The big band tradition doesn’t belong to concert halls or festivals alone — it belongs to rooms where the saxes are close enough that you feel the reed. The North Country Jazz Project’s annual December concert at Tannery Pond Community Center is that kind of evening: an 18-piece ensemble, directed by David Hosley, in a space intimate enough to hear the individual voices within a section before they blend. The show runs Wednesday, December 30, at 7:30 p.m.
About the Show
The ensemble has been performing together for a decade. The annual December concert at Tannery Pond has become a regional fixture, drawing what venue listings consistently call “many loyal followers” back each year. Their repertoire spans the core of what big band means: the libraries of Buddy Rich, Count Basie, Maynard Ferguson, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Stan Kenton, and Woody Herman, extended with work from contemporary jazz orchestra composers Alan Baylock, Chuck Mangione, and Sammy Nestico. Moving from Goodman’s swing-era clarinet vocabulary to Nestico’s more recent brass writing is not a small stylistic leap; it requires an ensemble with range as well as chops. The stylistic spread bears that out: swing, bebop, fusion, Latin, funk, and Motown all appear across a single program. Many of the musicians are or were music educators from throughout the Southern Adirondack region, with several from the Johnsburg area, lending the ensemble a pedagogical command of material they’ve spent careers teaching as well as playing. Past Tannery Pond concerts have run from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Venue & Logistics
Tannery Pond Community Center, 228 Main Street in North Creek, is the band’s home territory in the North Country — a community arts hub serving the southern Adirondack region. At 150 seats, it’s a compact room for an 18-piece setup; a full brass choir registers here as a physical fact, not just a sound. Parking near the venue is limited due to construction; the library and town hall lot, street parking on Main Street north of the Main/28N intersection, shoulder parking on 28N, and a grass lot at the Main/28N corner are available options.
Tickets
Advance tickets are $20; day-of pricing rises to $25. Youth 18 and younger attend free. Past concerts have sold out, and day-of availability is first-come, first-served with a waitlist option for unclaimed reservations. Tickets are available through Eventbrite, the TPC box office, or by calling (518) 251-2505. Buy tickets