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Thanks so much to Michael Steinman of the Jazz Lives blog for this detailed and wonderful review of Battle Axe! We are delighted to be included on his blog, with his thoughtful research and review of the many jazz giants performing traditional jazz of yesteryear and of today.

If you love traditional jazz and swing, I would recommend following Michael’s blog – it is comprehensive, updated regularly, and features wonderful artists, both new and old. Michael’s dedication to the research, review, and enjoyment of this music and the artists definitely shows in his writing.

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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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This Wednesday, May 22, 2013 the Mint Julep Jazz Band will play Cary, NC’s Koka Booth Amphitheater as part of the amphitheater’s Hob Nob Jazz Concert Series! We’ve been hearing it advertised on WUNC and hope that you and some new faces will join us for a concert at this lovely outdoor venue. Joining us as an opening band is the Triangle Youth Jazz Combo. Here are the details:

The bands will be on the Crescent Deck, opposite the main stage.
The band will be on the Crescent Deck, opposite the main stage.

Koka Booth Amphitheater
8003 Regency Parkway
Cary, NC

5:30 – 6:00 p.m. – Triangle Youth Jazz Combo

6:15 – 8:30 p.m. – Mint Julep Jazz Band

Admission is $5.00 for adults, free for children ages 12 and under. For our dancer friends, it looks like the surface is wood decking. Bring a picnic after work on Wednesday and join us, or come as you are, as the amphitheater will also have food and beverage options.

For more information about the event, visit the amphitheater website.

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We’re looking forward to our Durham debut performance on Thursday, February 23, 2012 at Durham’s weekly Lindy Hop and Swing dance night at Hot Club of Durham, with the band hosted by RDU Rent Party! RDU Rent Party is a pay-what-you-can swing dance where all the donations taken at the door go to the band at the end of the night. The idea is twofold: no one should be denied good music simply because they can’t afford the admission price and that the musicians should reap the benefits of any donations collected as a show of appreciation for their talents. Everyone is welcome at this event – this is a large venue and there will be plenty of seating at tables for people who are not dancing.

Also making her debut with the Mint Julep Jazz Band is DJ Sarah Ovenall, host of WXDU’s Divaville Lounge, which highlights “great songs and singers from Tin Pan Alley to the swing era,” every Sunday from 2-4 p.m. on 88.7 FM. If you’ve ever heard Sarah’s show, you know that she has an extensive music collection from the jazz age and swing era. She’s up for this new DJ challenge and we’re excited to hear her first set for dancers!

The Trotter Building back then is very similar to how it looks today.

Hot Club of Durham
Trotter Building
410 W. Geer Street
Durham, NC

8:00 p.m. – Beginner lesson

9:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. – The Mint Julep Jazz Band and DJ Sarah Ovenall

RDU Rent Party is pay-what-you-can with a suggested $10 minimum donation

The Facebook invite: http://www.facebook.com/events/234356989972442/

For more information, visit

http://www.rdurentparty.com/

http://www.hotclubofdurham.com/

http://divavillelounge.org/

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The Mint Julep Jazz Band is excited to be included in the lineup for The Art of Cool Project‘s concert series at LabourLove Gallery in Durham, North Carolina. We’ll be their featured band for the May 18, 2012 concert, but until then there are a lot of things going on with this jazz advocacy non-profit that may interest you.

What is The Art of Cool Project? From their website: “The Art of Cool Project is a jazz (also music with jazz roots) and art advocacy project that strives to cross artistic, economic, and cultural boundaries to bring together a diverse mix of people and creativity. We are dedicated to promoting the local vibrant, varied, and surprisingly under-appreciated music and art scene. The project is a unique collaboration between the music and art communities to bring both creative mediums to supporters in an intimate concert setting.”

The Art of Cool Project is a creative philanthropic project spearheaded by Mint Julep Jazz Band trumpeter, Albert Strong IV, and Cicely Mitchell, Al’s amazing girlfriend, social media guru, and jazz advocacy superwoman.

A recent addition to The Art of Cool Project’s website is a jazz calendar for the Triangle, which will include all forms of jazz and displays a running calendar that you can check to see what is happening this week, next month, and beyond. The Mint Julep Jazz Band will be submitting our public concerts to this list and we would encourage other Triangle area jazz groups to utilize this resource.

What can you do to support this worthwhile non-profit? A few things:

1) Attend the December Art of Cool Project After Hours Concert at LabourLove Gallery, featuring smooth sax player Marcus Anderson.

2) Donate to the Holiday Chair Campaign – thus far, the AOC Project has had to rent 80 chairs for each of their concerts. To keep costs down, they are running a Holiday Chair Campaign to raise money to buy chairs for the concert series. A donation of $40 will fund one the chairs and get your name (or name of a loved one or business) painted on the back of the chair as well as preferred seating for the concerts with RSVP.

3) Follow the Art of Cool Project on Twitter or Facebook.

4) Check the jazz calendar regularly and support the Art of Cool Project’s concert series (every third Friday of the month at LabourLove Gallery) and other local jazz artists.

5) Come to LabourLove Gallery on May 18 to hear the Mint Julep Jazz Band!