Music

The Vermont Jazz Center will present its annual big band swing gala on Friday, December 4th at 8:00 PM. All proceeds will support the VJC’s Scholarship Program. This year’s concert will feature the music of world-class vibraphonist Terry Gibbs and his Dream Band. The VJC will use the same arrangements that Gibbs’ Ensemble performed during the group’s apex that took place in the late 1950s and early ‘60s.

Based out of Los Angeles, Gibbs’ Dream Band is still recognized as one of the best big bands to emerge after the bebop movement. It included heavy hitters Mel Lewis, Joe Maini, Frank Rosolino, Conte Candoli and Richie Kamuca and was given the title of “Best Band in the World” in Downbeat’s 1962 Critic’s Poll. Arrangers for the Dream Band were some of the finest jazz composers of the time including Bill Holman, Med Flory, Shorty Rogers, Lennie Niehaus, Marty Paich, Al Cohn, Bob Brookmeyer and Manny Albam.

Next Stage Arts Project, in collaboration with Twilight Music, Popolo and WOOL91.5, presents contemporary folk singer/songwriter Antje Duvekot and newgrass quartet The Stockwell Brothers at The Windham Ballroom in Bellows Falls, VT on Saturday, November 14 at 8:00 pm.

Antje Duvekot is a German-born, American-raised singer/songwriter whose songs have been critically praised for their hard-won wisdom, dark-eyed realism and street-smart romanticism. Her bicultural upbringing and relative newness to English have helped shape her unique way with a song, giving her a startlingly original poetic palette. They are the keys to the powerful, even revolutionary, empathy that informs everything she writes. She has won some of the top songwriting awards including the Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition, the Kerrville Folk Festival Best New Folk Award and the Boston Music Award for Outstanding Folk Act.

On Saturday, November 14th at 8:00 PM, the Vermont Jazz Center presents “A Tribute to Jobim,” a performance by three leading artists from Brazil, all of whom had direct connections with Antônio Carlos Jobim who is widely regarded as “one of the most important songwriters of the 20th century.” The VJC presents pianist/musical director, Grammy Award-winning Hélio Alves, Grammy Award-winning vocalist Maucha Adnet (who for 10 years sang with maestro Jobim) and Grammy Award-winning drummer, Duduka Da Fonseca. They will be supported by first-call bassist David Finck in an evening of beautiful Bossa Novas and exhilarating sambas.

To this day, Antônio Carlos Jobim’s compositions continue to serve as a musical bridge between Brazil and the United States. He is best known for penning How Insensitive and Wave but, by just scratching the surface of his tremendous compositional output, we discover other gems such as A Felicidade, Triste, Agua de Beber, Chega de Saudade, Aguas de Março just to name a few. The composer first became known through his association with the Brazilian intellectual, poet, bon vivant and diplomat Vinicius Moraes who hired the then little-known pianist to write music for his play/movie “Black Orpheus.”

Brattleboro–Area youth bands will compete at Youth Services’ Battle of the Bands at the River Garden on Friday, November 6, during Brattleboro’s Gallery Walk night, from 7 to 10 p.m.

The public is encouraged to attend and vote for their favorite group with their applause. Competing bands to date are: Negative Space, The Regulars, Wicked Thirsty, Raspberry Jam, Sometime Sunday, and Nomad vs. Settler. Opening the event will be a performance by the indie-rock band Snaz, which helped get their start as winners of the Battle of the Bands in 2012.

Vocalist Sofia Reí is everywhere these days: This fall season alone she will tour to Colombia, Panama, Ecuador and Florida, she’ll drop in at the Vermont Jazz Center on October 30th at 8:00 PM, make music in her adopted city of New York and then travel to Austria and Germany to play with her trio. This Argentinian singer is making a splash everywhere she travels. Her versatility and brilliance have the New York Times claiming: “the passion and clarity with which she assayed a tricky mix of South American rhythms and jazz-inflected harmonies made clear why she has been embraced by New York City audiences from Carnegie Hall to the hippest downtown haunts.”

On Friday, October 30th at 8:00 PM, Sofia Rei’s concert will mark the first collaboration between the Vermont Jazz Center and Next Stage Arts. Their managing teams agree that Rei’s complex yet accessible music fits both of their individual programming goals while supporting their shared vision. Rei’s repertoire is comprised of rich original compositions set over a well-spring of rhythms from Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Peru. Her music is naturally diverse and inherently beautiful and it thrives on grooving rhythms illuminated by carefully crafted arrangements and uncompromising musicianship.

Those around Brattleboro who remembeer the Chelsea House will remember Sparky Rucker from his many visits there in the ‘70s. The Chelsea House may be gone, but Sparly and his wife, Rhonda, are back for a house concert on Nov. 5.

