Upcoming Concerts

7/31/26

Dear Jazz Lovers...

August is almost here, the Maine jazz 2026 season continues and August jazz will be august!.   This year’s Ellington and Strayhorn show has yet more surprises about these iconic, legendary musicians.  As I mentioned last month, the show covers compositions copyrighted over 62 years, between 1933 and 1995.  I talked about one of the pieces we’re doing this season, which wasn’t copyrighted until 1995, long after the deaths of both Ellington and Strayhorn. 
      Did you know that Strayhorn wrote, on average, one piece a week for 30 years during his association with Ellington?  He wrote so many tunes that they simply didn't have time to rehearse and record them all!  Others also are working to excavate this "mother lode" of jazz, too.  Larry Slater, writer of “Jazz Connections” (as well as radio/podcast host) is excavating, too.  I just discovered the aforementioned link; he features the Dutch Jazz Orchestra and their production of the CD, “The Legacy of Billy Strayhorn, part IV: The unknown works”.  Check it out!  It has almost an hour of Strayhorn Interpretations of rarely played tunes, which hardly ever are performed (except by the Novel Jazz Septet, of course!!).  ;-)  These are just some of the examples of the surprises in our 2026 Ellington and Strayhorn show.  Every tune has a story.  It is not overstating things when we say that the jazz of Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington is still alive and swinging, even in 2026! 
 
The Novel Jazz Septet has two public Ellington Strayhorn shows this August:
  

--Wednesday,19 August   3PM
Saco River Theatre, 29 Salmon Falls Rd, Bar Mills, ME 04093                         
 
--Friday, 21 August 7:30PM
Opera House of Boothbay Harbor- 86 Townsend Ave., Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538.  This show will be recorded for the band’s next album, coming up soon…come participate in the collective energy of the show and the recording!
 
 
Then there are some other public jazz events of smaller assorted groups like the traditional jazz band, the Hadocol Bouncers, to help fill your August jazz needs:
 
--Friday, 8/14     3:30-6:30PM
Sheepscot General Store Summer Music Series, 98 Townhouse Rd, Whitefield, ME The Hadocol Bouncers (This is part of the Sheepscot General Store Summer Music Series)
 
--Friday, 14 August 7:30-9:30PM
Hardshore Distilling Co. Tasting Room; The Hadocol Bouncers; 53 Washington Ave.,Portland, ME
 
--Saturday, 22 August   11AM-3PM
Hannibel Hamlin Day  The Hadocol Bouncers; Paris Hill Common, 500 Paris Hill Rd, South Paris, ME
 
 
We’d love to see you for any/all of these August august jazz shows! Our full 2026 public schedule can be found below or here.
 
As always, thanks for supporting live jazz!
 
Best summer wishes to you!
Barney Balch