This Concert HAS BEEN CANCELED!

The Mt Ascutney community WILL NOT host its third in the "Umbrella Concert Series" on Saturday, August 18th, featuring the Amherst Jazz Orchestra.  The concert will NOT be held from 4:30-7:30 p.m. on the Albert Bridge School Field, on the Brownsville-Hartland Road, in Brownsville (West Windsor), Vermont.  DO NOT bring a picnic and blanket/chairs, join family and friends, and DO NOT sway to an evening of swing jazz in the shadow of Mt. Ascutney. 

Music is participatory, democratic, and has physical appeal: because there will be no concert, DO NOT tap your foot, snap your fingers, sing along and swing your partner around the dance floor. This year, Amherst Jazz's 1940s swing-style set will NOT include Glenn Miller's arrangements of Moonlight Serenade, American Patrol, Little Brown Jug, Moonlight in Vermont, and In the Mood. Other tunes will include Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust, Les Brown's Sentimental Journey, Carlos Jobim's The Girl from Impanema, Louis Armstrong's Hello Dolly, Benny Goodman's Jersey Bounce, and many other familiar Big Band tunes, inspiring variations of swing dance styles including the hop, shag, jive, and boogie woogie.

The Amherst Jazz Orchestra is a professional big band whose mission is to explore and preserve the music of America's original art form.  The band's membership, developed over twenty years, is something of a who's-who of players and teachers from Western Massachusetts' Pioneer Valley and Five College region, though some members hail from farther afield, like the Berkshires, New Hampshire, and Connecticut.  The ensemble comprises some of the finest professional jazz musicians in Western New England, including professors from the music faculties of the University of Massachusetts, Holyoke Community College, Amherst College, Westfield State University, Keene State College, and Dartmouth College.

Led by Musical Director, David Sporny, the group has had distinguished guest conductors such as Gunther Schuller, Herb Pomeroy, David Berger and Andrew Homzey.  Its extensive list of guest artists includes Karrin Allyson, George Garzone, Jeff Holmes Quartet, Shelia Jordon, Jamie Baum, Claudio Roditi, Lew Soloff, Chris Vadala, Peter Madsen, John Fedchock, Peter Erskine, David Golostchokin, Greg Abate, Yusef Lateef, Yellowjackets, Ernie Watts, Rufus Reid, Steve Turre, Marvin Stamm, Arturo O'Farrill, and John Abercrombie.  

"Umbrella Concerts" are sponsored by Ascutney Winds, Albert Bridge School, S.C.I.P. (School and Community in Partnership), and Go Play Outdoors.  This program will NOT end a week-long summer arts camp at Albert Bridge School, supported by ABS volunteers and funded in part by the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation.  All donations from these concerts go to Ascutney Winds or SCIP's Musicians' Fund, bringing artist/musicians to the Mt. Ascutney region to perform and teach.