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SUMMARY:Dan Moretti & Brazilia Bring Wayne Shorter Into the World of Latin Jazz at the UNITED
DESCRIPTION:Dan Moretti & Brazilia Bring Wayne Shorter Into the World of Latin Jazz at the UNITED on Oct. 4\, when the Rhode Island saxophonist leads an international quintet through a meeting of modern jazz and Latin rhythms in the UNITED Theatre’s Gallery Events Space. \nThis isn’t simply a Latin jazz band playing standards with added percussion. Moretti and Brazilia take compositions apart rhythmically and rebuild them around mambos\, cha-cha-chas\, sambas and other Latin and Brazilian grooves. \nThat approach is particularly important to the group’s latest project. \nTheir 2025 live album\, Celebrating Wayne Shorter: Live at the Pump House Music Works\, takes the music of one of the most influential composers in modern jazz and gives it a different rhythmic foundation. \nThat means compositions including “Black Nile\,” “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum\,” “Night Dreamer\,” “Speak No Evil\,” “Witch Hunt\,” “Yes or No\,” and “Footprints” can sound familiar and entirely different at the same time. \nFive Musicians From Four Countries\nThe current Brazilia lineup is unusually international. \nDan Moretti\, from Rhode Island\, leads on tenor and soprano saxophones and flute. \nOscar Stagnaro\, originally from Peru\, handles bass. The four-time Grammy winner has spent decades at the center of Latin jazz and is closely associated with Paquito D’Rivera. He is also a longtime Berklee educator and has played with artists including Chucho Valdés\, Dave Valentin and the Caribbean Jazz Project. \nMaxim Lubarsky\, originally from Ukraine\, is on piano. His playing brings together jazz improvisation\, classical training and the rhythmic vocabulary of music from different parts of the world. \nErnesto Diaz\, from Colombia\, supplies the percussion that gives Brazilia much of its Latin pulse. \nSteve Langone\, from the United States\, completes the group on drums\, working alongside Diaz rather than simply duplicating the percussion. That drum-and-percussion combination gives the ensemble room to move between straight-ahead jazz and denser Latin rhythmic structures. \nAll five musicians have Berklee connections\, but the geographical spread matters just as much. Brazilia isn’t approaching Latin jazz from a single national tradition. The musicians bring backgrounds from the United States\, Peru\, Ukraine and Colombia into the same ensemble. \nBrazilia Goes Back More Than 30 Years\nThe name Brazilia isn’t a recent addition to Moretti’s career. \nHe recorded Dan Moretti & Brazilia: Live at Chan’s in 1995 with a formidable lineup that included saxophonist Greg Abate\, pianist Alain Mallet\, bassist Oscar Stagnaro\, drummer Ben Wittman and percussionist Pernell Saturnino. \nStagnaro’s presence in both the 1995 and current versions of Brazilia gives the group a connection spanning more than three decades. \nBy 1999\, Moretti & Brazilia were appearing at the Litchfield Jazz Festival with saxophonist Dave Liebman as special guest. Moretti’s own discography continued moving through jazz\, funk\, Latin music and other combinations rather than settling into one permanent format. \nThe current incarnation circles back to Brazilia while using Wayne Shorter’s music as its jumping-off point. \nWhy Wayne Shorter Gives Them So Much to Work With\nWayne Shorter left behind the kind of compositions musicians can keep discovering things inside. \nHis career stretched from Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis’ Second Great Quintet to the groundbreaking fusion group Weather Report and decades of work under his own name. But his influence wasn’t limited to being an extraordinary saxophonist. \nHe was a composer whose pieces often resist the predictable resolutions of conventional jazz standards. \nThat makes his music unusually fertile territory for a group such as Brazilia. \nInstead of reproducing famous Shorter recordings\, the quintet can preserve the melodies and harmonic architecture while changing what’s happening underneath them. A composition originally associated with a particular post-bop feel can suddenly be propelled by a mambo or samba rhythm. \nMoretti’s 2025 live recording grew out of exactly that idea. \nThe resulting album reached No. 1 on the Roots Music Report charts\, climbed to No. 6 on JazzWeek and remained on national jazz charts for more than 20 weeks. \nMoretti’s Career Runs From Ray Charles to Berklee\nMoretti has enough history of his own to fill an evening. \nBorn in Providence and raised in Narragansett\, he began playing saxophone in elementary school and was