BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//The CT Beacon - ECPv6.18.0//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:The CT Beacon
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://thectbeacon.com
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for The CT Beacon
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20270314T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20271107T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260911T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260911T223000
DTSTAMP:20260910T185939Z
CREATED:20260910T185939Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260910T185939Z
UID:10007545-1789155000-1789165800@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Phred & Friends Jazz Trio at The Marquee
DESCRIPTION:Phred & Friends Jazz Trio at The Marquee on State Street\, New London\, Friday\, September 11\, for three hours of jazz led by New London vocalist Phred Mileski\, with Ken Fischer on keyboard and James Hunter on bass. \nThe trio performs from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. at the recently opened downtown New London jazz bar\, giving Mileski a particularly appropriate room for a repertoire that can move from classic jazz standards into funk and R&B. \nAnd because The Marquee opens at 3 p.m. Friday\, there’s an earlier option for anyone making a night of it: Happy Hour runs from 4 to 6 p.m. \nPhred Mileski Has Sung Jazz From Connecticut to Bulgaria\nMileski is a familiar name in southeastern Connecticut’s music community\, but she’s difficult to confine to one musical category. \nHer own description of Phred & Friends is wonderfully concise: jazz\, funk and classic R&B. \nJazz\, however\, has been a major thread throughout her career. \nMileski is known for a notably wide vocal range and an improvisational approach that allows her to treat standards as something to interpret rather than simply reproduce. Her performances can move between straight-ahead jazz\, funkier arrangements and familiar American popular music. \nShe’s performed throughout Connecticut and well beyond it\, including appearances in New York and Bulgaria. \nCloser to home\, her long list of venues includes the Arts Café Mystic\, Foxwoods\, The Bee and Thistle Inn\, Captain Scott’s Lobster Dock\, Friday Night Folk in New London\, the Essex Yacht Club and the Lighthouse Inn. \nShe’s also appeared in enough different musical configurations that southeastern Connecticut audiences may have encountered her without realizing how much ground she covers. \nPhred & Friends Is Only One Side of Mileski’s Musical Life\nPhred & Friends is Mileski’s jazz-oriented project\, but her other groups reveal just how broad her musical interests are. \nSimply Phred is her eclectic solo act. \nWith Kenny & Phred\, she reworks classic rock and pop songs in a largely acoustic setting. \nThe Too-Timers\, her duo with Kipp Sturgeon\, gleefully jumps among American standards\, jazz\, folk\, country and calypso while using an assortment of instruments that can include guitar\, banjo\, ukulele\, melodica\, harmonica and percussion. \nMileski was also a member of The BeeKeepers\, an alternative-folk group with Amanda Sullivan-Schneider and Sylvie Abate. The trio concentrated on original songwriting alongside music written by women from the 1950s forward\, with Mileski contributing vocals\, piano\, accordion\, hand percussion and ukulele. \nThe BeeKeepers’ Songs from the Hive earned recognition as Best EP in the folk/singer-songwriter category from the Akademia Music Awards in 2017. \nBefore that\, Mileski performed with Sullivan-Schneider and flutist Megan Nelson in Celticity\, a chamber trio that created classical arrangements of traditional Celtic music. \nJazz is part of a much larger musical vocabulary. \nFriday’s Trio Keeps Things Intimate\nFor this performance\, Mileski pares things down. \nKen Fischer accompanies her on keyboard\, with James Hunter on bass. \nThat leaves considerable room inside the arrangements. \nWithout a large ensemble filling every measure\, a singer can interact directly with the keyboard and bass\, stretching phrases\, changing dynamics and allowing a familiar standard to develop differently from one performance to another. \nIt’s one of the reasons the jazz trio remains such an effective small-room format. \nAnd The Marquee is very much a small room. \nThe Marquee May Be New London’s Newest Music Venue\nAnyone who hasn’t heard of The Marquee on State Street can be forgiven. \nIt only opened this