We were pleasantly surprised to find our vinyl records were delivered this week, as we weren’t expecting them until May. You can pick up a copy on our Bandcamp page or message us in advance if you’d like to purchase an LP at one of our shows. Thanks again to our Kickstarter backers who made this dream a reality!
It’s finally here! After much pandemic and the regular trials and tribulations of creating a studio album, Watch the Birdie takes flight today, Halloween 2022. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it. Available wherever you get your digital music – if you’d like for the most money to go to the band, we encourage you to pick up a copy on our Bandcamp page.
It’s been a wild ride with Kickstarter and getting things ready for the album – we are so excited to be in the recording studio this weekend and have so many people to thank for this. Specifically, our incredible backers who have funded this endeavor with their pre-orders and merchandise purchases vis-a-vis a Kickstarter campaign! We were able to raise a total of $14,025, which exceeded our goal and will help us not only with anticipated expenses, but also with those pesky unanticipated ones.
We love you madly! Thanks so much to our backers, in chronological order:
| Adrian Fahrer |
| The Creative Fund by BackerKit |
| Jennifer Barnett |
| Clara M |
| Michael Steinman |
| Melissa Hinkel |
| Karin Abell |
| Lauren Gibson |
| Oren Forward |
| Ryan Swift |
| 윤제현 |
| Michael Quisao |
| Jongha Kang |
| Allison Wilhelm |
| Sharon Ermolowich |
| Andy Nishida |
| Sebree Turner |
| Kenneth F. Hanson |
| Dorobo |
| Laura Boyes |
| joe oneil |
| Christina Evans |
| Bobby Cook |
| Emily A Anderson |
| Wes Price |
| Paul Riding |
| Bryan Fagan |
| Jack Mitchell |
| Miranda Lank |
| Elizabeth Watkins |
| Nathaniel Lynch |
| Sarah Henderson |
| Kit Ness |
| K&T Eisenbeis |
| Mel Khaw |
| Aidan Dunne |
| Edward Shaddow |
| Rory Gill |
| Paul Gilbert |
| ryan lemar |
| Joseph Bopp |
| Sarah Price |
| Robert Bradford |
| Susan Carson |
| Karmi Fossen |
| Paul J. McLaurin |
| Steven Travis |
| Eris |
| Jenna Schenker |
| Tiffany K |
| Steven Morgan |
| Kathleen |
| Summerlin Page |
| Katie Del Vecchio |
| Amanda Gerken |
| Heather Adams |
| Moriah Wood |
| Celina |
| Jesse Gearhart |
| Deborah Farthing |
| Jean-Michel Oblette |
| Kristin Buxton |
| Rachel Hundley |
| Billie Feather |
| Tom Lassiter |
| John Derrick |
| Larry Falck |
| Michael Brown |
| Clare Diaz |
| Lian Tarhay |
| Stephanie Stratton |
| Michelle Lee |
| Jason Sager |
| Allison Meeks |
| Will Brown |
| Jesse Miner |
| Arcelia Long |
| Robert Szarka |
| JonathanLaFarge |
| Katie Moore |
| Amanda Fletcher |
| Gary Chyi |
| Christina |
| David Soltysik |
| Julia Eager |
| Karen Shaffer |
| Marc Latou |
| Matthew Brooks |
| Steve Pruskin |
| Mike Guzzo |
| David Goodwin |
| Brennan Ames-Phares |
| Rocio Leon |
| Jason Knight |
| Hilary Buuck |
| Sid Sondergard |
| Andréas Olsson |
| Jo Hannes |
| Andreas Kaltenegger |
| Tina Spencer |
| Timothy Korkuc |
| Deniz Adalar |
| John Rowe |
| Bret |
| Anna Anderson |
| Alina Kerov |
| Hussain Jaffery |
| Maya Bernstein |
| Summer Evans |
| Bob Proctor |
| Chris Ronderos |
| D B Mathews |
| Valerie Davis |
| Alex |
| revclemens |
| Matt Lam |
| Shiri Gutman |
| Zachary Malone |
| David Giovinazzo |
| Viji Sathy |
| Beth Ringwald Carnes |
| Margot Helm |
| Olivia |
| Sarah White |
| Renée Paulette McGee |
| Tina Jordan |
| Lynn Redmile |
| Micah |
| Stephanie Nicole |
| Raewyn McCombs |
| Ann |
| Nicole Sinwell |
| Jennifer Reed |
| Daniel Winkelman |
| Doug Noel |
| Laurie Desch |
| Sarah Blumenthal |
| Larisa Harrison |
| stany |
| Brian Sheridan |
| Taylor Stender |
| David Barry |
| Amiya Gupta |
| Roger Sinasohn |
| David |
| Tatsuo Endo |
| Mary Kyle Manson |
| Brian Green |
| Stephen |
| Kelly Tomlinson |
| Alex Nah |
| Tiffany Christensen |
