CDs! We have them! If you would like a physical copy of our new album Watch the Birdie, you can order one from our Bandcamp page, in all its glory. We splurged for the eco case and we have actual liner notes for you to read about the making of this album. Shout out to CIH Studios for the incredible album artwork, it’s thematic perfection.
If you love Keenan McKenzie’s original tunes and arrangements on the Mint Julep Jazz Band albums, you can now get even more of this great music in your life – Keenan is releasing a brand new album of original swing music written by the maestro himself called Forged in Rhythm, available now for preview and pre-order on Bandcamp and full release coming December 5!
Here’s Keenan’s post about the album release:
“If you’d asked me a few years ago, I wouldn’t have imagined my first album would be 15 radio-length songs, all in 4/4 time. I now owe so much to the dance community that it’s hard to imagine it going any other way. Swing music has provided some unforgettable experiences and introduced me to a world of wonderful people, including Allison Meeks (you make my heart go thump thump thump!)
I’m thrilled to announce the upcoming release of FORGED IN RHYTHM. This album of original tunes is a celebration of my favorite ‘30s/‘40s musicians and a love letter to the swing dance scene. I got to work with some phenomenal players and great friends, and we had a blast making this record. I can’t wait for you to hear it!
Keenan McKenzie……………reeds
Gordon Au…………………..trumpet
Lucian Cobb……………..trombone
Jonathan Stout……………….guitar
Chris Dawson………………….piano
Seth Ford-Young………………bass
Josh Collazo………………….drums
Laura Windley………………..vocals
Miles Senzaki……………..engineer
Artwork and design by Ryan Calloway Art
Available December 5th on Bandcamp, CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon and more!”
The Mint Julep Jazz Band’s newest album, Battle Axe, is now available online for digital download and for purchase of physical copies of the album! We know for certain that you can find Battle Axe on CD Baby, iTunes, and we suspect that Amazon.com, Spotify, and eMusic will have it as well, maybe even some other sources we don’t suspect! You can purchase physical CDs at CD Baby.com and have them shipped to you or, as always, you can purchase CDs at any of our shows.
Some of you have asked which service gives the band the most money per song/copy and that answer is definitely CD Baby, who is our primary distributor.
Thanks again to all of our Kickstarter backers for making this dream a reality!
The official release date for digital copies of the Mint Julep Jazz Band’s new album, Battle Axe, is July 14! Digital copies will be available on CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, just about anywhere digital copies are sold. Physical CD copies should be available for purchase online shortly thereafter. Our Kickstarter digital backers will receive theirs slightly before this date and our Kickstarter physical backers should start to receive their copies around this date. Huzzah!
Also, check out our fantastic album cover art, thanks to graphic designer and electronic music artist extraordinaire Judson Cowan (aka Tettix)!
After launching a week ago, we are excited to report that the Mint Julep Jazz Band’s Kickstarter for our new album “Battle Axe” is already 38% funded! Here are some other update tidbits about our first week of this Kickstarter:
– As of 1/18/15, we have a total of 157 backers!
– We have backers from Canada, Australia, UK, Israel, Switzerland, and Brazil, as well as backers from all over the US.
– The aprons made by Gayle Windley (vocalist Laura’s mom) and the fascinator donated by ChatterBlossom were sold within the first 12 hours after the Kickstarter launched.
– We have added a reward in the first week, two passes to The Process, a weekend of Lindy Hop workshops and dances in Richmond, VA (July 17-19, 2015) focusing on the “process guiding Lindy Hoppers to rapid improvement,” featuring six sets of national and internationally known lindy hop instructors, and the Mint Julep Jazz Band is performing at the Friday night dance – thanks so much to the Jazz Dance Education Council for donating two passes!
– We are going to add a new reward this week, another lovely fascinator donated by ChatterBlossom – stay tuned!
While we make preparations for launching our new album Kickstarter next year, we wonder if you’ve got a copy of our album or maybe a relative might like the gift of swing under their holiday tree?