summer. \nThe new bar made its debut in July 2026 at 312 State Street\, in the downtown space previously occupied by DEVS\, Nico’s and Hanafin’s Public House. \nChristopher Leffert created the business with his parents\, Sean and Sayra Leffert\, combining three ideas that don’t normally occupy the same room: a classic movie palace\, a 1920s-style jazz club and a speakeasy. \nThe result is deliberately theatrical. \nClassic-film memorabilia helps establish the movie-house theme\, while a small performance stage makes live music central to the room rather than an occasional addition. \nThe main space seats a little more than 45 people. \nThere’s also a separate speakeasy area with room for approximately 20. \nFor a trio built around voice\, piano and bass\, that’s almost exactly the scale you’d want. \nClassic Movies Meet Live Jazz\nThe Marquee’s owners describe their concept as a place where classic cinema meets live jazz. \nThat pairing isn’t as arbitrary as it might initially sound. \nJazz and Hollywood grew up together during much of the 20th century. \nThe Great American Songbook that eventually became central to jazz included music written for Broadway shows and Hollywood films. Composers including George Gershwin\, Cole Porter\, Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern wrote songs that later became raw material for generations of jazz musicians. \nA song could begin life in a musical\, become a pop hit and eventually turn into a jazz standard interpreted hundreds of different ways. \nThe Marquee takes some of that atmosphere and makes it literal\, surrounding live musicians with reminders of classic cinema. \nThe Bar Was Built Around Entertainment\nLive music isn’t an afterthought at The Marquee. \nIt was part of the concept before the doors opened. \nWhen the Leffert family sought approval for the business earlier this year\, plans called for live jazz and other music alongside entertainment that could eventually include comedians\, karaoke and DJs. \nThe goal was to contribute another venue to downtown New London’s existing arts district. \nThat’s a particularly interesting location for it. \nThe Garde Arts Center is only a short walk away on State Street. Hygienic Art sits nearby on Bank Street. Restaurants\, galleries and small music venues extend through the surrounding downtown blocks. \nThe Marquee is positioning itself between those worlds: somewhere to stop before a show\, somewhere to hear a show of its own and somewhere to stay afterward. \nFriday Night Starts Before the First Note\nThe music doesn’t begin until 7:30 p.m.\, but Friday’s poster points out another option. \nHappy Hour runs from 4 to 6 p.m. \nThe Marquee is cocktail-forward\, with classic cocktails and its own house creations forming an important part of the concept. \nFood is available as well. \nThe venue serves traditional pub food\, specialty pizza and shareable small plates\, making it possible to arrive early for food and drinks rather than treating the room solely as a late-night bar. \nFriday hours extend until 12:30 a.m.\, so the night doesn’t have to end when the trio finishes at 10:30. \nA Local Singer in a Brand-New Jazz Room\nThere are bigger concerts happening around southeastern Connecticut this weekend. \nThis isn’t one of them. \nThat’s part of the appeal. \nPhred & Friends puts a singer with years of experience in the region into a room built specifically to make small-scale live music feel like an event. \nNo arena. \nNo enormous stage. \nNo need for elaborate production. \nJust Phred Mileski singing\, Ken Fischer at the keyboard and James Hunter on bass\, with a few dozen people close enough to hear what happens between the notes. \nFor a new venue trying to establish jazz as part of its identity on State Street\, that’s a pretty good Friday night. \nDetails\nEvent: Phred & Friends Jazz Trio\nDate: Friday\, September 11\, 2026\nTime: 7:30–10:30 p.m.\nVenue: The Marquee on State Street\nAddress: 312 State Street\, New London\, CT 06320\nPerformers: Phred Mileski\, vocals; Ken Fischer\, keyboard; James Hunter\, bass\nMusic: Jazz\, funk and classic R&B\nHappy Hour: 4–6 p.m.\nFriday Venue Hours: 3 p.m.–12:30 a.m.\nSetting: Indoor jazz bar and cocktail lounge\nFood: Pub fare\, specialty pizza and shareable small plates are available\nDrinks: Classic and signature cocktails are a focus of the bar program\nVenue Phone: 860-446-6037\nSeating: The main room is an intimate space with seating for more than 45; a separate speakeasy area seats approximately 20 \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/phred-friends-jazz-trio-at-the-marquee/