performing with the Rhode Island Youth All-State Jazz Band at the Newport Jazz Festival by age 12. \nHe later became the University of Rhode Island’s first saxophone major at a time when saxophonists generally had to major in clarinet and treat saxophone as a secondary instrument. \nHis professional career eventually crossed boundaries between jazz\, R&B\, funk\, soul and pop. His performance credits include Ray Charles\, Aretha Franklin\, Ben E. King\, The Four Tops\, The Temptations\, Chaka Khan\, Dr. John\, Stevie Nicks\, Steve Winwood\, Robert Plant\, Nile Rodgers\, George Duke and others. \nMoretti has also recorded extensively as a leader\, composer and producer. His catalog reaches back to the 1980s and includes Point of Entry\, Dan Moretti & Brazilia\, That’s Right\, Latin Genesis\, Stories\, Passing Place\, Invoke and numerous other projects. \nRhode Island recognized that body of work by inducting him into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame in 2017. \nParallel to all of it has been a long career in music education. \nMoretti became a professor at Berklee College of Music\, teaching contemporary writing and production and helping develop curriculum in groove writing and arranging. He is now Professor Emeritus. \nSo when Brazilia plays with rhythm\, it isn’t decorative. Moretti has spent decades studying\, performing\, composing and teaching precisely how rhythm changes the character of music. \nSunday Jazz in the Gallery\nThe UNITED is putting the quintet in its Gallery Events Space rather than one of its conventional theater rooms. \nThat’s a good match for this music. \nJazz built around improvisation works differently when the audience is close enough to watch musicians communicate. A glance from Moretti toward the rhythm section\, a piano phrase picked up by the saxophone or a rhythmic shift between Diaz and Langone becomes part of what you’re watching rather than something happening at a distance. \nAnd with musicians of this caliber\, the written composition is only the beginning. \nWayne Shorter supplied the architecture. \nBrazilia gets to decide where to take it. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. To purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \nDetails\nEvent: Dan Moretti & Brazilia – Sunday Jazz at the U\nDate: Sunday\, Oct. 4\, 2026\nTime: 6–8 p.m.\nVenue: UNITED Theatre – Gallery Events Space\nAddress: 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI 02891\nMusic: Latin jazz\, Brazilian jazz and contemporary jazz\nDan Moretti: Tenor and soprano saxophones\, flute\nOscar Stagnaro: Bass\nMaxim Lubarsky: Piano\nErnesto Diaz: Percussion\nSteve Langone: Drums\nLatest Album: Celebrating Wayne Shorter: Live at the Pump House Music Works\nAccessibility: The UNITED’s cinemas are wheelchair accessible; guests attending live performances who need accessible seating are encouraged to contact the box office before purchasing tickets.\nBox Office: 401-388-8208\nEmail: info@unitedtheatre.org \n  \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/dan-moretti-brazilia-bring-wayne-shorter-into-the-world-of-latin-jazz-at-the-united/
LOCATION:United Theatre\, 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI\, 02891\, United States
CATEGORIES:United Theater
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T220000
DTSTAMP:20260924T195227Z
CREATED:20260924T195227Z
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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
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T220000
DTSTAMP:20260921T020504Z
CREATED:20260921T020504Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260921T020504Z
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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
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T220000
DTSTAMP:20260924T180015Z
CREATED:20260924T180015Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260924T180015Z
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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
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END:VEVENT
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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
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END:VEVENT
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
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260829T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260829T220000
DTSTAMP:20260824T021203Z
CREATED:20260824T021203Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260824T021203Z
UID:10007261-1788033600-1788040800@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Benny Green at The Side Door in Old Lyme
