PUTNEY — Next Stage Arts Project presents two drive-in theater concerts by the Vermont Jazz Center Sextet on Friday, July 3, with two showings, at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m., respectively, in the Basketville parking lot on Route 5.
Cars will be socially distanced, leaving a vacant space between cars for lawn-chair seating (bring your own chairs).
Rain date for the concerts is Sunday, July 5.
The Vermont Jazz Center Sextet is the VJC's community outreach ensemble. The group has developed programs that are performed in schools, assisted-living homes, and libraries, bringing live jazz into settings outside of concert halls.
Through these performances and clinics, people who might not attend concerts at the VJC are given the opportunity to hear and learn about the music of Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Art Blakey, and others, with original music and arrangements often written by members of the ensemble.
The members of the VJC Sextet are: Rob Freeberg (trumpet), Ron Kelley (alto saxophone), Jim Heffron (tenor saxophone), Cathy Martin (piano), Jay Elfenbein (bass) and Mike Patek (drums).
Collectively, they have decades of experience teaching, performing, directing, and composing a variety of musical styles with groups and ensembles in southern Vermont and beyond.
Putney Mountain Winery & Spirits will be serving glasses of its wines, liqueurs, cocktails, and non-alcoholic sparkling cider from a tent near the stage.