LOCATION:The Marquee on State Street\, 312 State Street\, New London\, CT\, 06320\, United States
CATEGORIES:The Marquee on State Street
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Phred-and-Friends-Jazz-Trio-at-The-Marquee.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260918T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260918T220000
DTSTAMP:20260916T013647Z
CREATED:20260916T013647Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260916T013647Z
UID:10007918-1789761600-1789768800@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Thana Alexa Quartet Brings a Grammy-Nominated Voice and a Global Jazz Palette to The Side Door
DESCRIPTION:Thana Alexa Quartet brings vocalist\, composer\, and sonic experimenter Thana Alexa to The Side Door Jazz Club in Old Lyme on Friday\, September 18\, for an intimate performance that stretches jazz well beyond the traditional singer-and-rhythm-section format. \nAlexa will be joined by Alejandra Sofia on keyboards and vocals\, JC Maillard on guitar and vocals\, and Jacquelene Acevedo on percussion and vocals. \nThat instrumentation offers a clue about what to expect. \nAlexa herself is credited not only with vocals\, but also loops\, effects\, and percussion. Every other member of the quartet contributes vocals. There is no conventional acoustic-bass-and-drum rhythm section in the announced lineup. \nInstead\, this is a band built around voices\, percussion\, electronics\, keyboards and guitar\, giving Alexa room to move between contemporary jazz\, improvisation\, world music and the sounds of her Croatian-American background. \nThana Alexa Uses Her Voice as More Than a Lead Instrument\nCalling Alexa a jazz singer doesn’t quite describe what she does. \nShe is a vocalist\, composer\, arranger and producer who treats the human voice as both a storytelling instrument and another component of the band. \nShe can sing a lyric conventionally and then move into wordless improvisation\, rhythmic figures\, layered vocal textures or electronically manipulated sounds. \nThat approach has helped establish Alexa as one of the more distinctive vocalists to emerge from contemporary jazz. \nBorn in New York City to a Croatian family\, Alexa spent part of her childhood in Croatia before returning to the United States. She later studied jazz and contemporary music at The New School in New York. \nThe two worlds never entirely separated. \nHer music has increasingly drawn from both her American jazz education and Croatian heritage\, particularly as she began exploring questions of family\, immigration\, femininity and identity in her own compositions. \nThose ideas came together most completely on ONA. \nONA Turned Family Stories Into a Grammy-Nominated Album\nReleased in 2020\, ONA takes its title from the Croatian word for “she.” \nThe album began with stories of the women in Alexa’s family\, including generations shaped by migration and cultural change\, but developed into something considerably broader: a musical exploration of women’s experiences\, strength and identity. \nIt also became Alexa’s breakthrough recording. \nONA received a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album at the 63rd Grammy Awards. \nThe album produced a second Grammy nomination through violinist Regina Carter’s performance on Alexa’s composition Pachamama\, which was nominated for Best Improvised Jazz Solo. \nThat distinction is worth making: Alexa herself is a Grammy nominee for ONA\, while the album generated two Grammy nominations overall. \nThe record also demonstrated just how far Alexa was willing to push the vocabulary of vocal jazz. \nThe Band Coming to Old Lyme Is Built Differently\nThe quartet announced for The Side Door reflects that experimental side of Alexa’s music. \nThana Alexa handles voice\, loops\, effects and percussion. \nAlejandra Sofia plays keyboards and adds vocals. \nJC Maillard plays guitar and contributes vocals. \nJacquelene Acevedo adds percussion and vocals. \nFour musicians. Four voices. \nRather than treating backing vocals as decoration behind the lead singer\, the configuration gives Alexa a palette of vocal and instrumental sounds that can be stacked\, repeated\, manipulated and reshaped during a performance. \nLoops allow a performer to record a phrase in real time and immediately play it back\, building additional musical layers over it. Effects can alter the tone\, space and character of a voice just as guitarists have