How many people in tiny Dubois appreciate jazz? That was an open question last summer, when Dubois Chamber Music expanded from classical music to offer an improvisational jazz concert.
The answer? Plenty!
Listeners filled the Sun Room at the Headwaters Center, and afterwards many asked for a repeat performance. The result takes place on Sunday, July 26 at 3 PM with a concert by Lander-based WyoJazz, again at the Headwaters. This is the first performance of WyoJazz in Dubois and probably only the second time live jazz has been heard in that small, remote village.
Not only has the repertoire expanded from classical to jazz, but the size of the sound has blossomed. Last summer’s audience heard a jazz trio. Next Sunday’s concert features a true jazz band, with 7 performers, playing everything from blues and big band to bebop and Broadway tunes. WyoJazz leader Kelly Dehnert founded the group in the 1990s when he was professor of instrumental music at Central Wyoming College. WyoJazz has appeared regularly “down-county” ever since, but never before up-mountain in Dubois.
Last spring, Dubois Chamber Music found a more specific answer to the question in the first sentence, when it surveyed full-time residents of the town about their music preferences. More than a third of respondents listed jazz among their favorite music genres. (Who knew?)
Jazz falls slightly below classical music (43%) and of course well below Country & Western (84%). But finally that one-third of people in Dubois can get into the groove without having to hit the road.
Tickets for the July 29 performance cost $20 for general admission, $15 for people age 65 and older. Admission is free for anyone younger than 19. Tickets are available online at duboischambermusic.org, at the Dubois branch of Bank of Jackson Hole, or at
the door.
Dubois Chamber Music is supported by the Dubois-Crowheart committee of the Wyoming Community Foundation, the Never Sweat Recreation Board, and the Opportunity Shop grant program. Concerts are also supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources, and in part by the Wyoming Arts Council, which receives support from the state of Wyoming and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Sponsored event post provided by Dubois Chamber Music.