The story of Novel Jazz

Novel Jazz is a group of Maine-based musicians with over two centuries of collective musical experience performing swinging jazz from the Great American Songbook. We specifically focus on the great works of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, ranked as two of America’s finest composers. Through regular trips to the Duke Ellington Collection at the Smithsonian Museum, Washington, D.C., we have collected and arranged works from the 3000-composition repertoire of these two prolific composers. Concerts include both the music plus the rich history behind each piece. Our audience includes jazz lovers of all ages, classical music enthusiasts, big band/traditional jazz lovers, people interested in the history of jazz, church congregations (we now include a full show of Ellington’s sacred music found in the Smithsonian collection). We've performed in a host of venues over the years around New England: opera houses, clubs, concert halls, churches and live performances on National Public Radio (four in all). We’d love to perform for your next concert, dance event or sacred service!Our music can be found at www.cdbaby.com and search on “Novel Jazz Septet”. There you can hear clips from our two recent CDs.