used pedals to reshape the sound of an electric guitar for decades. \nCombine that with keyboards\, guitar and percussion and the quartet can create a much larger sonic environment than its four-person lineup suggests. \nAlexa Has Another Connection to One of Jazz’s Great Modern Drummers\nAlexa is also a longtime member of Migration\, the ensemble led by drummer and composer Antonio Sánchez\, her husband. \nSánchez is best known outside jazz circles for creating the percussion-driven score for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s 2014 film Birdman\, but his career reaches much further into contemporary jazz. \nAlexa’s work with Migration placed her voice inside music where rhythm\, composition and improvisation are deeply intertwined. \nThat experience is easy to connect with her own approach. \nShe doesn’t simply stand in front of a jazz band and sing over it. \nThe voice becomes part of the machinery. \nSONICA Put Three Women’s Voices at the Center\nAlexa has explored that idea from another direction through SONICA\, the vocal trio she formed with singer Nicole Zuraitis and bassist-vocalist Julia Adamy. \nThe project places vocal harmony\, improvisation and original composition at its center\, reinforcing Alexa’s interest in treating voices as an ensemble rather than separating a lead singer from accompanying musicians. \nThat emphasis also connects to another continuing Alexa project: Founding Mothers of Jazz. \nThe project examines and celebrates women who helped shape jazz while often receiving less attention than their male contemporaries. \nFor Alexa\, that isn’t separate from the music. \nQuestions about whose stories get told\, who gets remembered and whose voices are heard run directly through her work. \nHer Croatian Connection Now Extends to a Jazz Festival\nAlexa’s relationship with Croatia has also become part of her professional life. \nShe serves as artistic director of the Ponta Lopud Jazz Festival\, held on the Croatian island of Lopud. \nThe festival brings international jazz musicians together in an environment designed around performance\, collaboration and artistic exchange. \nIt’s another indication of how Alexa’s career has evolved beyond the conventional boundaries of vocalist or bandleader. \nShe’s a performer\, composer and producer\, but increasingly also a curator and organizer helping determine which artists and musical ideas get brought together. \nFriday’s Side Door appearance brings that much larger musical world into one of Connecticut’s smallest serious jazz rooms. \nThe Side Door Was Designed for Nights Like This\nThe setting matters. \nThe Side Door Jazz Club operates inside the historic Old Lyme Inn at 85 Lyme Street\, directly across from the Florence Griswold Museum. \nIt isn’t a multipurpose room that occasionally presents jazz. \nIt’s a dedicated listening room. \nThat makes a substantial difference for a quartet whose music can depend on subtle vocal interactions\, electronics\, percussion and improvisation. \nThere isn’t much distance between performer and audience at The Side Door\, and the room’s emphasis is on listening rather than providing background music for a bar or restaurant. \nFor a vocalist who can shift from an intimate lyric to experimental vocal effects in the same performance\, that’s exactly the kind of room where the details can be heard. \nDinner Can Be Part of the Night\nThe Old Lyme Inn gives concertgoers another option before the music begins. \nSide Door ticket holders receive 10% off dinner at the Old Lyme Inn on concert nights. The venue recommends scheduling dinner reservations no later than 6 p.m. \nDoors for the concert open at 7:15 p.m.\, with Alexa and the quartet scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. \nSeating is reserved rather than general admission\, so purchasing a ticket also determines where you’ll be sitting. \nThe performance is scheduled to run until approximately 10 p.m. \nFree parking is available. \nA Different Kind of Vocal Jazz\nAnyone expecting a conventional evening of standards sung over piano\, bass and drums may be surprised by this one. \nAlexa certainly comes from jazz. \nBut she also comes from a generation of musicians for whom electronics\, global influences\, unconventional instrumentation and studio techniques aren’t outside additions to the genre. \nThey’re simply more tools. \nThe announced quartet makes that particularly clear. \nFour voices. Guitar. Keyboards. Percussion. Loops. Effects. \nAnd at the center of it all is a singer who seems considerably less interested in fitting comfortably inside the definition of a jazz vocalist than in discovering how much further the human voice can go. \nDetails\nEvent: Thana Alexa Quartet\nDate: Friday\, September 18\, 2026\nTime: 8–10 p.m.