DESCRIPTION:Benny Green at The Side Door in Old Lyme on Saturday\, August 29\, for an intimate evening of solo piano. \nThere will be no rhythm section behind him. No bassist carrying the bottom end. No drummer keeping time. \nJust Green\, a piano and more than four decades of experience stretching from Betty Carter and Art Blakey to Freddie Hubbard\, Ray Brown and Oscar Peterson. \nDoors open at 7:15 p.m.\, with the performance running from 8 to 10 p.m. The all-ages concert is the second of two consecutive nights Green will perform at The Side Door. \nFrom His Father’s Records to the Piano\nGreen was born in New York in 1963 and raised in Berkeley\, California\, where music was already waiting for him at home. \nHis father played tenor saxophone\, and records by musicians including Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker became part of Green’s early musical education. \nHe began classical piano lessons at seven\, but something else was happening when he sat at the instrument. Green was listening to jazz records and trying to reproduce what he heard\, figuring out melodies and improvisations by ear. \nEventually\, jazz won. \nWhile still a teenager\, Green was already working professionally around the Bay Area. He performed with singer Fay Carroll and gained experience alongside established musicians including trumpeter Eddie Henderson and bassist Chuck Israels. \nBefore Green was old enough to build a national reputation\, he was learning how to listen\, accompany another musician and swing. \nThose lessons would become useful very quickly. \nBetty Carter’s Classroom\nAfter moving to New York\, Green joined legendary jazz vocalist Betty Carter in 1983. \nCarter’s bands had a reputation for becoming classrooms for exceptional young musicians. She demanded that players listen\, respond and develop their own musical identities rather than simply reproduce what they’d heard before. \nGreen stayed for four years. \nThen\, in 1987\, he stepped into another of jazz’s great training grounds. \nArt Blakey called. \nBecoming a Jazz Messenger\nJoining Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers carried a significance far beyond landing another job. \nFor decades\, Blakey’s band served as a launching pad for generations of major jazz musicians. Alumni included Wayne Shorter\, Lee Morgan\, Freddie Hubbard\, Wynton Marsalis and Branford Marsalis\, among many others. \nGreen had grown up listening to Blakey. \nNow he was sitting at the piano in his band. \nGreen remained a Jazz Messenger until Blakey’s death in 1990\, absorbing the hard-driving rhythmic approach that would become an important part of his own playing. \nHis next stop didn’t exactly lower the stakes. \nGreen went on to work with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard\, one of the defining jazz musicians of the postwar era. \nRay Brown and an Extraordinary Phone Call\nGreen eventually joined another master\, bassist Ray Brown. \nBrown’s career reached all the way back to playing with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker during the birth of bebop. He had also spent years performing with Oscar Peterson. \nGreen joined Brown’s trio in the early 1990s and remained with the group for several years. \nThen Oscar Peterson himself took notice. \nIn 1993\, Green became the first recipient of the City of Toronto’s Glenn Gould International Protégé Prize in Music. \nPeterson personally selected him. \nFor a young jazz pianist\, it’s difficult to imagine a more intimidating endorsement. One of the greatest pianists in the history of the music had effectively pointed across generations and said: watch this one. \nThe relationship didn’t end with an award. \nOscar and Benny\nGreen and Peterson eventually performed together and later recorded together. \nTheir collaboration produced Oscar and Benny\, recorded with Ray Brown and drummer Gregory Hutchinson. \nThe album eventually leaves the rest of the musicians behind for its closing performance. \nTwo pianos. \nOscar Peterson at one. \nBenny Green at the other. \nFor Green\, it was another direct connection in an extraordinary musical lineage. The musicians he’d once encountered through records weren’t simply influences anymore. \nThey had become his teachers\, employers\, collaborators and peers. \nBuilding a Career of His Own\nGreen eventually stepped out from those legendary bands and established himself as a leader. \nHis recording career has included albums for Blue Note and other major jazz labels\, with more than 100 recording sessions as a leader and sideman. \nHis Blue Note years produced albums including Lineage\, Greens\, Testifyin! Live at the Village Vanguard\, That’s Right!