Cruising the clubs and concert halls in Copenhagen, Denmark, soaking up music and people across the bridge in Malmo, Sweden, Leah Suarez got an earful. While there, she spent four months performing, recording and learning more about herself and, by extension, her music.
The Lowcountry jazz and samba vocalist has changed her tune since sojourning in Europe from June through October, acquiring new skills and gaining confidence.

She and her band, Toca Toca, will perform Saturday at 8 p.m. at Modernisme - The Gallery at Avondale, 21 Magnolia Road, with plans to show off what the players call a deeper, more personal sound.

Band members include Gerald Gregory on keyboards, David Linaburg on guitars and Nick Jenkins on percussion, all of whom were with Suarez part of the time in Denmark.
Tickets are $15 and are available at www.etix.

com. The ticket price includes the music performance and an open wine bar. Seating is limited and is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The program will be varied. Suarez said, "We will do some of my original tunes, maybe three or four, and Brazilian songs like Luis Melodia's 'Fadas' and 'A Felicidade' by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luis Bonfa. I'll also do some stuff by Cole Porter, my favorite American composer, like 'What Is This Thing Called Love.

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Suarez and her bandmates do all the arranging. "I think of it as a group effort," she said. "I bring in the music and they bring lots of ideas.

Every performance is different. We don't always do the same arrangements. They have their chance to get in (the repertoire) what they want as well.

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The band is coming off a principal performance in the first South Carolina Jazz Festival in late October in Cheraw, home of Dizzy Gillespie, whose legacy the festival celebrated. While in Denmark, Toca Toca played and recorded at Steinway Hall and performed in the prestigious Copenhagen Jazz Festival.
Suarez is excited about the relationship between her band's music and the venue Saturday.

She likes the intimate atmosphere and contemporary feel of the place. In reference to what she calls her cosmopolitan performance style, she said: "I take my personal approach and interject it into standards."
She likes the new but not at the expense of the old.

At 25, she's not like many performers her age. "A lot of younger artists don't like the standards," she said. "They may not even know them.

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Doors open at 7 p.m. Prior to the show, guests are invited to experience the gallery's artwork and the reserved patio (weather permitting) of Al di La restaurant, adjacent to Modernisme.

On Monday at 8 p.m., the College of Charleston's Monday Night Concert Series will present the Robert Lewis Jazz Quartet in the Recital Hall of the Simons Center for the Arts, 54 St.

Philip St.
The band will include Robert Lewis on saxophones, Frank Duvall on piano, Jake Holwegner on bass and Ron Wiltrout on drums. Featured will be arrangements of music from Miles Davis' album, "Kind of Blue.

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Planned are all five songs from the album: "So What," "Freddie the Freeloader," "Blue in Green," "All Blues" and "Flamenco Sketches."
Admission is $5 at the door and free for College of Charleston students with valid IDs. For more information call 953-5927.