 keyboardist fills one timeless role most comfortably, that of a “Music Man.”

2019 upheld this claim for Morton. Recorded live in New York and released under his own New Orleans-based Morton Records, Gumbo Unplugged garnered three 2019 GRAMMY® Award nominations—“Best R&B Album,” “Best Traditional R&B Performance” for “How Deep Is Your Love” [feat. Yebba], and “Best R&B Performance” for “First Began”—and brought his total back-to-back tally of solo nominations to five, including a pair of 2018 GRAMMY® nods for the original Gumbo. Just a week prior to the ceremony, he walked on to the world’s biggest stage and delivered a historic performance alongside Maroon 5 at Super Bowl LIII.

Morton has quietly, independently, and humbly secured his position at the forefront of 21st century soul and R&B. In 2017, Gumbo bowed in the Top 10 of the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart and received praise from The Washington Post and The Advocate, to name a few. Generating over 30 million cumulative streams in under three years, he regularly averages over half-a-million monthly listeners on Spotify. Meanwhile, 2013’s New Orleans received a 2014 GRAMMY® Award nomination in the category of “Best R&B Song” for “Only One” [feat. Stevie Wonder]. Putting it best, Pitchfork described the project as “a smooth and soulful pop/R&B hybrid.”

For more information about PJ Morton, visit www.pjmortonmusic.com.

OPENING ARTIST: MWIZA
Born in Zambia, Africa, Mwiza came to the U.S when he was 10. He grew up with music such as Gospel, Rock, Pop, as well as African music but it wasn’t until his 7th grade year that he became interested in it.
He learned how to sing from his chorus experience from 5th to 8th grade but then quit chorus to pursue art from 9th to 12th grade at the Osceola County School for the Arts. He started learning how to play guitar at the end of his 9th grade and has focused on the acoustic guitar throughout this time.
He first started making his own music while having jam sessions at school with his friends but soon managed to join the band The Avalon Broadcast. His time in the band helped with giving him song writing skills as well as finding out what style of music he wanted to play, but after graduating from high school he left central Florida and moved to Tampa. He currently goes to the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida.

SHOW US HOW #MUSICMOVES YOU!

Don’t forget to show us how #musicmoves you by dancing and you may receive a 2019 Levitt AMP Ocala t-shirt. Use the hashtag on Instagram and you could win $100 gift card from the Levitt Foundation. Also, show your support by stopping by our tent and completing a brief survey to tell us what you thought of the series.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Levitt Foundation, Marion Cultural Alliance, City of Ocala Municipal Government, 98.5 KTK, TriEagle Sales, Island Grove Wine Company, The Mojo Grill & Catering, Kona Ice Ocala, David and Lisa Midgett Foundation, Ocala/Marion County, Florida, Summer BreakSpot Program, and Ocala Electric Utility. Production by Oniram Productions, Inc..

The Levitt AMP Ocala Music Series is supported in part by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, a private foundation that empowers towns and cities across America to transform underused public spaces into thriving destinations through the power of free, live music. Learn more at levitt.org.