\, The Place to Be\, Kaleidoscope and These Are Soulful Days. \nAlong the way\, Green has worked with another generation of major jazz musicians\, including bassist Christian McBride and guitarist Russell Malone. \nThe thread running through it all is swing. \nGreen can be technically dazzling\, but technique isn’t the destination. His playing comes from a jazz tradition in which rhythm matters just as much as harmony\, and where even a complicated improvisation still needs to move. \nNow Take Everyone Else Away\nThat’s what makes Saturday’s performance particularly interesting. \nGreen is playing alone. \nA trio normally divides responsibilities among musicians. A bassist can establish the foundation while a drummer controls pulse and dynamics. The pianist can leave space\, respond to the others or step forward and then retreat. \nSolo piano removes that safety net. \nGreen has to provide the bass movement\, harmony\, melody\, rhythm and improvisation himself. He decides when the music breathes and when it drives forward. \nFor a musician whose education came from some of jazz’s greatest bandleaders and rhythm sections\, the format exposes everything he’s learned. \nOne instrument has to contain the whole band. \nNew Music Is Coming\nThe Old Lyme performances also arrive at an interesting point in Green’s recording career. \nHis new album\, Renovation!\, is scheduled for release on September 18\, less than a month after his two nights at The Side Door. \nThe timing puts the Connecticut appearances immediately ahead of the next chapter in a recording career that has stretched across decades. \nGreen performs at The Side Door on both Friday\, August 28\, and Saturday\, August 29\, before heading to Portsmouth\, New Hampshire\, for another performance the following night. \nSaturday’s Old Lyme concert is the second of the two Side Door performances. \nA Room Made for This Kind of Night\nThe Side Door Jazz Club is tucked inside the historic Old Lyme Inn at 85 Lyme Street. \nRather than a general entertainment venue that occasionally books jazz\, The Side Door was created as a dedicated jazz listening room. \nThat distinction matters for a solo piano performance. \nThere are no arena screens or enormous distances separating musician and audience. The room is intimate enough to hear the smaller things: a change in touch\, the space Green leaves between phrases\, the left hand quietly establishing a pulse before the right hand takes off somewhere else. \nTickets are reserved seating\, and the performance is open to all ages. \nFree parking is available\, and guests who dine at the Old Lyme Inn before the concert receive 10% off their dinner bill. \nOne Piano\, Four Decades of Teachers\nThere’s a remarkable collection of names attached to Benny Green’s career. \nBetty Carter. \nArt Blakey. \nFreddie Hubbard. \nRay Brown. \nOscar Peterson. \nBut Saturday night isn’t a history lecture. \nThose musicians matter because traces of what Green learned from them remain in the way he plays. \nThe singer who taught him to accompany. The drummer who taught generations how to swing. The trumpeter whose hard-bop vocabulary helped define an era. The bassist who had been there when bebop was being invented. The pianist who personally chose Green as his protégé. \nAt The Side Door\, none of them will be onstage. \nIn a way\, all of them will. \nEvent Details\nEvent: Benny Green Solo Piano\nDate: Saturday\, August 29\, 2026\nTime: 8–10 p.m.\nDoors: 7:15 p.m.\nLocation: The Side Door Jazz Club at the Old Lyme Inn\nAddress: 85 Lyme Street\, Old Lyme\, CT 06371\nSeating: Reserved\nAge: All ages\nParking: Free\nPerformer: Benny Green\nPerformance: Solo piano\nRefunds: No refunds \nGuests dining at the Old Lyme Inn before the performance receive 10% off their dinner bill. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \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/benny-green-at-the-side-door-in-old-lyme/
LOCATION:Side Door Jazz Club\, 85 Lyme St\, Old Lyme\, 06372\, United States
CATEGORIES:SIde Door Jazz Club
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260822T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260822T223000
DTSTAMP:20260820T173308Z
CREATED:20260820T173308Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260820T173308Z
UID:10007241-1787427000-1787437800@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Kosmographers Jazz Trio at The Marquee on State Street
