swing

Sesame Street Features Mint Julep Jazz Band Song!

Tune in to Sesame Street on April 18, 2013 to hear an original Mint Julep Jazz Band song in one of the non-muppet segments! We are excited to have an air date and to finally be able to make this announcement, which we’ve been keeping quiet about since September, when Lucian composed and we recorded the song.

How did this happen? It’s all about networking (or being in the right place at the right time?) – we performed at a local wedding in August and one of the guests thought we’d be perfect for a project he was doing for Sesame Street. After a few phone calls and emails we had about a week and a half to put everything together, from Lucian composing the tune, getting everyone in the same place to record it, culling enough equipment together to have a quality recording, to lots of little logistical hurdles that occur when you are contracting out your services. Needless to say, everyone in the band was really excited to be involved in something that was going to appear on Sesame Street, and, with that motivation, we pulled it off in a very short amount of time.

If you can’t tune in to the show, there may be a way to watch it online after the air date – stay tuned!

Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout 2013

This weekend I’ll head to Denver, Colorado to DJ some sweet Balboa tunes at the Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout! I’ve missed this event for the past two years and it’s so wonderful to be able to go again – looking forward to Denver’s wonderful venues, food, dancing, and general shenanigans with my fellow DJs. 🙂

Three Fridays with the Mint Julep Quintet!

The main dining room at G2B

This month the Mint Julep Quintet is performing in Durham three Fridays in a row! If you haven’t made it out to see our small group yet, you’ll have plenty of chances:

January 18 at G2B Gastro Pub

We’re returning for our monthly engagement at this fine establishment that straddles the line between modern gourmet and comfort food and drink. Make a reservation to dine in the jazz lounge to ensure that you get a seat! You can make reservations through their website (they use OpenTable) or by calling the restaurant at (919) 251-9451.

8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
G2B Gastro Pub
3211 Shannon Road #106
Durham, NC

January 25 at Beyu Caffe – CANCELLED for inclement weather, rescheduled for March 23

Beyu’s lovely interior, inside the Art Deco era Snow Building

We are making our debut at Beyu Caffe, the restaurant voted the best place to hear jazz in the Triangle in the Independent Weekly reader’s poll. Come join us at this wonderful downtown establishment for dinner, dancing, drinks, dessert, or all of the above! You may also want to make a reservation here, depending on your seating preference – call the restaurant at (919) 683-1058.

9:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.
Beyu Caffe
335 W. Main St.
Durham, NC

February 1 at G2B Gastro Pub

Laura in the jazz lounge at G2B

We’re making our February appearance at G2B Gastro Pub earlier in the month – your last chance to catch the Quintet until we return on March 22!

8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
G2B Gastro Pub
3211 Shannon Road #106
Durham, NC

We hope you will join us for one of these performances! Come find out why Durham is both a foodie town and a jazz town, thanks to creative chefs and restaurant owners who take pride in their food, their city, and their entertainment. 🙂

Mint Julep Jazz Band Kickstarter Fully Funded!

As of November 28, the Mint Julep Jazz Band reached (and even surpassed) the $6,000 funding goal on our Kickstarter campaign to raise money to produce our first CD! We are overwhelmed and so grateful for the generosity of all of our backers, particularly, the Triangle Swing Dance Society, who was not only our largest monetary backer, but also pledged the amount that sent us over our $6,000 goal. Thanks to your help and the magic of crowd funding, the Mint Julep Jazz Band is going to record a CD in January!

The other brilliant part of this is that we reached our funding goal in 28 days, which is just under half the amount of time we allotted to meet our goal. This means that the Kickstarter does not officially end until December 30, so if you’d still like to pre-order a CD or support the Kickstarter for other rewards, you have until December 30 to do so. If you’d like to view our Kickstarter, visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/laurawindley/mint-julep-jazz-bands-first-cd-durham-on-saturday.

Thanks again! We really couldn’t have done it without you!

Mint Julep Jazz Band at the Triangle Swing Dance Society, December 1, 2012

From our June performance for the Triangle Swing Dance Society, courtesy of Tiffany Lindquist.

It’s the Mint Julep Jazz Band‘s last show of the year and we are delighted to be performing for the Triangle Swing Dance Society for their election/potluck dance. To usher in the season, we’ll be performing a couple of Christmas tunes in our set. Come dance off all the turkey you ate last week!