\nDoors: 7:15 p.m.\nVenue: The Side Door Jazz Club\nAddress: 85 Lyme Street\, Old Lyme\, CT 06371\nLineup: Thana Alexa\, voice/loops/FX/percussion; Alejandra Sofia\, keys/voice; JC Maillard\, guitar/voice; Jacquelene Acevedo\, percussion/voice\nAdmission: Ticketed event; current pricing and seat availability should be confirmed through the ticketing page\nSeating: Reserved seating\nAge: All ages\nParking: Free parking\nDinner: Side Door ticket holders receive 10% off dinner at the Old Lyme Inn; dinner reservations should be scheduled no later than 6 p.m.\nRefunds: No refunds\nPhone: 860-434-2600 \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown. \n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/thana-alexa-quartet-brings-a-grammy-nominated-voice-and-a-global-jazz-palette-to-the-side-door/
LOCATION:Side Door Jazz Club\, 85 Lyme St\, Old Lyme\, 06372\, United States
CATEGORIES:SIde Door Jazz Club
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Thana-Alexa-Quartet-Brings-a-Grammy-Nominated-Voice-and-a-Global-Jazz-Palette-to-The-Side-Door.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T220000
DTSTAMP:20260924T180015Z
CREATED:20260924T180015Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260924T180015Z
UID:10008605-1790364600-1790373600@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Nick Di Maria Brings Connecticut Jazz to New London’s Newest Music Room
DESCRIPTION:Nick Di Maria Brings Connecticut Jazz to New London’s Newest Music Room Friday\, Sept. 25\, when the New Haven trumpeter\, composer and bandleader takes the stage at The Marquee on State Street for a 7:30 p.m. performance. \nDi Maria arrives with bassist Jason Santini and drummer John Soni\, giving the night the compact instrumentation of a trumpet-led trio. For a musician whose career has moved between straight-ahead jazz\, funk\, fusion and more experimental territory\, that stripped-down lineup leaves plenty of room for improvisation. \nIt also puts one of Connecticut’s established jazz musicians inside a venue that is barely two months old. \nFrom Straight-Ahead Jazz to Funk and Fusion\nDi Maria has been leading his own groups on the Connecticut jazz circuit since 2006. \nA graduate of Western Connecticut State University’s jazz performance program\, he studied with acclaimed trumpeter Eddie Henderson and has worked with musicians including Abraham Burton\, Brian Charette\, Peter Bernstein and Mike Clark. \nBut Di Maria’s musical history doesn’t stay neatly inside jazz. \nHe spent part of his early career playing in Connecticut’s ska and punk scene with The Flaming Tsunamis before developing his own jazz projects. Over the years\, his original music has incorporated post-bop\, electronic jazz\, funk\, groove music and fusion. \nThat range is particularly apparent in SkyLab\, Di Maria’s jazz-funk-fusion project. \nIts 2025 album\, SKYLAB\, was recorded at New Haven’s Firehouse 12 and moves through electric keyboards\, horns\, bass and drums with an emphasis on groove and improvisation. Di Maria wrote and arranged the album’s music\, with trumpeter Jeremy Pelt producing several tracks. \nIt’s music that can reward close listening without treating jazz like something that has to be studied before it can be enjoyed. \nMore Than a Performer\nDi Maria has also spent years working on the other side of Connecticut jazz: creating places for musicians to actually play it. \nHe founded and directs the New Haven Jazz Underground\, a grassroots organization devoted to producing and preserving jazz in Connecticut. \nThat matters in a genre where the ecosystem depends heavily on small rooms. \nMajor jazz festivals and concert halls may attract the attention\, but working musicians develop bands\, test material and build audiences in clubs\, bars\, restaurants and listening rooms. \nWhich makes Friday’s location particularly interesting. \nThe Marquee Is Brand New\nThe Marquee on State Street opened in July 2026 at 312 State Street\, in the former DEVS/Nico’s space in downtown New London. \nThe concept combines a jazz bar with the visual atmosphere of classic cinema. \nThe intimate room has seating for roughly 45 people\, a performance stage\, classic-movie memorabilia\, cocktails and small plates. The venue describes the atmosphere as bringing together