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On Sunday, May 19, 2013, band leaders Lucian Cobb and Laura Windley will be guests on WXDU‘s Divaville Lounge from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. to talk about our new album “Durham on Saturday Night” and listen to songs from the album – tune in at 88.7 FM or go to http://wxdu.org to listen to the live stream!

We’d like to thank DJ/host Sarah Ovenall for inviting us to be on the show, which is fantastic, by the way – lots of great music from the jazz age and swing era every Sunday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

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MJJB DOSN CD Cover

We are beyond excited about having our album, “Durham on Saturday Night,” ready for you to listen to and enjoy!

We hope that you will join us at G2B Gastro Pub on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 for our CD release party from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. – we’ll be playing a mix of tracks from the CD and classic swing music, and the band will take the stage at 9:30 p.m. for an hour-long set. If you’d like to eat dinner, they are recommending that you make a reservation; if you’d just like to snack, drink, or hang out, come as you are!

We’ll have plenty of CDs on hand for sale and we’ll also have our Kickstarter rewards available if you designated local pickup.

If you can’t make it to the CD release party, never fear! We should have the album available on iTunes and CD Baby for digital download by May 8 and will have distribution of physical copies of the CD through CD Baby sometime in the near future. You will also be able to pick up the CD at any of our upcoming shows.

For our Kickstarter supporters who are out of town and opted for mailing your rewards, we will begin shipping the CD as soon as we have it in hand, but it may take a few weeks to get all the rewards where they need to go.

Thanks again to all of our supporters, Kickstarter backers, Jamie Wolcott for her amazing cover art, Jason Richmond for both the recording and the mastering, and our maestro Lucian Cobb for the mix. We hope you love it!

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The kids from Sesame Street making a paper sculpture in the video.
The kids from Sesame Street making a paper sculpture in the video.

We are so excited to have been involved in this project with Sesame Street – here is the segment of the show where we provided the background music. The word of the day is “scuplture.” 🙂 Click on the link below to watch!

http://www.sesamestreet.org/videos#media/video_80fddfc4-8358-4e68-a134-5297017750ba

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Our next big milestone is Sesame Street – tune in to Sesame Street on April 18 to hear an original tune by the Mint Julep Jazz Band! If you are in Durham, NC, Sesame Street airs at 10:00 a.m. on PBS.

We’ve been asked a lot about whether or not the band will be seen on the show and if we got to meet the Muppets, etc., but even though we will not appear on the show in person, we are in the business of making music and we are happy to lend our skills to one of the non-Muppet segments that features a great enrichment activity for children. Perhaps we can work our way up to meeting the Muppets, like local legends the Squirrel Nut Zippers. 🙂

For more information about how we snagged this great opportunity, check out our previous post on Sesame Street.

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We’ve got Mint Julep Quintet gigs back to back, coming right up!

On March 22, 2013, we’ll be making our monthly appearance at the stellar G2B Gastro Pub! Admission is free, but we recommend making a reservation if you would like to eat or have a seat – please specify that you would like to be seated in the jazz lounge.

We’ve rescheduled for March 23 after getting snowed out last time – the Mint Julep Quintet is ready to take on Durham’s venerable jazz venue, Beyu Caffe! Join us for a night of swing, cocktails, and delicious food…and maybe a little dancing.

Purchase tickets for the Beyu Caffe performance here.

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Tune in to Sesame Street on April 18, 2013 to hear an original Mint Julep Jazz Band song in one of the non-muppet segments! We are excited to have an air date and to finally be able to make this announcement, which we’ve been keeping quiet about since September, when Lucian composed and we recorded the song.

How did this happen? It’s all about networking (or being in the right place at the right time?) – we performed at a local wedding in August and one of the guests thought we’d be perfect for a project he was doing for Sesame Street. After a few phone calls and emails we had about a week and a half to put everything together, from Lucian composing the tune, getting everyone in the same place to record it, culling enough equipment together to have a quality recording, to lots of little logistical hurdles that occur when you are contracting out your services. Needless to say, everyone in the band was really excited to be involved in something that was going to appear on Sesame Street, and, with that motivation, we pulled it off in a very short amount of time.

If you can’t tune in to the show, there may be a way to watch it online after the air date – stay tuned!

I’ve included a couple of photos from the recording session below.

The rhythm section (Aaron Tucker, Jason Foureman, Jared Wofford) with Lucian fiddling with the recording equipment
The rhythm section (Aaron Tucker, Jason Foureman, Jared Wofford) with Lucian fiddling with the recording equipment
The horn section - Keenan McKenzie, Aaron Hill, Jim Ketch, and Lucian Cobb
The horn section – Keenan McKenzie, Aaron Hill, Jim Ketch, and Lucian Cobb

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On Saturday, March 2, 2013, we’ll be back at the Murphey School for a swing dance, hosted by the Triangle Swing Dance Society. TSDS is also hosting a day of swing dance workshops that Saturday called Localpalooza, which features many of the local swing dance instructors teaching a range of classes for all levels. If you are interested in learning how to dance, this would be a great beginner crash course! If you already know how to dance, there’s a little something for everyone – information on the workshops can be found on the Triangle Swing Dance Society website.

MJJB at the TSDS dance on December 1, 2012
MJJB at the TSDS dance on December 1, 2012

As for the dance, we’ll see you at the Murphey School!

Murphey School
3717 Murphy School Road
Durham, NC 27705

Free beginner lesson at 7:00 p.m.

Band plays from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Admission: Members/students $8.00, non-members $12.00