Triangle Swing Dance Society dance
Murphey School
3717 Murphy School Road, Durham, NC

Admission: Members/students $8.00, general admission $12.00

Free beginner lesson at 7:00 p.m.

Band plays from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

The Kickstarter Continues!

The Mint Julep Jazz Band has 41 days left to reach our funding goal of $6,000 and we already have pledges totaling around $4,000! We are over half-way with more than half of our time left to go! This has been a great start and we thank everyone who has backed our Kickstarter thus far!

If you’d like to help us reach our funding goal, pre-order a copy of our CD or back our Kickstarter in exchange for some fabulous rewards at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/laurawindley/mint-julep-jazz-bands-first-cd-durham-on-saturday. If we don’t reach our goal, we don’t get any of the money pledged, so please consider supporting your local swing band!

Mint Julep Quintet Returns to G2B Gastro Pub, November 17

Your view from the front door – come on in!

After a successful first show at G2B Gastro Pub, they have invited us back to perform again on Saturday, November 17! Come join us for one of the most delicious meals in Durham, prepared by Chef Carrie Schleiffer and served by her stellar waitstaff. We love the fried mac and cheese, goat cheese croquettes, sweet potato wedges, and believe that they truly have the best burger on the planet.

We’ll have a couple of new tunes this go around, come to listen or come to dance!

G2B Gastro Pub
3211 Shannon Road #106
Durham, NC 27707

8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

No cover!

Call (919) 251-9451 for reservations or make your reservations on the web at OpenTable.

The Mint Julep Jazz Band Kickstarter is Live!

We are excited to finally press the launch button on the Mint Julep Jazz Band Kickstarter campaign and see if we can raise $6,000 through crowd funding and pre-sales to make our first CD a reality. We’ve got some great rewards in exchange for your backing and support, so here’s the link for our Kickstarter campaign:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/laurawindley/mint-julep-jazz-bands-first-cd-durham-on-saturday?ref=live

We’d like to thank everyone over the past year who has been so supportive of this band and encouraged us to move forward with this project. We are definitely excited about getting into the recording studio and having a CD that we can share with you.

Pure Balboa Class at The Lindy Lab, Wednesdays in October!

In preparation for the upcoming Eastern Balboa Championships, Jason Sager and I will be teaching a pure Balboa class for The Lindy Lab! Classes will run for four Wednesdays, from October 3 through October 24, 8:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at Triangle Dance Studio in the Guest House (the house to the left of the main building on Miami Boulevard). Here’s the info from the Lindy Lab website:

It doesn’t look like we are moving, but I promise our feet are moving really fast!

“One of the often overlooked dances of the swing world, Pure Balboa is the original close-position-only side of Balboa and Bal-Swing. This dance originally developed in crowded dance halls where owners forbid open position dancing in order to pack in more people and make more money. More than just step step, hold, step, there is a lot of room for improvisation in Pure Bal position. And the better your Pure Bal is, the better those times in between bal-swing toss-outs and lollies will feel. Jason Sager and Laura Windley will lead class in a way that builds on principles rather than moves and gives you plenty to play with at the Eastern Balboa Championships competitions in November in Raleigh.”

Pure Balboa isn’t just for comps, it’s so easy and fun to work into your regular dancing and gives you the fundamentals that make Balboa feel so comfortable, even at faster tempos. Bring your heels and/or your leather soles and we’ll work on all that great shuffle-y, tiny footwork. 🙂

Registration is available online at Schedulicity or you can show up at the class to register. See you in October!

The Mint Julep Quintet Premiers October 5 at G2B Gastropub

The swanky lounge area at G2B

While an 8 piece band is great for dances and special events, it is generally too large for restaurants and bars in the Raleigh/Durham area. We’d still like to bring you the hot jazz and swing, so we’ve pared ourselves down to a quintet! The Mint Julep Quintet will have its first performance at G2B Gastropub in Durham, NC on October 5, 2012.

I’ll have one of these, please! And a side of Clarinet Marmalade.

G2B Gastropub
3211 Shannon Rd, Suite 106
Durham, NC
8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Admission: Free

We’re excited to be performing at G2B – we hope you’ll join us for a delicious dinner or come hang out and grab a beer!

Check out the gorgeous food and beverages on their Facebook page.