the glamour of old movies and live jazz. \nThat adds another music room to a downtown already unusually rich in performance spaces. \nThe Garde Arts Center is just down State Street. The Oasis Room operates inside the Garde complex. Hygienic Art has its outdoor and indoor performance spaces nearby\, while clubs and bars around downtown regularly book local and regional musicians. \nThe Marquee fills a somewhat different niche: a small room deliberately built around sitting down with a drink and listening to musicians play. \nFor jazz\, that’s a useful thing to have. \nA Trio Leaves Nowhere to Hide\nFriday’s lineup should also make for a different Di Maria performance than one of his larger ensembles. \nWith trumpet\, bass and drums\, there isn’t a dense arrangement surrounding the soloist. \nSpace becomes part of the music. \nThe bass can move from accompaniment into melody. The drums can shift the direction of a piece without waiting for an arrangement to tell them where to go. And the trumpet has enormous freedom to move over both. \nIt’s one of the things that can make a small jazz group fascinating even when the audience doesn’t know the composition. \nYou don’t have to know what is supposed to happen next. \nOften\, neither do the musicians. \nThat’s the point. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nDetails\nEvent: Nick Di Maria at The Marquee on State Street\nDate: Friday\, Sept. 25\, 2026\nTime: 7:30 p.m.\nVenue: The Marquee on State Street\nAddress: 312 State St.\, New London\, CT\nPerformers: Nick Di Maria\, trumpet; Jason Santini\, bass; John Soni\, drums\nMusic: Jazz and improvisational music\nVenue: Intimate jazz bar and performance room with cocktails and small plates \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/nick-di-maria-brings-connecticut-jazz-to-new-londons-newest-music-room/
LOCATION:The Marquee on State Street\, 312 State Street\, New London\, CT\, 06320\, United States
CATEGORIES:The Marquee on State Street
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Nick-Di-Maria-Brings-Connecticut-Jazz-to-New-Londons-Newest-Music-Room.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T220000
DTSTAMP:20260921T020504Z
CREATED:20260921T020504Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260921T020504Z
UID:10008486-1790366400-1790373600@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Al Copley Returns to the Knick Dance Floor Where Roomful of Blues Made History
DESCRIPTION:Al Copley Returns to the Knick Dance Floor Where Roomful of Blues Made History Friday\, Sept. 25\, bringing his quintet to Westerly for an evening of swing\, blues\, and boogie-woogie at the Knick Music Lab. \nThis isn’t simply a veteran musician playing another local show. Copley’s history and the Knick’s history are intertwined. \nCopley co-founded Roomful of Blues with Duke Robillard in Westerly in the late 1960s. The band eventually established a residency at the Knickerbocker Cafe that lasted roughly 15 years\, helping turn the room into one of southern New England’s important homes for blues and roots music. \nNow Copley is coming back to that same storied dance floor for the Knick’s first dance night of fall. \nAnd yes\, this one is meant for dancing. \nFrom Westerly to Roomful of Blues\nCopley was still a teenager when the musical partnership that became Roomful of Blues began taking shape. \nHe had become fascinated with boogie-woogie piano and Chicago blues\, absorbing the work of players including Albert Ammons\, Pete Johnson\, Meade Lux Lewis and Otis Spann. By his mid-teens\, he was already performing around the Westerly area. \nCopley and Robillard formed Roomful of Blues in 1967. The early group concentrated on Chicago electric blues before its musical vocabulary expanded dramatically. \nA trip to the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival in 1971 helped convince the musicians to pursue a horn-driven sound rooted in the jumping blues\, jazz and R&B of the 1940s and ’50s. \nThat decision became central to the Roomful of Blues sound. \nThe group eventually backed some of the musicians who had helped inspire it\, including Big Joe Turner and Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson. Roomful also shared the stage with Count Basie\, who became an admirer of the band. \nCopley remained with Roomful for 16 years before leaving in 1984 and moving to Europe. \nA Career That Went Far Beyond Westerly\nCopley’s departure from Roomful began another long chapter. \nHe established a solo career in Europe\, performing at