We’re running a Cyber Monday special on our first album, Durham on Saturday Night, just to make sure your shopping gets covered at a better price – physical copies of our CD are usually $15.00 on CD Baby, but we’re running a one day sale on Monday, December 1 (EST), for $10.00.
Physical copies are easier to wrap than digital copies and for one day they will be the same price! Happy shopping!
First prize is a CD, bag, hankie, and button – second prize is a CD!
A year ago today, May 8, we released our first album “Durham on Saturday Night” – to celebrate one year of recorded bliss, we are doing a giveaway on Lindy Hop Problems – Click below to enter to win a free CD and other goodies! You have two weeks to get your entry in and then the winner will be chosen at random.
And while you’re there you should look around – #lindyhopproblems is a great Tumblr blog and a pioneer of the lindy hop meme. You won’t be disappointed! 🙂
After spending the weekend in the studio recording our first album, we were sort of pinching ourselves and wondering how this was all possible – and then we remembered that this is all possible because of our amazing bunch of backers on Kickstarter! This is just a small token of our thanks, the list of all the people who crowd funded this endeavor:
Triangle Swing Dance Society
Denise Crampton
Christine Sirota
Diane Upshaw
Ryan Lemar
Andy Nishida
David Goodwin
Corey Manke
JP Benitez
Sharon Ferris
Chris Clement
Joanne Foil
Wilbur Seigler
Elizabeth Tietgen
Gary Chyi
Rob Moreland
Mike Guzzo
Tiffany Christensen
Amir Rosenblatt
Kirk & Tracy Eisenbeis
Sean Stevens
Laura Boyes
Etsuyo Choi
Jan Woraratanadharm
Dan Tullis
Paul Gilbert
Sebastien Lienard
Chris “32” Davis
Scott Reid
Hope Lambert
Erica Vess
David Bradford
Kate Hedin
Dani McQueen
Silvia Palazzolo
Binaebi Akah
Adrian Fahrer
Jennifer Barnett
Shana Worel
Amanda Fletcher
Christian Alva
Dawn Stockbridge
Valerie Salstrom
Jo Anna Capp
Lian Tarhay
James Benze
Cameron Panee
Laura Hill
Michael Quisao
Argsnargle Flartblart
Paul Oeser
Gena Bell Vargas
Greg
Megan Kilen
Robert Williams
Jed Wood
Beccy Aldrich
Joseph Bopp
Kristen Churchill
Carrie Newman
Sarah Ovenall
Joanna Fujii
Rachel Hundley
Bobby Cook
Beth Grover
Matthew McGuigan
Teresa Sparks
Ethan Uslan
Tiffany
Craig Parker
Andrea Gomez
Susanna Rosen
Debbie Blair
Alan Roberson
Shana Tucker
Eric Huang
Angela Hill
Maria Shevzov
James Green
Matthew Glassman
Clark Stern
Orla Swift
Christian Bossert
Keith Moore
Lewis Shiner
Wendy Craighill
Curtis Taylor
Stany
Michael Pelz-Sherman
Chris Evan
Ken Hanson
Eric Hirsh
Karine Irene
Glenn Crytzer
Brian Tietz
Shawn Carter
Misty Landrum
Eric Meyer
Sharon Nuanes
Kristin Buxton
Joanna Lucero
Krista Haskins
John Buhrmann
Adam Hill
Kim Alexander
Serena Calderisi
Neeshia Macanowicz
Georgia Brooks
Abigail Browning
Blaine Schultz
Kevin Slater
Holly Owens
Krista Jo Tortora
Sarah Henderson
Martha S.