DESCRIPTION:Kosmographers Jazz Trio at The Marquee on State Street offers an evening of live jazz\, cocktails and downtown atmosphere on Saturday\, August 22\, inside one of New London’s newest music venues. \nThe trio performs from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.\, with guitarist Scott Drouin\, bassist Ian Hagan and drummer Tom Tefcale bringing a stripped-down guitar\, bass and drums lineup to The Marquee. \nDoors open at 4 p.m.\, giving guests the option of arriving early for happy hour before settling in for the evening’s performance. \nMeet the Kosmographers\nKosmographers brings together three musicians in the classic jazz-trio format of guitar\, bass and drums. \nScott Drouin — Guitar \nDrouin has been part of the southeastern Connecticut jazz community for years. His appearances have included performances with musicians from New London’s jazz scene\, including bassist Ian Kelly and saxophonist Doug Rice. \nWith Kosmographers\, Drouin takes the melodic and harmonic role normally divided between instruments in a larger jazz ensemble. The absence of a piano leaves plenty of open space for guitar\, bass and drums to interact. \nIan Hagan — Bass \nHagan provides the trio’s low-end foundation\, giving the guitar room to move while connecting its melodic lines to the rhythm of the drums. \nIn a small jazz group\, the bassist does considerably more than keep time. Walking bass lines can establish the harmony\, change the direction of a solo and create a musical conversation between the other players. \nTom Tefcale — Drums \nTefcale completes the trio on drums\, providing the rhythmic framework for a format that depends heavily on musicians listening and responding to one another. \nThat’s part of what makes a trio interesting to watch. There isn’t much room to hide. With only three instruments onstage\, each musician can change the direction and energy of a piece almost instantly. \nJazz in an Intimate Room\nThe setting may be almost as interesting as the band. \nThe Marquee on State Street opened in July 2026 at 312 State Street\, bringing a new jazz-focused cocktail bar and performance space to downtown New London. \nThe family-owned venue was created by Christopher Leffert and his parents\, Sean and Sayra Leffert\, who transformed the former DEVS/Nico’s location into a space inspired by old movie palaces\, classic cinema and the atmosphere of a 1920s speakeasy. \nThe main room seats a little more than 45 people and includes a small performance stage. There’s also a separate speakeasy area with seating for approximately 20. \nThat relatively small scale is intentional. \nInstead of putting musicians at the far end of a large restaurant\, The Marquee was designed around the idea of combining cocktails\, conversation and live music in the same intimate room. \nClassic Movies Meet Live Music\nMovie memorabilia and vintage-inspired details reinforce The Marquee’s cinema theme\, while the bar emphasizes classic cocktails and its own signature creations. \nSmall plates are also available for guests who want something to eat during the evening. \nThe concept grew partly from Christopher Leffert’s interest in classic and experimental films and partly from the family’s desire to bring another live entertainment option to downtown New London. \nJazz has been central to the venue from its opening\, although its entertainment plans extend to other forms of live music\, comedy\, DJs and special events. \nThe Marquee celebrated its grand opening on July 17 with a live jazz performance\, making Saturday’s Kosmographers appearance part of a music calendar that’s still very new to the city. \nAnother Piece of New London’s Arts District\nThe location puts The Marquee in the middle of a downtown neighborhood already anchored by music\, theater and visual arts. \nThe Garde Arts Center is just down State Street\, while Hygienic Art\, galleries\, restaurants and other live music venues are scattered throughout the surrounding blocks. \nThe Marquee’s owners have said they want the business to become part of that larger creative community rather than simply another downtown bar. \nA local jazz trio playing in a room specifically created with live jazz in mind fits that idea rather nicely. \nSaturday night’s show also offers something different from a large concert. There are no arena seats or distant stage. It’s three musicians\, a small room and the kind of musical interplay that’s much easier to appreciate when you’re sitting only a few yards away. \nEvent Details\nEvent: Kosmographers Jazz Trio\nDate: Saturday\, August 22\, 2026\nDoors Open: 4 p.m.\nPerformance: 7:30–10:30 p.m.\nAcross from the Garde \nMusicians:\nScott Drouin — Guitar\nIan Hagan — Bass\nTom Tefcale — Drums \nGuests can arrive early for happy hour before the trio takes the stage for an evening of jazz in The Marquee’s intimate\, cinema-inspired setting. \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/kosmographers-jazz-trio-at-the-marquee-on-state-street/