jazz and blues festivals and developing a reputation for a highly energetic piano style that moves between boogie-woogie\, blues\, swing and jazz. \nHis résumé eventually connected him with an extraordinary collection of musicians. \nCopley has recorded with the Fabulous Thunderbirds\, Lou Rawls\, Big Joe Turner\, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson\, Duke Robillard and others. His performance history includes appearances with B.B. King\, Etta James\, Stevie Ray Vaughan\, Ruth Brown\, the original Blues Brothers and Big Mama Thornton. \nHe also played a series of Royal Albert Hall dates with Jimmie Vaughan opening for Eric Clapton and later opened additional shows for Clapton himself. \nIn 2002 and again in 2009\, Copley performed his own symphonic orchestrations before audiences of more than 25\,000 with the Boston Festival Orchestra. \nThrough all of it\, the Westerly connection remained. \nBack to the Knick\nThat’s what makes Friday night’s location particularly interesting. \nRoomful of Blues didn’t merely pass through the Knickerbocker. The band’s lengthy residency there helped establish both the group and the club. \nThe Knick became a place where audiences could hear the increasingly sophisticated mixture of blues\, swing\, jazz and R&B that Roomful was developing\, years before the band accumulated an international following. \nDecades later\, the building is now the Knick Music Lab\, part of the UNITED Theatre’s expanded arts campus. \nFor Dance Night\, the room returns to one of its original purposes: putting a band onstage and people on the dance floor. \nThe UNITED describes the show as an evening of swing\, so this isn’t a concert where everyone is expected to remain planted in a chair. The Al Copley Quintet will be playing the room as a dance band. \nNo dance partner or elaborate swing-dance experience is required. The point is to use the floor. \nA Different Kind of Friday Night at the Knick\nThe Knick does not currently have a working kitchen\, so anyone expecting the old dinner-and-show experience should plan accordingly. \nPrepackaged snacks and soft drinks will be available for purchase\, along with a limited bar serving prepackaged beer\, wine and canned cocktails. \nThe music begins at 8 p.m. \nFor longtime local music fans\, there is a considerable amount of history packed into that simple setup: Al Copley at a piano\, a band behind him and people dancing at the Knick. \nNearly six decades after Copley helped start Roomful of Blues in Westerly\, he’s coming back to one of the rooms where the band’s sound became part of the city’s musical identity. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \nDetails\nEvent: Dance Night at The Knick with the Al Copley Quintet\nDate: Friday\, Sept. 25\, 2026\nTime: 8 p.m.\nVenue: Knick Music Lab\nAddress: 35 Railroad Avenue\, Westerly\, RI\nMusic: Swing\, blues\, boogie-woogie and jazz\nFormat: Live music and dancing\nFood: No working kitchen; prepackaged concession snacks available\nDrinks: Soft drinks plus a limited bar with prepackaged beer\, wine and canned cocktails\nPresented By: The UNITED Theatre / Knick Music Lab \n  \n\ \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/al-copley-returns-to-the-knick-dance-floor-where-roomful-of-blues-made-history/
LOCATION:Knickerbocker Music Center\, 35 Railroad Ave\, Westerly\, RI\, 02891\, United States
CATEGORIES:The Knickerbocker
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Al-Copley-Returns-to-the-Knick-Dance-Floor-Where-Roomful-of-Blues-Made-History.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T220000
DTSTAMP:20260924T195227Z
CREATED:20260924T195227Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260924T195227Z
UID:10008609-1790366400-1790373600@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:The Subliminals Bring “Party Jazz” Underground at Tox Brewing
