Excited to be a part of Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders second album Get Rhythm in Your Feet, 17 tracks of classic swing music, expertly served up by Michael Gamble and a crew of all-star swing musicians! We recorded this album right after Lindy Focus this past year and it’s so great to go into the studio after a week of blissful performing for one of the best audiences on the planet. I’m singing on 6 tracks, pick up a copy on your favorite digital music platform today!
MSNS Damrosch Park bandshell photograph courtesy of Ryan Swift
It was an incredible honor for the Mint Julep Jazz Band to be hired to perform at Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing summer concert series for 2016, so when Michael Gamble asked me to perform at this year’s event, I was floored – on July 12, 2017, I’ll be singing with Michael Gamble at the Rhythm Serenaders at this truly amazing outdoor event, one that many New York dancers say is their favorite dance event in the city. Midsummer Night Swing is three consecutive weeks of social dances to live music, highlighting musicians from all over the US and the world, under the stars at a lighted dance pavilion set up at the bandshell at Damrosch Park. It’s a gorgeous event and I hope you will join us in New York for a night of awesome swing music and dancing!
I had an amazing time performing at New York Bal Week, an event that runs from Monday to Sunday, highlighting New York’s fantastic live bands and venues and focusing on Balboa, offering Balboa workshops over the weekend of the event. This is one of those “only in New York” type of events and it was a delight and an honor to be asked to come up and perform for this event with Glenn Crytzer’s New Yorkers and his Orchestra. Here’s a clip of me with the orchestra doing “When I Get Low I Get High” from the Saturday night dance – enjoy!
When the North Carolina Museum of Art reached out to the Mint Julep Jazz Band about performing at their Art Deco car exhibit, the response was a resounding yes – 30’s and 40’s machines of beauty plus music from the same era? Yes, please!
We’ll be opening the Rolling Sculpture: Art Deco Cars from the 1930s and ’40s exhibit with a soiree on September 29 featuring food, cocktails, and hot jazz amongst the rolling sculptures featured in the exhibit. Band plays from 6:45 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. This is the first of many cool events surrounding this exhibit, check out the NCMA Rolling Sculpture exhibit webpage to see what’s in store in the coming months!
Graphics we can only assume were created by the event mastermind, Erica Vess
If you like your Balboa events peppered with cats with laser beam eyes, dinosaurs, world-class instruction, and lots of foodie restaurants, join us for a fun, nerdy weekend of Balboa dancing and instruction at I Heart Balboa in Richmond, Virginia. The event runs September 2-4, 2016 and the Mint Julep Jazz Band will be performing at the Saturday night dance on September 3, 2016 – we are excited to be back to perform for their second year!
Dogtown Dance Theater
109 West 15th St
Richmond, VA
Time: 8:30 p.m. to midnight
Admission: For more information, visit the I Heart Balboa website.
Photo by Kadie Pangburn.
The dance floor at last year’s concert.
It was an honor when Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation invited the Mint Julep Jazz Band to be a part of the Bearden Music Series again this year, after having a fantastic turnout at last year’s outdoor concert. We’ll be performing a free concert on July 9, 2016 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Bearden Park, a lovely outdoor space admidst the tall buildings of uptown Charlotte.
Bring a lawn chair or blanket and some summer eats (or pick up dinner from one of the food trucks) and relax under the sunset and stars during the concert, or take advantage of the dance floor and a free swing dance lesson by Gottaswing Charlotte on the first band break.
We’re hoping for the same beautiful weather we had last year!
Bearden Park
300 S. Church St.
Charlotte, NC
6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Admission is FREE.
See you soon, Charlotte!
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.
The Edward C. Smith Civic Center, a wonderful theater in Lexington, NC built in 1948, is hosting the Mint Julep Jazz Band for a rare theater concert on April 30, 2016. We’ll have a special program for this evening and we hope you will join us for a night of swing music, past and present! For more information, visit the theater website at http://www.smithciviccenter.org/ and get your tickets in advance by calling the theater box office at 336.249.7875. $20 for adults and $15 for students, and the theater is also offering a group rate for groups of 6 or more.
There will be a dance floor in the theater for those who might like to dance during the performance and there will also be a bunch of plush theater seats, if that’s your bag. And how about that stage? Fit for an MGM musical – see you soon!
Durhamites, be sure to pick up a copy of the April, 2016 issue of Durham Magazine for a feature on the Mint Julep Jazz Band! Durham Magazine writer Sophia Lucente interviewed yours truly, Lucian Cobb, and Keenan McKenzie to put together this snapshot of the band’s history and life in Durham. You can read the article (as well as the entire issue) online here.
My first Lindyfest was two years ago where I served as the Balboa DJ for competitions, a special Bal dance, and I even DJ’ed some for Lindy Hop. 😉 This long-running workshop weekend is a huge event in Houston, Texas and I’m delighted that they have invited me back to be the Balboa DJ again and sing two nights with the Jonathan Doyle Swingtet! This will be my first time performing with his group, after I first performed with Jonathan at the Nevermore Jazz Ball in St. Louis this past November as part of Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders, and I’m excited to be working with an amazing group of Austin musicians lead by this powerhouse reed man. World class instruction, the Lone Star Championships, great live and DJ’ed music, and I see that Sugar Sullivan will be joining us! Come to Texas and dance!
Laura Windley 