only $15

Founded in 2009, the Pyxis Piano Quartet are now in their third year as Artists-in-Residence at the Delaware Art Museum where they perform regularly to sold-out audiences. Their chamber music repertoire includes traditional and contemporary masterpieces for piano quartet (Piano, violin, viola and cello). This performance will include works by Strauss, Turina and Saint-Saens. Compelling, engaging, and informative, Pyxis’ performances have become amongst the most sought-after in the Delaware arts scene. The group takes its name from the Pyxis constellation, also known as the Mariner’s Compass whose symbol is the compass rose. The points of the compass rose represent the artistic directions the group travels together while recognizing the different backgrounds and experiences of its musicians.They perform regularly along the East Coast in concerts from Virginia to Pennsylvania and their 2011-2012 season includes return concert series engagements in Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

Pyxis Piano Quartet website

• Sunday Feb. 12 The University of Delaware Jazz Ensemble
  with special guest Zack Smith
  Paying tribute to the music of Louis Armstrong 4 p.m. $15 At the Mainstay

• Thursday Feb. 16 The Roots of the Music
  An informal discussion led by Tom McHugh 7:30 p.m. Free At the Mainstay

• Saturday Feb. 18 The New Line Brass Band
  The bluesy sounds of a New Orleans street parade with a loose vibe and a funky groove 8:00 p.m. $15 At the Mainstay

• MONDAY Feb. 20 US Army Blues Swamp Ramp
  Spicy, swinging and sensational - A contemporary take on some Crescent City classics 7:30 p.m. Free At the Mainstay

• Saturday Feb. 25 Mardi Gras Dance Party with the Dixie Power Trio
  8:00 p.m. $12 At the Garfield Center for the Arts at the Prince Theater
  (For this event only, call the Garfield/Price Box Office for tickets 410-810-2060)

Details for each event below

only $15

Zack Smith

Zack Smith (cornet and trumpet with the New Line Brass Band and the Dixie Power Trio) has been working with the University of Delaware Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Tom Palmer on this wonderful tribute to the New Orleans music of Louis Armstrong. Armstrong was born in 1900 into poverty in New Orleans. In his early teens he played in the city’s frequent brass band parades and listened to older musicians every chance he got, learning from Bunk Johnson, Buddy Petit, Kid Ory, and above all, Joe “King” Oliver. He left New Orleans in 1922 to join King Oliver in Chicago and take his place in jazz history but New Orleans never left him. He is quoted as saying “Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine—I look right in the heart of good old New Orleans…It has given me something to live for.” This is the first of several events in a 2 week celebration of New Orleans and its jazz heritage we’ve called The Music of New Orleans: Jazz with All the Fixin’s.

only free

A free and informal discussion with audio examples of the roots of the music of New Orleans. This discussion is part of the 2-week celebration “The Music of New Orleans: Jazz with all the Fixin’s” sponsored by the Mainstay and the Garfield Center for the Arts at the Prince Theatre.

only $15

Our New Orleans music festival continues with the big, brassy New Orleans-style parade music of the New Line Brass band. Based on the tradition of Olympia, Treme, and the Dirty Dozen, The New Line Brass Band combines the talent and experience of the members of the Dixie Power Trio with one of Washington/Baltimore’s finest horn lines. Blending a mixture of traditional brass band standards, spirituals, zydeco, and original compositions, the group plays music with a loose vibe and a funky groove. The result is raw, fun, and full of energy!

New Line Brass Band website
Listen to the New Line Brass Band - click here then scroll down to the Bad Spuds album and click on the notes

only free

A very special MONDAY concert just in time for Lundi Gras (Shrove Monday, the night before Mardi Gras). Swamp Romp is a Louisiana influenced subset of the jazz band of the United States Army Band known worldwide as “Pershing’s Own.” Fronted by Graham Breedlove from Lafayette, Louisiana on trumpet and Harry Watters from Huntsville, Alabama on trombone, Swamp Romp plays a wide mix of New Orleans classics, Dixieland, ragtime, their own compositions and some contemporary works with New Orleans influenced arrangements. In a review of their CD Voodoo Boogaloo All About Jazz calls them “lively, effervescent,” a “diverse gumbo of phenomenal talent” and a “stellar group with a musical jambalaya that cooks with that very special hot Southern spice to it.” The group has performed on the “Emeril Live” show and also traveled to New Orleans to help build homes with Habitat for Humanity and play concerts in post-Katrina storm ravaged areas of that city.

Listen to Swamp Romp Voodoo Boogaloo
Listen to Swamp Romp Caravan

only free

The seven piece (6 instrumentalists and a vocalist) Conservatory Classic Jazz Band was formed in 2003 to present the sounds of traditional jazz to Washington DC audiences. They play New Orleans style, Chicago style, small-group swing, and mainstream jazz. Their repertoire includes the music of Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke, Bessie Smith, Eddie Condon, Benny Goodman and other early jazz pioneers, in addition to the Great American Songbook of such composers as George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Hoagy Carmichael. The John Ben Snow Foundation awarded the Mainstay a grant to bring the Classic Conservatory Jazz Band to Kent County High School and Washington College for workshops with their music students. This concert is a part of that project and is in memory of Allen Malcolm. It is free but space is limited, please make reservations.

Conservatory Classic Jazz Band website
Listen to the Conservatory Classic Jazz Band

Our Music of New Orleans: Jazz with all the Fixin’s festival concludes with a Mardi Gras Dance Party with the Dixie Power Trio at the Garfield Center for the Performing Arts at the Prince Theatre. Mardi Gras costumes and accoutrements strongly encouraged! Get your tickets at the Prince/Garfield box office: 410-810-2060 or Dance party Tickets $12.

only $15

The Potomac Guitar Trio, Phil Mathieu, Peter Fields and Jeff Meyerriecks, will perform a variety of classical guitar music in a concert dedicated to Charlie Byrd and featuring a concise history of classical Brazilian guitar music including works of the classic composers Joan Pernuambuco (1863-1947) and Pixinguinha (1897-1973). In addition they will play unique arrangements of popular Bossa Nova standards by AC Jobim (1927-1994) and infrequently played original compositions by guitar legend Charlie Byrd (1925-1999). This concert is part of our Hedgelawn Classical Music Series.