Getting Holiday Festive With Festivals
Multi-day jazz fests in Newtown and Manchester, Hartford Jazz Society and Real Art Ways holiday galas get us in the holiday swing
Grammy winners and Connecticut residents Nicole Zuraitis and Dan Pugach anchor the 10th anniversary of the Manchester Jazz Festival, Sunday, Dec. 7. (Photo courtesy Dan Pugach)
What is that old saying about a journey of 1000 miles beginning with a single step? Well, if you have been putting off the holiday prep, it is time to take that step, with Thanksgiving just four days away and the assorted winter solstice holiday of your choice merriment following close behind.
And our regional jazz musicians and promoters are doing their best to help us get into the holiday mood. The first weekend of December includes not one, but two jazz festivals in Connecticut, plus the Hartford Jazz Society’s holiday fundraising gala, AND the Real Art Ways holiday and Latin jazz parranda. These events feature some of the top talent in the 8495. Take a look and check your calendars!
Manchester Jazz Festival: In Manchester, CT, the good folks at Beth Sholom B’nai Israel are celebrating a huge anniversary with the 10th annual Manchester Jazz Festival, Saturday, Dec. 6 (doors at 6 pm, music starts at 6:30) and Sunday, Dec. 7 (doors at 12:30 pm, music starts at 1) at historic Cheney Hall.
Lineups are as follows:
Saturday, Dec. 6: Hall High School Jazz Combo, Jonathan Barber’s Vision Ahead, Vanisha Gould Quartet, and Liviu Pop Group.
Sunday, Dec. 7: Timothy Edwards Middle School Good Vibes Fellowship (Best Middle School Jazz Combo in the 2025 DownBeat International Student Music Awards), Grass Routes Bluegrass, The Hall Monitors, and the Grammy Award-winning Dan Pugach Big Band with guest vocalist, and also Grammy Award-winning, Nicole Zuraitis (more news on Dan and Nicole a little further down the column, but no peeking).
GA tickets are $40 for one day and $70 for both. VIP tickets are $80 for one day or $140 for both. Click here for more ticket information.
Aquila’s Nest December Jazz Fest: If a vineyard visit is more your style, the folks at Aquila’s Nest Vineyards in Newtown, CT are hosting their December Jazz Fest Friday, Dec. 5 through Sunday, Dec. 7.
Lineups are as follows:
Friday, Dec. 5: Nick Di Maria Quartet, 6 – 9 pm.
Saturday, Dec. 6: Triple Bock Jazz Quintet, 1 – 4 pm. Noreen Mola Quartet, 5:30 – 8:30 pm.
Sunday, Dec. 7: Timeless Groove Jazz Quartet, 1 – 3 pm. TJ Thompson Jazz Trio, 4 – 7 pm.
One ticket costs $20 and is good for all five shows ($10 drink minimum is also required). For more information, click here.
HJS Jazz & Community Fundraiser: The hard-working people at the Hartford Jazz Society are also celebrating the music Saturday, Dec. 6 with their second Jazz & Community fundraiser, featuring Linda Ransom and Friends. Proceeds from this event will directly support the 2026 Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz Series and the society’s scholarship fund. In addition to the music, the event features a raffle with prizes including gift baskets, jazz photos by Maurice Robertson, and backstage passes to next summer’s Paul Brown series. Percussionist Abu Alvin Carter will receive the HJS Lifetime Achievement Award.
The event will be held in the Artists Collective ballroom, 1200 Albany Ave. GA tickets are $60 for non-members. Spring for $75 and you get a membership in the HJS.
Click here for all you need to know.
Real Art Ways Latin Parranda: As if all these events weren’t enough to convince us the 8495 is absolutely jazz saturated, Real Art Ways will also bring us their annual holiday jazz and Latin parranda, featuring trombonist Papo Vasquez and his band, the Mighty Pirates Troubadors, Saturday, Dec. 6 at Blackeyed Sally’s in downtown Hartford.
Parranda de aguinaldo (Christmas folk music), is an Afro-Indigenous musical form played during the holidays in various Caribbean and Latin American countries including Puerto Rico, Cuba, Trinidad, and the coastal area of the states Aragua and Carabobo in Venezuela.
Tickets are $10 – or bring your axe and get in free!
Dan and Nicole Go For The Three-Peat
Connecticut’s own Nicole Zuraitis and Dan Pugach are on a Grammy roll and it may not have stopped with their 2025 win. The 2026 nominations are out and the couple’s Live at Vic’s Las Vegas album has garnered two – Best Jazz Performance for “All Stars Lead To You,” and Best Vocal Album.
Billed as Nicole Zuraitis and Friends, the album includes, in addition to Nicole’s piano and vocals and Dan’s drumming, guitarist Idan Morim, bassist Samuel Weber, Keyon Harrold on trumpet, Tom Scott on sax, and Rachel Eckroth on organ, and has gotten across-the-board laudatory reviews. They handle a wide variety of music, including country, blues and rock numbers (“Got My Mojo Working,” “Jolene,” and “Rhiannon”). “All Stars Lead To You,” the nominated performance song, is a Nicole original.
