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The Mint Julep Quintet is excited to be a part of the Durham Art Guild’s Swing Into Spring on April 1, 2016, an event that highlights the visual arts community in Durham and is the first in a series of spring season arts events!  Here’s more information from the Facebook invite:

“Join the Durham Art Guild and our partners, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Durham Arts Council, Art of Cool, Moogfest and American Dance Festival, as we kick-off and celebrate a full and exciting spring season of the arts in Durham.

In addition to highlighting the coming season of events, Swing into Spring attendees will dance to the swinging sounds of Mint Julep Jazz Quintet and enjoy food and beverages from local restaurants and breweries. Don’t miss this celebration and a chance to take home exclusive experiences and artwork created by local artists!

Come show your support for Durham’s continuously blooming and vibrant arts scene. Dress up in your favorite floral prints, most colorful clothes, or whatever gets you ready to Swing into Spring!

$50 VIP Early Access:
We are pulling out all the stops for our VIPs. Just $50 gets you an exclusive invite to our pre-party from 6:30-7:30pm featuring a live auction of amazing experiences. This ticket includes two complimentary drinks and light hors d’oeuvres. You will also have the opportunity to “Buy it NOW” in the silent auction before the full celebration kicks off at 7:30pm.

There are a limited number of VIP tickets so don’t wait!

$25 Let’s Celebrate:
Starting at 7:30pm, celebrate the arts in Durham with live swing music and swing dancing. Don’t worry, we will have instructors on hand for a quick lesson if you need a refresher. Your ticket also includes one free drink in case you need a little liquid courage before getting out on the dance floor. Bid on art created by local artists in our silent auction as well as many other great items donated by some of your favorite area hot spots.”

The whole event runs from 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.  For more information and to get tickets, visit the event ticket website.  We hope to see you there!

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Army-Nurse-Corps

On June 7, 2014 the City of Raleigh Museum is featuring the Mint Julep Jazz Band at an event honoring Raleigh’s World War II veterans, with the launch of an exhibit called “Our War: Voices of Raleigh’s World War 2 Veterans” and and a 1940’s themed fundraiser event. The event, which coincides with the 70th Anniversary of D-Day on June 6, will highlight the new exhibit and feature swing dancing, European and Pacific theater-themed food and drinks, live and silent auctions, and costumed cigarette girls. Time Warp 2014 tickets are $60 for museum members and $70 for non-members (which include a museum membership — a $35 value).

Time: 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Location: City of Raleigh Museum, 220 Fayetteville Street, Raleigh, NC

Tickets: To purchase tickets, visit the event’s Eventbrite page

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Our vocalist, Laura Windley, will be wearing the uniform of World War II Army Nurse Corps First Lieutenant Martha Way, who served in the 97th Evacuation Hospital Unit with her husband, Dr. John Way. First Lieutenant Way’s unit landed in Normandy, France just 11 days after D-Day and joined the field hospital there to provide care to wounded soldiers. Her unit then went on to sites in Belgium and Germany, directly supporting First US Army troops fighting in the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge) and was one of the first units to assist the survivors of the Nazi concentration camps. The 97th Evacuation Hospital Unit served thousands of wounded soldiers and displaced persons until the unit was inactivated on November 23, 1945. Martha Way returned to Beaufort, North Carolina with her husband following the war. Laura is friends with the Way family and thanks to the family for allowing her to wear Martha Way’s uniform on this special occasion.

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Live from American Tobacco...
Usually live from American Tobacco, this is a special broadcast from the NC Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh!

We are excited to announce that the Mint Julep Jazz Band has been invited to appear on WUNC’s The State of Things, hosted by Frank Stasio, on November 22, 2013 to help promote Housing for New Hope‘s inaugural Rent Party on November 23, 2013 at The Cookery in Durham (see post below). Tune in from noon to 1:00 p.m. to hear an interview and live music from the band – listen online or watch the live video stream!

