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Lindy Focus Videos – 2019 and 2021

Photograph by the wonderful Rebecca Strickland at Lindy Focus, December 27, 2021

Last month Lindy Focus released just about every song from the 2019 event as individual videos! If you’ve been wanting to hear something, but didn’t feel like scrolling through a 3+ hour live stream, head over to the Lindy Focus YouTube channel and browse the multitude of new content. I’m most proud of “I’m a Slick Chick,” featured on Lionel Hampton night and originally performed by Dinah Washington with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. Dinah absolutely kills on this recording from a live performance, it’s so inspiring and I was excited to be able to perform it live. The transcript was sponsored by the incredible LaTasha Barnes, to whom I am so grateful for this!

Also new on the Lindy Focus YouTube channel are the live streams from this past year’s Lindy Focus – a little smaller lineup, a little smaller in dancer attendance, fully masked and vaccinated, but nevertheless a celebration of early jazz and swing!

Classic City Swing – Athens, GA September 16-17, 2016

The Mint Julep Jazz Band‘s very first gig in Georgia will be Classic City Swing, a weekend of workshops and dances in Athens, Georgia! We’ll be playing the Friday night and Saturday night main dances at the New Dance Theater on the University of Georgia’s campus. Don’t worry, it’s not a home football game weekend, so you can avoid the traffic and the parking issues! With a large lineup of instructors, this promises to be a big weekend of dancing – for more information, visit the Classic City Swing website.

Mint Julep Jazz Band at Lincoln Center in New York!

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We are beyond excited to announce that the Mint Julep Jazz Band will be performing at Lincoln Center in New York as a part of their Midsummer Night Swing concert series! Join us on June 24 under the stars for a night of swing music in the Big Apple!

The concert series, which runs from June 21 through July 9, 2016, features live music of the dancing variety, with a big dance floor set up in front of the Lincoln Center bandshell at Damrosch Park – artists joining us in this series include Catherine Russell, Septeto Santiaguero, the Allen Toussaint Band, and many other wonderful artists from New York and beyond!

From the Midsummer Night Swing website: “This North Carolina–based “little” big band’s goal is simple: to keep you on the dance floor. Specializing in the great swing tunes of the ’30s, the eight-piece band has been tearing through the Lindy hop competition circuit, leaving masses of new fans in its wake. Sweet and refreshing with an intoxicating kick, the band makes its highly anticipated New York debut at Midsummer Night Swing.”

For more information on the event, tickets, artists, and the dances featured in lessons before each show, visit http://midsummernightswing.org.

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Hot Rhythm Holiday 2016

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On January 30, 2016, the Mint Julep Jazz Band returns to the Lone Star State capital to perform at Hot Rhythm Holiday, a weekend of workshops and dances focusing on Balboa and Collegiate Shag and there’s a music track for people who want to learn more about performing jazz! The events take place at the Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs (“the Fed”), a mansion built in 1931 with a gorgeous historic ballroom. We are excited to return to Hot Rhythm Holiday for our second year! And bring on the brisket!

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The ballroom at The Fed, taken at Hot Rhythm Holiday 2015

Farewell 2015, It’s Been Swell!

Just a little note to say thank you to everyone who has come out to a gig, hired me to sing with their band, hired the Mint Julep Jazz Band, and supported the Mint Julep Jazz Band’s Kickstarter and resulting album. In 2015 I performed 58 nights with 4 different bands in 13 states – 2016, I am ready for you! Look for more singing, DJ’ing, and an appearance on Michael Gamble and his Rhythm Serenaders‘ new album!

Knoxville Lindy Exchange 2015

On September 25 and 26, 2015, I’ll be performing at the Knoxville Lindy Exchange with my band, the Mint Julep Jazz Band, performing on Friday night and I’ll be making a guest appearance with Michael Gamble and his Rhythm Serenaders on Saturday at the late night dance! Technically, I suppose that would be Sunday morning. 😉 This weekend’s live music lineup features some great swing bands based in the Southeast, including the Gamble Wilson Swing Orchestra (Asheville/Hendersonville), Michael Gamble and his Rhythm Serenaders (Asheville), Knoxville’s own Scruffy City Syncopators, and MJJB representing Durham, NC. This promises to be a great swing dance event, come one come all from the corners of the southeast and beyond!

Battle Axe Available Online!

The Mint Julep Jazz Band‘s newest album, Battle Axe, is now available online for digital download and for purchase of physical copies of the album! We know for certain that you can find Battle Axe on CD Baby, iTunes, and we suspect that Amazon.com, Spotify, and eMusic will have it as well, maybe even some other sources we don’t suspect! You can purchase physical CDs at CD Baby.com and have them shipped to you or, as always, you can purchase CDs at any of our shows.

Some of you have asked which service gives the band the most money per song/copy and that answer is definitely CD Baby, who is our primary distributor.

Thanks again to all of our Kickstarter backers for making this dream a reality!

New Album “Battle Axe” to Release July 14, 2015

The official release date for digital copies of the Mint Julep Jazz Band‘s new album, Battle Axe, is July 14! Digital copies will be available on CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, just about anywhere digital copies are sold. Physical CD copies should be available for purchase online shortly thereafter. Our Kickstarter digital backers will receive theirs slightly before this date and our Kickstarter physical backers should start to receive their copies around this date. Huzzah!

Also, check out our fantastic album cover art, thanks to graphic designer and electronic music artist extraordinaire Judson Cowan (aka Tettix)!

Battle Axe is Funded, Thanks to You!

Dearest backers and contributors,

Thank you so much for your love and support, in all the ways, of the Mint Julep Jazz Band’s new album endeavor, Battle Axe! We’ll be heading into the studio in April to record the album and in the interim I’ll be getting information from you in the coming weeks and connecting some of you with contributor vendors so that we can fulfill your rewards, which are so deservedly earned for your faith and pledges in our album project. I’ll also be posting our list of Kickstarter backers and contributors on the website for a more proper thank you. Stay tuned!

Infinite thanks!

Laura Windley

Mint Julep Jazz Band to Launch Second Album Kickstarter January 11, 2015

The Mint Julep Jazz Band has been working diligently to get everything in place to launch a Kickstarter for our second album on January 11, 2015 – we’ll be having our Kickstarter launch party at Common 414 in Raleigh, with the full 8 piece band playing from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. Come join us to celebrate!

The title of the album, “Battle Axe,” is taken from a great Jimmie Lunceford tune in our book, and we anticipate that this will be a really fun album to put together, based on that title. Alexandrea Thomsen of Dtownperspective is putting together an awesome Kickstarter video for us and we have lots of new and interesting rewards in the works, as well as bringing back some old favorites (cupcakes, anyone?). Looking forward to January 11!