Sparky and Rhonda’s music includes a variety of old-time blues, Appalachian music, slave songs, and spirituals as well as originals, and they accompany themselves with fingerstyle picking and bottleneck blues guitar, blues harmonica, old-time banjo, piano, spoons, and bones.

The Ruckers also weave American history, traditional storytelling, and humor into their concerts, and they have been featured tellers at the International Storytelling Center and Festival.

The Estey Organ Museum will host an “Organ Spooktacular with the Phantom” on Friday, October 30, at 7:00 PM at the First Baptist Church, 190 Main Street, Brattleboro. The event will feature two shortened silent films, “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Nosferatu”. The “Phantom” features Lon Chaney, and “Nosferatu” includes Max Schreck in the lead roles. Both will receive appropriate accompaniment on the church’s Estey pipe organ.

In addition there will be live performances of songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “The Phantom of the Opera” as well as appropriate spooky music played on the organ.

Organist for the event will be Mark Andersen from Lumberton, NC. Mark began his education at East Carolina University in North Carolina where he studied organ, harp, voice and carillon. His graduate studies carried him to Chicago and the American Conservatory and then on to a full scholarship at the Paris Conservatory where he studied organ with Marcel Dupre and composition with Nadia Boulanger.

Renowned folk musicians Tony Barrand and Keith Murphy will perform a benefit concert in the Main Reading Room of Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main St., Brattleboro, on Friday, November 6 at 7PM.

Barrand and Murphy will feature songs and ballads composed by James Atwood and family members during the mid19^th century in West Dover, Vermont.

The Atwood collection includes dramatic ballads, romantic and funny songs about domestic life and marriage, and children’s songs.  Tony and Keith will sing “Jubilee Jim Fisk,” a song about Brattleboro’s own Jim Fisk, notorious Robber Baron of the Gilded Age.

Over the years the Estey Organ Museum in Brattleboro, VT has received a number of reed organs which are no longer needed for the museum’s permanent collection. As a way to free up storage space as well as pass some of these instruments on to those who would have a use for them, the museum is holding a Reed Organ Re-Homing Weekend on October 24 & 25, 10 AM to 4 PM, at the museum, 108 Birge Street, Brattleboro, VT.

These instruments range in condition from just dusty to requiring complete re-building or re-purposing. Also available are parts for reed organs, pipe organs, and early electronic organs.

On Saturday, October 17th, the Vermont Jazz Center will present world-class drummer Carl Allen with his group “The Art of Elvin.” This working band includes Tivon Pennicott, saxophones; Freddie Hendrix, trumpet; Xavier Davis, piano; Dezron Douglas, bass, and group leader Carl Allen on drums. Allen states: “The group is a tribute to Art Blakey and Elvin Jones and features music performed by both Art Blakey and/or Elvin Jones as well as some original music. In the tradition of both Art and Elvin the music is hard bop, gospel infused, hard swinging music that is designed to make one feel good. It’s high energy as well as toe tapping.”

“Guy Davis. He’s out of New York, and he’s America’s greatest link to the blues right now.” ~ Windsor Star, Ontario, Canada. July 31, 2015.

Guy Davis last played Brattleboro in 2008, alongside Pete Seeger in a memorable, sold-out concert at the Lathis.

Friday night, you have a chance to hear him, solo, at the River Garden.

Seating is limited to 200, all seats are just $20. Tickets and information: .

Here he is playing one of the songs on his brand new album, Kokomo Kidd:

This will be acoustic music at its finest with Barbara Higbie (piano), David Cullen (guitar), Jill Haley (oboe & English horn), David Lindsay (guitar), and Tom Eaton (piano)! The concert is presented by Will Ackerman, (Grammy winner and founder of Windham HIll Records), who has been praised for producing some of the best acoustic instrumental music in the world in recent years at his Imaginary Roads Studio in West Dummerston. 

 The Gathering Concert will be at The Centre Congregational Church this Friday, Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets $20 – available at Hermit Thrush Brewery, 29 High Street, at the door, and at at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1990848

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present contemporary folk and pop singer/songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Seth Glier and Hannah Hoffman at Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery on Saturday, October 3 at 7:30 pm.

Singer, songwriter, pianist, guitarist, producer and Grammy nominee Seth Glier is renowned for his fearless vocal delivery, musical exuberance and seasoned songwriting beyond his years. A troubadour in every sense of the word who averages over 250 live performances annually, 26 year-old Glier has gone from opening act to headlining his own shows and playing major festivals. He’s shared the stage with artists as diverse as James Taylor, Ani DiFranco, Edwin McCain, Martin Sexton, Emmylou Harris and Ryan Adams, and has quickly become known for his passionate live sets and powerful command of both piano and guitar.