| Benjamin Cass |
| Patrick Flowers |
| William |
| mary lou mazzara |
| Albert Alva |
| Sarah Jensen |
| Candi Terry |
| Sara K |
| Kade Major |
| cam connor |
| Lauren Smith |
| Caroline Que |
| Keli Hawthorne |
| Samuel Sykes |
| Brandi |
| Heidi |
| Michelle Long |
| Gary Holland |
| Peter Shilliday |
| Steve Wilcox |
| Douglas Bae |
| E Simmons |
| Julie Estelle Rudd |
| Jennifer Tolliver |
| Gena Bell Vargas |
| Warren Cheung |
| Don Von hagen |
| Lauren |
| Elise Margaret Roth |
| Lily Shaw |
| Rich Lyons |
| Leta Coop |
| 해품달 |
| John Mortenson |
| Bennie |
| Antonia Burns |
| Nicholas Centino |
| Mimi Liu |
| Jonathan Buck |
| Russell Sagraves |
| Tiffany Brantner |
| Robert Powell |
| Jim Wheatley |
| Gretchen Midgley |
| TG |
| Todd Gage |
| Jimmy Cobb |
| Rose Jones |
| Tamlin Pavelsky |
| Woody McKenzie |
| Constance Poore |
| Jason Lempka |
| Richard Poole |
| Thomas Bantle |
| Alan Roberson |
| Natalie Gabriel |
| SP Samedi |
| Madeleine Brook |
| Rob Moreland |
| Adam Hitchcock |
| Srishti Bhagat |
| Scott M. Manson |
| Richard Jeffrey Diaz |
| Lisa Macharoni |
| Gabrielle Kern |
| Hillary Hudson |
| Christopher Pierick |
| George Patterson |
| The Warmans |
| Jessica King |
| Dani McQueen |
| Brad Nathanson |
| Moya |
TL/DR: The Mint Julep Jazz Band is recording our third album, Watch the Birdie, and the Kickstarter launched today for pre-orders and swag!
(From our vocalist Laura Windley)
When I was young, I wondered why each subsequent band album seemed to have more and more years between albums, but now I understand. When a band does well, they are busy, then the members are busy contributing to other endeavors, and then people need a break after being so busy, so the thought of a new album is definitely lower on the priority list, particularly when other work is steady.
In 2020, we decided that 5 years was enough time gone by since the release of Battle Axe and that we should record another album. You know how the rest of this story goes with the global COVID-19 pandemic essentially putting a halt to life as we knew it.
We scheduled this recording a couple of times during the pandemic and had to keep pushing it back, but we believe it’s for real this time, so we are launching a Kickstarter today for album pre-orders and swag. I know some of you have told me that you need a new tee shirt, so we got you! I’m also excited to add enamel pins, Burt’s Bees, a sponsorship option, and some quality time noshing with yours truly as rewards, in addition to some of our recurring rewards.
What will this album be? It’s a dance album, of course, but it’s also the culmination of efforts aggregated just prior to the pandemic that still feel new to us, plus some new-to-us arrangements created during the pandemic, and some old favorites that should be put on tape. The project feels fresh to us, so we hope you enjoy it as we slowly re-open our jazz dance and music community.
It’s also a celebration of our 10th anniversary as a band! Our first gig was in February of 2012 at the (now defunct) Hot Club of Durham weekly swing dance in the Trotter Building in Durham’s DIY district. I look at videos of that night and think about how far we’ve come, but also how we did a respectable job for a very first gig. It’s been a wild ride and we thank you for all the wonderful musical experiences we’ve shared since then.
Visit our Kickstarter page for more information about the tracks on the album, swag, and how to get your copy/copies of our recordings – we’re offering digital, CD, and vinyl this time! You have 58 days to get your order in, the countdown begins…
Check out this video from Saturday night at Hot Rhythm Holiday, from some brave soul navigating the dance floor during our performance of Watch the Birdie (with an arrangement inspired by Martha Raye’s version from the movie Hellzapoppin’) – enjoy!
Mint Julep Jazz Band 