Sackville’s summer concert series is trading guitars for a much bigger sound Thursday evening, continuing a season of weekly outdoor performances that has already brought a wide range of local and regional acts to Bill Johnstone Memorial Park.
Over the past several weeks, audiences have gathered downtown on Thursday nights for everything from folk and rock groups to jazz ensembles, as Tantramar’s Concerts in the Park series has rolled through the heart of the summer. The Elastic Big Band now takes over as this week’s featured performer.
The Elastic Big Band is an Atlantic Canadian jazz ensemble known for its flexible, “elastic” approach to the traditional big band format. Instead of a traditional, fixed lineup, the group draws on a rotating roster of musicians from across the region. The style blends the rawness of jam session vibes with something much more, allowing it to adapt its instrumentation and style depending on the performance. The band blends classic swing-era influences with modern jazz arrangements, often featuring bold horn sections, improvisation, and contemporary interpretations of familiar big band sounds.
The free show runs from 6:30 until 8 p.m.
Unlike a typical small-band performance, a traditional big band can put more than a dozen musicians on stage, usually combining sections of saxophones, trumpets and trombones with a rhythm section.
While ‘Big-band music’ peaked during the swing era of the 1930s and 40s, the format continues to be used for jazz and contemporary arrangements today.
The concert is part of Tantramar’s weekly summer series, which still has several Thursday night shows remaining before it wraps up later in the season, continuing to offer free live music in downtown Sackville through the remainder of the summer.