Guest performers to include Tyler Gibbons of Red Heart the Ticker

BRATTLEBORO, VT — Singer-songwriter David Berkeley returns to the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) on Wednesday, October 7 at 7:30 p.m., for the New England release of his newest album, “Cardboard Boat,” and the accompanying novella, “The Free Brontosaurus (Rare Bird).” Joined by guitarist Bill Titus and special guest Tyler Gibbons of the Vermont-based duo Red Heart the Ticker, Berkeley will perform in the museum’s Wolf Kahn & Emily Mason Gallery, surrounded by the artwork of Jim Dine. Tickets are $16 in advance, $20 at the door. Purchase online at or call .

The Vermont Jazz Center will present Cuban Saxophonist Carlos Averhoff, Jr. and his quartet iRESI on Friday, October 2nd at 8:00 PM. This is a rare opportunity for the VJC’s audience to hear a masterful and authentic conflation of North American jazz with Cuban clave. Averhoff’s concept superimposes cutting edge post bop jazz language over the complex polyrhythms of his tierra nativa. The group, which he performs and records with, includes Aruan Ortiz on piano, Francisco Mela on drums and John Lockwood on bass. Each of these musicians brings a vast knowledge of both jazz and Latin idioms – they can improvise with relaxed nuance over sophisticated rhythms.

Cuban music often uses a repetitive two-measure phrase called “clave” which is inseparably woven into the fabric of the groove. This is closely related to the way in which the repeated pattern of the drummer’s ride cymbal is a defining characteristic in swing and bebop music. Carlos, Aruan and Mela, who grew up in Cuba, have an internalized comprehension of the clave pattern. Like speaking in one’s native tongue, no thought is needed for them to imbue their music with clave – it is inserted instinctively into the natural cadence of the music and is reflected in many of Carlos’ compositions.

“Guy Davis. He’s out of New York, and he’s America’s greatest link to the blues right now.” ~ Windsor Star, Ontario, Canada. July 31, 2015.

Strolling of the Heifers presents An Evening with Guy Davis — a fundraising event for Strolling of the Heifers on Friday evening, October 9 at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden (157 Main Street, Brattleboro). A widely-known American blues musician, Guy Davis last appeared in Brattleboro in a memorable concert alongside the legendary Pete Seeger in 2008 (also a Stroll fundraising event).

Brattleboro, Vt. – As part of its 50th Anniversary Season, Friends of Music at Guilford is presenting a special guest-artist concert combining the Early Music repertoire with recently composed pieces that bridge the centuries of musical expression in between. Considered one of the world’s finest vocal chamber ensembles, New York Polyphony will perform its “Faith & Reason” program on Sunday, September 27 at 4:00 p.m. in the sanctuary of Centre Congregational Church at 193 Main Street in Brattleboro.

They have toured widely in the U.S. and Europe, appearing at major international festivals and prestigious music series. Their 2013 and 2014 CDs were Grammy-nominated, and a number of their albums have made the “Top 10” lists of The New Yorker, Gramophone, and BBC Music Magazine.

Youth Battle of Bands Held During November Gallery Walk at River Garden

Brattleboro, VT–Area youth bands can launch their musical careers by competing at Youth Services’ Battle of the Bands at the River Garden on Friday, November 6, during Gallery Walk night, from 7 to 10 p.m.

The public is encouraged to attend and vote for their favorite group with their applause, according to organizers. In addition to the audience and youth judges, several individuals from both the recording and music industry will help choose the top band.

“Youth Services’ Battle of the Bands celebrates the entrepreneurial nature of young musicians forming bands and expressing their musical inspiration,” said Russell Bradbury-Carlin, the agency’s Executive Director.

VJC KICKS OFF 2015 – 2016 Concert Season with Jazz Mini-Fest from September 18th to 20th

The Vermont Jazz Center is kicking off its new season of concerts with a bang, presenting a three-night Fall Festival from September 18 through the 20th.

On Friday (September 18th) the VJC presents renowned flutist, Jamie Baum and her Septet +. They will be performing Indian and Pakistani-influenced music filtered through Baum’s keen jazz aesthetic. On Saturday night (September 19th) Steve Wilson—claimed by NPR to be “one of the finest saxophonists in the business”—will present his quartet, Wilsonian’s Grain, in a concert celebrating the release of their new CD: “Live in New York, the Village Vanguard Session.” On Sunday (September 20th) at 4:00 PM vocalist Rebecca Holtz will pull out all the stops by hosting a CD release party in a benefit for the scholarship programs for the VJC and NECCA. All events will take place at the Vermont Jazz Center, 72 Cotton Mill Hill, Brattleboro, Vermont.