Now, to figure out how to get 8 band members into a radio station studio… 🙂

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We are excited to announce that the Mint Julep Jazz Band is performing at Housing for New Hope‘s inaugural Rent Party on November 23, 2013 at The Cookery in Durham – this is a fundraiser for an organization that actually helps people pay their rent to help prevent homelessness, among other services to help people in need of housing and prevent homelessness in Durham. There will be dancing, food, an open bar, and the chance to help people in our community, all with a rent party/jazz age theme. Come help us raise the rent for the fine people of Durham!

Tickets and information available at http://durhamcookery.com/rent-party.

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We are excited to announce that we will be live streaming the Mint Julep Jazz Band show this Thursday, February 23, 2012, through our Ustream channel. Tune in from 9:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. to catch our debut performance!

It’s easy to do – simply click on this link – http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mint-julep-jazz-band – and watch the show from the comfort of your own home. We’ll be broadcasting the show via Laura’s iPhone. Technology is amazing!

This live stream of the show is the special request of our friend Elizabeth Tietgen, who has been very ill and in the ICU for the past two weeks. She is overcoming almost insurmountable odds to recover and is making great strides, but is not well enough to attend the show. She asked that we do the live stream so that she wouldn’t miss our first performance, and it was such a great idea that we thought we’d open the live stream up for everyone to see!

Elizabeth is the founder and organizer of the Triangle Tap Project, the Triangle chapter of “a nationwide campaign by the US fund for UNICEF to raise funds to provide clean water and sanitation in developing countries.” We would encourage everyone who attends the show or tunes in via Ustream to donate to this cause that is near and dear to Elizabeth’s heart. You can make a donation to the Triangle Tap Project fundraiser via the Triangle Tap Project website.

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Starting a new band raises a lot of questions – in conversations with people, these questions have come up most frequently, so here’s a little FAQ to get you more acquainted with the Mint Julep Jazz Band:

What kind of music will you play?

We will focus on music from the 1920’s and 1930’s, but some early 1940’s tunes may creep into the mix. The band will be playing arrangements that are either transcribed from original recordings or reproductions of original recordings (or a combination of both – sometimes having a hi-fi reference helps a lot) and arrangements that our maestro Lucian Cobb creates on his own, based on songs from this era. We will be playing a few arrangements Lucian has done in the past and songs you may have heard vocalist Laura Windley perform, but the majority of the material will be new. Most importantly, this music will swing!

How many people will be in the band?

Right now, we really like the idea of having either a 7 or 8 piece band, giving us either a 3 or 4 piece rhythm section with 3 horns, plus a vocalist. With this format, we are able to play arrangements of big band or smaller group charts, giving us a fuller sound than a jazz combo. We are also able to offer a more affordable alternative to a big band.

Will you have a smaller group?

Unfortunately, we will not have a smaller group. We understand that this limits the venues we can play, especially locally, but we are more interested in creating a specific sound.

Who is going to be in the band?

We’d like to have a set lineup, but in the jazz world this is not always possible – some of our band members have bands of their own, so we are fortunate enough to have other jazz musicians that we have worked with in the past to fill their shoes. You can be sure you will see Peter Lamb (sax), Al Strong (trumpet), Aaron Tucker (drums), Jason Foureman (bass), Aaron Hill (sax), Rich Willey (trumpet), Kyle Santos (trumpet), Mark Wells (piano), and other great jazz musicians from the Triangle and beyond who we enjoy performing with and will lend their unique talents to this endeavor.

When will you be ready to play?

The goal is to be ready in March and, indeed, we’ve already got gigs in March 2012 and beyond! For more details, see our calendar page. We do have a show on February 23 for RDU Rent Party – we invite everyone to come to this sneak preview!

Where will you play?

Our bread and butter will be swing dances, and we’ve already got a wedding on the books. We are also available for community events, outdoor festivals, jazz societies, schools, private parties, charity events/fundraisers, historic and reenactment-related events, and, really, anywhere that people enjoy music. We are looking to travel outside of the Triangle area of North Carolina and would welcome gig opportunities in other cities.