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 Review on Jazz Lives Blog

Thanks so much to Michael Steinman of the Jazz Lives blog for this detailed and wonderful review of Battle Axe! The Mint Julep Jazz Band is delighted to be included on his blog, with his thoughtful research and review of the many jazz giants performing traditional jazz of yesteryear and of today.

If you love traditional jazz and swing, I would recommend following Michael’s blog (*ahem* swing DJs) – it is comprehensive, updated regularly, and features wonderful artists, both new and old. Michael’s dedication to the research, review, and enjoyment of this music and the artists definitely shows in his writing.

Glenn Crytzer’s Pegu Club Allstars – August 16, 2015

I went to New York a couple of weekends ago and a highlight of my trip was being invited to sit in with Glenn Crytzer’s Pegu Club Allstars, who have a regular Sunday night gig at Pegu Club, a wonderful cocktail bar in Manhattan. The band is a somewhat rotating cast of NYC’s hot jazz greats and this particular week included Glenn Crytzer (guitar), Sean Cronin (bass), Jason Prover (trumpet), and Dennis Lichtman (clarinet). Here are three videos from that night, filmed by the ever thoughtful Voon Chew:

2015 International Lindy Hop Championships

I am delighted to be joining Jonathan Stout‘s bands again for the 2015 International Lindy Hop Championships in Arlington, Virginia! I’ll be singing with Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five (Plus More) on Friday, August 28, 2015 and with the Jonathan Stout Orchestra on Saturday, August 29. Be sure to tune into the Yehoodi broadcast of the event to catch all the wonderful, inspiring dancing from the competitors at this event!

Battle Axe on Hey Mister Jesse Podcast, Episode #116

Battle Axe is featured in the August, 2015 episode of the Hey Mister Jesse Podcast on Yehoodi.com – check it out! If you aren’t hip to the Hey Mister Jesse podcast, you might like it if you like swinging jazz and blues, music to dance to, emerging and established swing/jazz/blues artists, and the classic swing era artists we still love so dearly.

Bal-ast Off in Huntsville, Alabama – July 31-August 2, 2015

I’m excited to be visiting and singing, for the very first time, the state of Alabama to perform at Bal-ast Off with Michael Gamble and his Rhythm Serenaders! I will also be DJ’ing this weekend of Balboa workshops and dances in Huntsville, along with head DJ Kyle Smith and DJ Erica Vess. As of the date of this post, the event is almost sold out – get your tickets fast and join the flight crew at Bal-ast Off! 😀

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)!

All Balboa Weekend 2015

Super proud of the Mint Julep Jazz Band’s performance at the 15th annual All Balboa Weekend in Cleveland, Ohio on June 13, 2015 – it was our third year performing at the event and the dancers always show us so much love and appreciation! I took a video from the stage, including shots of the band and the crowd of Balboa dancers during the tune “Old King Dooji.” Enjoy!

Stompology 2015

I’ll be returning to Rochester, NY to perform with Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five for Stompology! Join us June 4-7, 2015 for this famous dance weekend, the first of its kind devoted to authentic jazz, Charleston, and solo movement, now in its 10th year. Excited to be performing with the Campus Five again on Friday and Saturday nights of the event and to be able to mark this event off my bucket list!

Laura Windley

Hot jazz and swing vocalist