Valentine’s Day is approaching, and love and the scent of chocolate are in the air. Jazz is perfect for setting a romantic mood, and there are three opportunities to catch live performances in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day.

The Kalispell Downtown Association hosts its third annual Chocolat Affaire Feb. 8.

The event begins with a chocolate walk from 5 to 7 p.m., with various downtown businesses opening their doors to say “thank you” with chocolate. To continue the festivities, The Cocoanuts — Karin Kajita on piano, Chuck Florence on tenor saxophone, Don Caverly on bass, Neil Batterson on drums and Miriam Singer on vocals — will play romantic dance music at the “CocoaBanana” — aka the Red Lion Hotel Kalispell — from 7 to 10 p.m.

The music continues Feb. 9 at McGarry’s Roadhouse in Whitefish. Kajita and Singer will play music in the bar at 7 p.m. For reservations, call 862-6223.

On Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, The Boat Club in the Lodge at Whitefish Lake will feature a romantic dance band from 7 to 10 p.m. The band will include Billy Wallace on piano, Florence on tenor saxophone, Caverly on bass and Singer on vocals. For reservations at The Boat Club, call 863-4040.

About the musicians

Karin Kajita is an accomplished jazz and classical pianist from Seattle with a real feeling for the improvisation that is jazz. Kajita keeps a busy schedule performing, teaching and accompanying singers. She also leads The Karin Kajita Jazz Quintet, originally based in the style of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, which freely explores her creative arrangements.

Kajita has done five tours of Japan and performed for Crystal and Norwegian cruise lines in northern Europe and Alaska. This spring she will be the band leader on the Norwegian Jade, which will cruise the Mediterranean to ports in Italy, Greece and Turkey.

 Chuck Florence grew up in Detroit in the 1960s. A music scholarship to Montana State University-Billings brought him to Montana, where he returned after pursuing his career in Las Vegas and Detroit.

Florence’s professional career includes performing with Joe Williams, Buddy DeFranco, Curtis Fuller, Nat Adderly, Larry Coryell, The Glenn Miller Band and Maynard Ferguson. Florence resides in Missoula, where he plays with the Ed Norton Big Band, Salsa Loca and Three of a Kind. He was inducted into the Missoula Blues & Jazz Society’s Hall of Fame in 2006.

For several years Florence has adjudicated bands at the Buddy DeFranco Jazz Festival held at the University of Montana. He continues his outreach to young musicians through his large private studio.

 Multiinstrumentalist Don Caverly graduated from the University of Idaho’s Lionel Hampton School of Music, where he took lessons from Russell Malone, Roy Hargrove, John Stowell and others. He has worked on luxury cruise liners and lived in Los Angeles, where he collaborated with some of the city’s top local artists.

Caverly currently does work with several bands, including HumanLab, an award-winning group from Los Angeles; and Big Daddy & the Blue Notes. He served as production coordinator for Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival and recently traveled to New York to perform at Lincoln Center with award-winning saxophonist and flautist Erica von Kleist.

Miriam Singer grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y. and went to Brooklyn College. She studied voice for many years with Merry Kimball and at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. Her jazz mentors were the late, great Floyd Standifer and Billy Wallace, with whom she studied jazz piano.

Singer is half of Singer & Simpson Productions, a duo that proudly brings quality music to the Flathead Valley.

 Neil Batterson plays percussion and drums with Cocinando Latin Jazz Orchestra and Nova Combo. He is a former Jazz Radio show host for WPKN in Bridgeport, Conn.

Denver pianist Billy Wallace got his chops during the vibrant years of jazz in Chicago and on 52nd Street in New York. In Chicago, Wallace played and recorded with artists such as Illinois Jacquet, Von Freeman, Billy Mitchell and Charlie Parker (including on Parker's last night in Chicago). In New York, Wallace worked with Clifford Brown and Max Roach (recording the exceptional "In 3/4 Time").

He has accompanied singers such as Carmen McRae, Anita O’Day, Johnny Hartman, Arthur Prysock and Lou Rawls. Wallace has toured Europe and Japan, and enriched the jazz scenes in Seattle, Las Vegas and now Denver. He is a gifted jazz pianist utilizing unique beautiful harmonies and a vast repertoire.

This Valentine jazz is sponsored by Don “K” Subaru and brought to the valley by Singer & Simpson Productions, with support from the Lodge at Whitefish Lake, McGarry’s Roadhouse and the Daily Inter Lake.