Kickoff is July 2
with Gypsy jazz

BATH — For the fourth consecutive year, the Chocolate Church Arts Center located in Bath has announced a summer schedule that includes some ticketed shows and free concerts.

On the main stage at 804 Washington St. will be:

* The Django Festival Allstars, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 2. Their music reflects gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt (1910-1953).

* The Sultans of String, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 4, playing Celtic reels, flamenco, Gypsy-jazz, Arabic, Cuban, and South Asian rhythms. Local musicians The Hollowbody Electric Band and Heather Pierson will be opening acts.

Tickets for both shows are $25 advance; $28 door and by calling the box office at 207-442-8455 or online www.chocolatechurcharts.org

•  Southern Maine Performing Arts Collaboration, 7 p.m. Aug. 11, for the musical “Working” based on Studs Terkel’s best-selling book of interviews with American workers. The play is performed by high school students and examines people from all walks of life. Tickets are $10 advance and $12 at the door. 

• Bath Heritage Days, July 1, beginning at 11 a.m. in the gazebo in Library Park on Washington Street, featuring Porch Lights (acoustic Americana duo), The Howligans (rock and roll), Pretty Girls Sing soprano (vocal harmonies rock, folk, country, bluegrass) and The Scott Davis Quartet (jazz). 

• Summer Concert Series, Saturdays starting July 8, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Bath Waterfront Park off Commercial Street downtown. The schedule is: The Strangely Possibles (indie, blues), July 8; Pan Fried Steele (steel band), July 15; The Big Chip Trio (blues, jazz, soul), July 22; Massachusetts-based DuPont Brothers (folk), July 29; Cold Chocolate (Americana, roots, bluegrass), Aug. 5; Papa Tim & Friends (R&B, soul, folk, blues), Aug. 12; Downeast Soul Coalition (R&B, Soul, folk, blues), Aug. 19; Alison Freeman-Shipmates (maritime chantey), Aug. 26.

The  Django Festival AllStars pay tribute to the style of Django Reinhardt (1910-1953). Belgian-born, Reinhardt rose to fame in Paris in the 1930s as a virtuosic guitar soloist. An injury in his young adulthood had paralyzed two fingers on his left hand and required that he retrain himself to play the guitar with wholly new techniques. He lived through World War II as a Gypsy in occupied France and in the mid-1940s toured the United States, playing alongside such icons as Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. He was a seminal figure in the development of the guitar genre and his driving, swinging style, now known as “hot jazz,” continues to grow in popularity globally.


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