LOCATION:The Marquee on State Street\, 312 State Street\, New London\, CT\, 06320\, United States
CATEGORIES:The Marquee on State Street
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260822T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260822T220000
DTSTAMP:20260820T145107Z
CREATED:20260820T145107Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260820T145107Z
UID:10007234-1787427000-1787436000@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Sarah Hanahan Quartet at The Side Door Jazz Club
DESCRIPTION:Sarah Hanahan Quartet at The Side Door Jazz Club brings one of the most acclaimed young alto saxophonists in jazz to Old Lyme on Saturday\, August 22\, for an intimate performance inside the historic Old Lyme Inn. \nThe concert begins at 8 p.m.\, with doors opening at 7:15 p.m. Hanahan will be joined by pianist Caelan Cardello\, bassist Matt Dwonszyk and drummer Samuel Bolduc for an evening of modern jazz led by a musician DownBeat has named its No. 1 Rising Star Alto Saxophonist for two consecutive years. \nFrom Connecticut’s Hartt School to Juilliard\nHanahan’s path to the national jazz scene has strong Connecticut roots. \nRaised in Marlborough\, Massachusetts\, she began playing alto saxophone at age eight. Her father was a drummer\, and his love of music provided an early introduction to the jazz that would eventually become her career. \nHanahan came to Connecticut to attend the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School\, a program founded by legendary alto saxophonist Jackie McLean. \nThere\, she studied with musicians including Abraham Burton\, Rene McLean\, Nat Reeves and Javon Jackson. She continued her education in New York\, earning a master’s degree from The Juilliard School. \nThat combination placed Hanahan in two important jazz traditions: the hard-bop lineage associated with McLean and Hartford\, and the intensely competitive New York jazz scene where she has since established herself as a working musician. \nA Rapid Rise Through the Jazz World\nHanahan has accumulated an impressive list of collaborators while still relatively early in her career. \nShe has performed or worked with musicians including Jeff “Tain” Watts\, Billy Hart\, Dee Dee Bridgewater\, Nat Reeves\, Steve Davis and Marc Cary. She has also performed with the Grammy-winning Mingus Big Band and Sherrie Maricle’s DIVA Jazz Orchestra. \nNew York audiences can regularly find her at clubs including Birdland\, Smalls Jazz Club\, Dizzy’s Club and Smoke Jazz Club. \nNPR also selected Hanahan for the inaugural class of its Jazz Night in America Youngbloods\, a project hosted by bassist Christian McBride highlighting emerging jazz musicians. \nBut one of the biggest steps forward came with her first album. \nAmong Giants\nHanahan released her debut album\, Among Giants\, in 2024. \nThe title proved appropriate. Rather than surrounding herself entirely with musicians from her own generation\, Hanahan recorded with veteran pianist Marc Cary\, longtime Hartford bassist and educator Nat Reeves and celebrated drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts. \nThe album received a five-star review from DownBeat and was selected as one of the magazine’s top albums of 2024. \nIn 2025\, DownBeat readers named Hanahan the No. 1 Rising Star Alto Saxophonist\, recognition she has now earned in consecutive years. \nHer playing combines the force and improvisational freedom of the jazz tradition she studied in Hartford with a lyrical quality and an energetic stage presence. The result is music that respects where jazz came from without sounding like an attempt to preserve it behind glass. \nThe Quartet Coming to Old Lyme\nFor the Side Door performance\, Hanahan leads a four-piece group: \nSarah Hanahan — Alto Saxophone\nCaelan Cardello — Piano\nMatt Dwonszyk — Bass\nSamuel Bolduc — Drums \nThere are Connecticut connections within the quartet beyond Hanahan’s years at Hartt. \nBassist Matt Dwonszyk is himself a product of the Jackie McLean Institute and has become a significant presence in Connecticut and New York jazz. He has performed with artists including Harold Mabern\, Larry Willis and Steve Davis while also leading his own groups. \nPianist Caelan Cardello represents another generation of emerging jazz musicians. The New Jersey pianist has already performed at major New York jazz venues and developed a reputation as both a bandleader and sideman. \nTogether\, the quartet format leaves plenty of room for interaction. With only saxophone\, piano\, bass and drums\, each musician has space to respond to the others as arrangements move between composed passages and improvisation. \nJazz in a Room Built for Listening\nThe