For those late to the party, Nicole took the 2024 Grammy for Best Vocal Album with How Love Begins (Dan on drums, naturally), and the couple took the 2025 Grammy under Dan’s name for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for Bianca Reimagined: Music for Paws and Persistence.
Other jazz artists with New England ties to get nominations include West Hartford, CT native Brad Mehldau, who is nominated for Best Alternative Jazz Album with Ride Into The Sun, and Terri Lyne Carrington, NEA Jazz Master and artistic director and founder of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, for We Insist 2025!, a reimagining of the 1961 Max Roach/Abbey Lincoln masterpiece (with vocalist and Howard University professor Christie Dashiell) for best Jazz Vocal Album.
Vamping Muddy, Nicole Zuraitis sings the blues in the Grammy-nominated Live At Vic’s Las Vegas album. Nicole and husband Dan Pugach took home Grammys in 2024 and 2025 – can they go for the three-peat?
Out and About with 8495Jazz
These listings are a curated sampling of shows in the region. As an independent resource for jazz news, 8495Jazz does not receive any consideration, free tickets, or affiliate fees for these listings. Please confirm events are still happening directly with the venue.
We are slightly tweaking the gigs listings; we’ll now go out to the Sunday following publication. That will give you a full week instead of a couple hours to ponder whether you would like to go listen to some fine music.
8495Jazz Wild Card Gig of the Week
Jazz Forum Arts, Tarrytown, NY
SUNY Purchase vocal and instrumental showcase, Sunday, Nov. 30, 4 pm and 6 pm. GA $27.25, students $22 including service fee. The jazz program at SUNY Purchase has produced talent like trumpeter Bruce Harris and vocalists Cyrille Aimee and Samara Joy. Gotta be a star in the making in this group!
8495Jazz Spur of the Moment Gig TODAY
The Parlour, Providence, RI
Grace Darko X The Project Ensemble (vocals, combo), 9 pm. GA $10
Other Upcoming Shows
Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
Instantiations (combo improvisation), today, 2:30 pm. GA $16.50 including service fee.
VFW Post 399, Westport, CT
Paul Bollenback and Dave Kikoski (guitar, piano, combo), Thursday, Dec. 4, 7:30 and 8:35 pm. GA $10.76-$20.76, student/vets $15.76 for 7:30 show.
Scullers, Boston, MA
Steve Davis Quintet (trombone, combo), Saturday, Dec. 6, 7 pm. GA $42.45 - $59.25 including service fee.
Calvary Presbyterian Church, Newburgh, NY
Ben Basile More Benergy Tour, Sunday, Nov. 30, 4 pm. Free.
The Lilypad, Cambridge, MA
Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra-Mini (10-piece combo), today, 5 pm. GA $15, students $10.
The Falcon, Marlboro, NY
Peter Furlan Project album release show (sax, combo), today, 7:30 pm.
Firehouse 12, New Haven, CT
Sara Serpa and Matt Mitchell (vocals, piano), Friday, Dec. 5, 8:30 and 10 pm. GA $20 for 8:30 show, $15 for 10 pm show.
SHU Community Theatre, Fairfield, CT
John Scofield Trio (guitar, combo), today, 7:30 pm. GA $65 - $75 including service fee.
The Side Door, Old Lyme, CT
Christian Sands Trio (piano, combo), Friday, Dec. 5 – Sunday, Dec. 7, 8 pm. GA $65.04 (Fri-Sat), $59.75 (Sun), students $33.27 (Fri-Sat), $27.98 (Sun.), including service fee.
River Room, Willimantic, CT
Dan Moretti & Brazilia (combo) tribute to Wayne Shorter w/ a Latin Twist, Saturday, Dec. 6, 7:30 pm. GA $39.19, students $23.18 including service fee.
Infinity Hall, Hartford, CT
Preservation Hall Jazz Band Creole Christmas (New Orleans jazz, holiday classics), Sunday, Nov. 30, 8 pm. GA $70.62 - $107.73 including service fee.
Elicit Brewing Co., Manchester, CT
Hartford Jazz Orchestra, Monday, Nov. 24, 7:30 pm. Free.
Jams
Cafe Nine, New Haven CT
New Haven Jazz Underground jam, usually 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month: free admission
Saturday jazz jam most Saturdays, 4 pm. Free.
Blackeyed Sally’s, Hartford, CT
Jazz Wednesdays, featured set 7 pm, jam session afterward.
Carmine’s, East Hartford, CT
Paisley’s All Star Memorial Jam, 3rd Tuesday of the month, 7:30 pm. House band set followed by jam. Free.
Mahoney’s, Poughkeepsie, NY
Poughkeepsie Jazz Project, every Tuesday, 7 pm. Free.
Jazz Societies and Organizations (great info on events, festivals, and more)
Jazz Society of Fairfield County
Jazz Fridays at Three Sheets New Haven 1st/3rd Fridays from 6-9pm
Jazz Thursdays at The Cannon New Haven every other Thurs from 7-9pm.
8495Jazz takes its name from the two Interstate highways that cross our region, I-84 and I-95. Within short driving distances from either, you can find incredible entertainment, from local jams to world-famous festivals in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. 8495Jazz: From Newburgh to Newport!
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