Anastasia
David Rehm
Erin Hillis
Michael James
Chelsea Bromstad Lee
Karen Beckman
Shannon Sheldon
James Newman
Elizabeth Huang
Maya Bernstein
Amy Dalton
Carrie Finch
Erik Meyers
Chayant Tanti
AniKle
Rosa Matusik
Tony Morris
Bob Gould
Douglas Haas
Margo Scott
John Li
Tim McMackin
Derek
Amanda Croasdell
Bill Speidel
Ben Beccari
Laurie Desch
Lodge McCammon
Ulla Wingenfelder
Caroline
Patrick Draus
Mike Damron
Nikita Ferrell
Phillip Bailey
Emy Taylor
Breanna Perry
Laura Ansley
Amanda Stock
Mary
Dave Warner
Sairin854
Jack Mitchell
Anna Bryant
David Garner
John Rowe
Wes Price
Jamie Sturdevant
John Ennis
Chad Skeeters
Jesse Miner
Arieh Cime
Chad Adams
Jami Good
Alexander Azarov
Jennifer Wyatt
Molly McGowan
Megan Jungwiwattanaporn
Joel Watson
Schub
Daniel DeMaria
Richard Badu
verbistheword
Matt Lam
Mike Skalnik
David Ziff
Phillip Hartzog
Rebecca
Chris Shields
Keaton Ramm
Aidan Dunne
Michael Baswell
Peter Bonventre
Mimi Liu
A
Hilary Mercer
Keith Beckman
Alicia
Nirav Sanghani
Michael Schmidt
Claire Cobley
Yossef Mendelssohn
virtuald
Emily
liu264
Skjargh
Teresa Attwater
Brooke
Emily Friesen
Rich Werden
Alex Richard
Emma Durham
Gabrielle Kern
Michael Van Andel
Ferdinand Stout
Michael Glasgow
Stephen Coffman
Laura Pilcher
Jane Dawson
Tom Blair
Alexandra Boyer
Aleksandr
If we have somehow missed your name, please email us at mintjulepjazzband@gmail.com and we will make it right!
We look forward to delivering these recordings to you all sometime before this May – thank you again for making our first recording endeavor a reality! Crowd funding is truly amazing!
We’re ready to record! This Saturday we’ll begin recording our first CD at Sound Pure Studios, located near the old Durham Bulls ballpark in Durham, NC. The studio has recorded for the likes of Merge Records, Branford Marsalis, 9th Wonder, Clay Aiken, The Mountain Goats, Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Old Ceremony, and Nnenna Freelon, and we are happy to be in such capable hands.
Also, the studio looks amazing – from the website:
“All studio room acoustics carefully combine beautiful weathered and exposed masonry-brick from the building’s original early 1900’s shell with carefully placed rough-sawn lumber and a fabric faux ceiling. The recording rooms feature slat-wall absorption with diffusive properties, that redirect sound up to the elaborate ceiling bass trapping system creating an acoustically neutral, but very musically appealing sound. The recording facility includes a lounge and kitchen- most rooms are also wired with built-in microphone wall boxes. Even the all-masonry, untreated studio lobby featuring 750 square feet of an outrageously live “wet” sound, and the entryway with near 30ft ceilings, are both wired with microphone inputs.”
We are excited to announce that as of November 28, we have reached (and even surpassed) the $6,000 funding goal on our Kickstarter campaign to raise money to produce our first CD! We are overwhelmed and so grateful for the generosity of all of our backers, particularly, the Triangle Swing Dance Society, who was not only our largest monetary backer, but also pledged the amount that sent us over our $6,000 goal. Thanks to your help and the magic of crowd funding, the Mint Julep Jazz Band is going to record a CD in January!
The other brilliant part of this is that we reached our funding goal in 28 days, which is just under half the amount of time we allotted to meet our goal. This means that the Kickstarter does not officially end until December 30, so if you’d still like to pre-order a CD or support the Kickstarter for other rewards, you have until December 30 to do so. If you’d like to view our Kickstarter, visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/laurawindley/mint-julep-jazz-bands-first-cd-durham-on-saturday.
Thanks again! We really couldn’t have done it without you!
Mint Julep Jazz Band 