Jimmy Carpenter brings his saxophone to the Sand Dollar Lounge for a late-night set of blues that fits right into this room's long history of hosting the genre's best. Carpenter's horn work has backed and fronted blues acts for decades, and he's known on the circuit for a tone that's equal parts grit and swing - the kind of playing that pulls from soul and R&B as much as straight blues.

The Sand Dollar itself is part of the draw here. This is the bar that hosted Muddy Waters and B.B. King back in the day, and even after closing and reopening, it's held onto that same smoky, no-frills devotion to live music. Catching a sax player of Carpenter's caliber in a room this size, with no cover charge, is the kind of thing blues fans build their night around.

Doors open late and the band plays into the early morning hours, so this one's for the night owls and the 21-and-up crowd looking for real music without a ticket price attached.