Upcoming Concerts

Novel Jazz Septet Concerts, 2025 

April 9, 2025

 Dear Friends of Novel Jazz…
Happy spring to you all!   We hope you had a great winter.

I wanted to bring you up to date with what we are planning for Novel Jazz in 2025, our 21st season of sharing Ellington and Strayhorn’s jazz around New England!  This year marks 110 years since Billy Strayhorn’s birth so we’ll be giving his music some extra-special love this year. 

I’m attaching the list of our 2025 shows below and, in particular, bring to your attention the first show of our season at the end of April.   We will be celebrating Ellington’s birthday on Sunday, 27 April, 2025, with a matinee performance at 2PM at the Hill Arts in Portland. What else is entirely new about this show is that it will be a “double header.”  Novel Jazz will begin with a full set of “newly re-discovered” tunes by Ellington and Strayhorn.  Following a short intermission, Hill Arts then will air two, 30-minute feature films (in black and white), titled the “Intimate Duke Ellington”.

If you have ever attended a Novel Jazz show, you’ll know that Duke Ellington's fifty-year career was full of accomplishments as a highly original pianist, arranger, prolific composer and leader of a timeless orchestra. On occasion he recorded with a small group from his orchestra or as a piano soloist, but Duke was rarely filmed in that capacity... with a few exceptions. On January 23, 1967, Ellington filmed two programs for Danish television in Copenhagen, Denmark. The first puts the focus on Ellington's piano, in solo and trio performances (with drummer Rufus Jones, and bassist, John Lamb).  The second program has him jamming with an octet assembled from his larger orchestra, including such greats as alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges, tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves, baritone saxophonist Harry Carney, trumpeter Cat Anderson and trombonist Lawrence Brown.

Any Ellington is good Ellington, but The Intimate Duke Ellington is on a higher level. Indeed, in troubled times or any times, Duke Ellington's music is a tribute to humankind's better angels. This film is like a time machine, allowing listeners today to see (and hear) Duke from almost 60 years ago, as he created some of the most iconic jazz ever performed, in an intimate, small-group, setting.  It is a must- see for Ellington fans, and more broadly, for music lovers.

This Hill Arts show is an OFFICIAL Portland, Maine celebration of International Jazz Day, a day declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization "to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe."  It goes without saying that all corners of our ‘ole world could use some serious jazz diplomacy and uniting right now!  We are delighted to officially have the Hill Arts show included as  Portland, Maine’s celebration of  International Jazz Day!

For more information, call the Hill Arts box office at (207) 347-7177 or navigate your browser to https://www.thehillarts.me/.  Hill Arts is located at 76 Congress Street, Munjoy Hill, Portland, ME 04101.  Tickets are $25 in advance and $35 at the door (general seating; tickets available here).  To find out more about the band, navigate your browser to https://www.mainejazz.net/.  Bop-on over to Hill Arts on Sunday, 27 April, 2025, 2PM for some live, Novel Jazz followed by two rare films about Duke Ellington and his small bands. 

I’m attaching to the bottom of this message our current 2025 schedule of performances of the Septet.  If we don’t see you in April, I hope we can connect at some point this coming year to celebrate this amazing music.  Again, happy spring!
 
Best regards,
Barney Balch

PS The newspaper, "Working Waterfront," just published a nice piece about us (written by Stephanie Bouchard).  You can check it out here.