setting is part of what makes this performance different from seeing the same quartet in a large theater. \nThe Side Door Jazz Club is a dedicated jazz listening room located inside the historic Old Lyme Inn at 85 Lyme Street. Rather than functioning as a general-purpose venue that occasionally books jazz\, The Side Door was created specifically around the experience of hearing the music in a small room. \nThat matters with a quartet like Hanahan’s. Jazz is conversational music. A drummer changes direction\, the bassist catches it\, the pianist leaves an opening and the saxophone answers. In a room this size\, the audience can watch those exchanges happen only feet away. \nSince opening in 2013\, The Side Door has attracted nationally and internationally recognized jazz musicians while establishing Old Lyme as an unlikely stop on the touring jazz circuit. \nDinner Before the Show\nGuests can turn the concert into a full evening by dining at the Old Lyme Inn before the performance. \nTicket holders who have dinner at the inn before the show receive 10% off their dinner bill. \nBecause the concert uses reserved seating\, guests don’t need to race for a preferred spot when the doors open. Free parking is also available at the venue. \nThe performance is open to all ages. \nEvent Details\nEvent: Sarah Hanahan Quartet\nDate: Saturday\, August 22\, 2026\nDoors: 7:15 p.m.\nShow: 8–10 p.m.\nLocation: The Side Door Jazz Club at Old Lyme Inn\nAddress: 85 Lyme Street\, Old Lyme\, CT 06371\nSeating: Reserved\nAges: All ages\nParking: Free \nTickets are non-refundable. Guests dining at the Old Lyme Inn before the performance receive 10% off their dinner bill. \nMore information is available at the Event Website listed below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n\n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/sarah-hanahan-quartet-at-the-side-door-jazz-club/
LOCATION:Side Door Jazz Club\, 85 Lyme St\, Old Lyme\, 06372\, United States
CATEGORIES:SIde Door Jazz Club
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260627T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260627T220000
DTSTAMP:20260615T021453Z
CREATED:20260615T021142Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260615T021453Z
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SUMMARY:Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
DESCRIPTION:Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis brings one of the world’s premier jazz ensembles to southeastern Connecticut on Saturday\, June 27. The performance is part of the lead-up to Marsalis’ final season as Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and Music Director of the renowned orchestra\, making this a particularly meaningful opportunity for jazz fans to experience one of the most influential figures in American music. \nLed by Pulitzer Prize-winning trumpeter\, composer\, educator\, and cultural ambassador Wynton Marsalis\, the 15-member Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has served as the resident orchestra of Jazz at Lincoln Center since 1988. Known for its extraordinary musicianship and versatility\, the ensemble performs everything from historic jazz masterworks by Duke Ellington\, Count Basie\, Thelonious Monk\, Charles Mingus\, and Dizzy Gillespie to contemporary compositions and original works created by members of the orchestra itself. \nMarsalis\, a New Orleans native and graduate of The Juilliard School\, is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in modern jazz. Through thousands of performances across more than 60 countries\, he has become a leading advocate for jazz as an American art form rooted in creativity\, collaboration\, discipline\, and optimism. Audiences can expect an evening of world-class musicianship featuring some of the finest soloists and ensemble performers in jazz today. \nFeatured Artists\nWynton Marsalis – Music Director\, Trumpet \nAlongside the acclaimed Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra\, featuring: \n\nRyan Kisor\, Kenny Rampton\, Marcus Printup (Trumpets)\nVincent Gardner\, Chris Crenshaw\, Elliot Mason (Trombones)\nSherman Irby\, Alexa Tarantino\, Chris Lewis\, Abdias Armenteros\, Paul Nedzela (Saxophones\, Clarinets & Flutes)\nDan Nimmer (Piano)\nCarlos Henriquez (Bass)\nObed Calvaire (Drums)\n\nEvent Details\nDate: Saturday\, June 27\, 2026\nTime: 8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. \n\n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/jazz-at-lincoln-center-orchestra-with-wynton-marsalis/
LOCATION:Garde Arts Center\, 325 State Street\, New London\, CT\, 06320\, United States
CATEGORIES:Garde Arts Center
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