DESCRIPTION:The Subliminals Bring “Party Jazz” Underground at Tox Brewing Friday night\, when the New London instrumental collective takes over The Apothecary for an evening built around jazz\, funk\, and groove rather than the usual brewery soundtrack. \nThe show begins at 8 p.m. Sept. 25 in Tox Brewing Company’s downstairs performance space at 123 Bank Street. \nThe Subliminals have been part of New London’s music ecosystem for years\, but they’re difficult to squeeze into a conventional jazz-band description. Their own shorthand gets closer: music influenced by Herbie Hancock\, Miles Davis\, Roy Hargrove and John Scofield\, played with an emphasis on rhythm and groove. \nElsewhere\, the sound has earned an even simpler description: “party jazz.” \nA Jazz Band Built to Change Shape\nAt the center of The Subliminals are drummer Mike Winslow and guitarist Tom Perrone\, who conceived the project as something closer to a musical collective than a band with an unchanging lineup. \nThat’s important to understanding what happens onstage. \nDepending on the night\, The Subliminals can operate as a compact trio or expand into an ensemble of as many as nine musicians. The lineup shifts\, but the idea remains the same: use jazz as a starting point and build something atmospheric\, rhythmic and accessible around it. \nRather than treating the music like a recital\, the group leans into the parts of modern jazz that make people move. \nHancock is an obvious reference point. His 1970s work helped push jazz decisively toward funk\, electric keyboards and deep rhythmic grooves. Miles Davis was simultaneously tearing apart traditional boundaries between jazz\, rock and electric music\, while later musicians such as Roy Hargrove and John Scofield continued finding ways to move between jazz improvisation\, funk\, soul and groove. \nThat’s the musical neighborhood The Subliminals inhabit. \nIt also means listeners don’t need to be serious jazz aficionados to understand what the band is doing. \nA Band Rooted in New London’s Music Scene\nWinslow’s history helps explain why. \nHe’s moved through several very different corners of southeastern Connecticut’s music community\, performing with groups including Fatal Film\, The Hempsteadys\, Surgery Sessions and 20th Century Kids\, along with earlier work in the funk and groove-rock band Incognito Sofa Love. \nThe Subliminals gave him and Perrone another outlet: a band that could bring together musicians from that broader community and change according to the room\, the players and the night. \nThat makes Friday’s performance particularly well matched to its setting. \nDownstairs at The Apothecary\nTox Brewing itself has undergone a transformation. \nThe brewer moved from its original Broad Street home into a much larger downtown location at 123 Bank Street\, building a brewery\, taproom\, coffee operation and event space around the company’s distinctive science-inspired identity. \nThe name isn’t simply branding. \nTox traces its identity to an interest in toxicology and describes its brewing philosophy as combining the curiosity of scientists with the creativity of artists. Beer becomes an experiment\, customers become collaborators and even the visual language surrounding the brewery draws from poisons\, antidotes\, plants and chemistry. \nThen there’s The Apothecary. \nLocated downstairs from the main taproom\, the space gives Tox a separate room for music and special events\, creating something closer to an intimate underground club than a band performing alongside the regular brewery crowd. \nThat’s where The Subliminals will set up Friday night. \nThere is one accessibility consideration worth knowing beforehand: The Apothecary is downstairs and is accessible only by stairs; there is no elevator to the lower level. \nOne Band\, Two Nights\nFriday won’t be The Subliminals’ only southeastern Connecticut appearance this weekend. \nThe band is also scheduled to play Daniel Packer Inne in Mystic Saturday night\, giving listeners two opportunities to catch the group’s groove-heavy approach to jazz in two very different rooms. \nBut there’s something particularly fitting about Friday’s combination. \nA musical collective built around experimentation playing underneath a brewery that describes every beer as an experiment feels less like a random booking and more like two New London ideas meeting in the same basement. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nDetails\nEvent: The Subliminals at The Apothecary\nDate: Friday\, Sept. 25\, 2026\nTime: 8 p.m.\nVenue: The Apothecary at Tox Brewing Company\nAddress: 123 Bank Street\, New London\, CT 06320\nMusic: Instrumental jazz\, funk and groove\nAccessibility: The Apothecary is located downstairs and does not have elevator access\nPhone: 860-440-8127 \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/the-subliminals-bring-party-jazz-underground-at-tox-brewing/
LOCATION:Tox Brewing Company\, 123 Bank Street\, New London\, CT\, 06320\, United States
CATEGORIES:Tox Brewing Company
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/The-Subliminals-Bring-Party-Jazz-Underground-at-Tox-Brewing.jpg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR