Save the dates for three Music in the Alley summer concerts
June 16, 2023 | By Waterbury Roundabout
For three Friday nights this summer, the service alleyway at 5 Stowe Street in downtown Waterbury will be transformed into a special performance venue for TURNmusic’s Music in the Alley free concerts.
Concerts are planned for 6-9 p.m. on June 23, July 28 and Aug. 25 under string lights and beside the Phoenix Rising mural. Organizers look for the events to be opportunities for friends and neighbors to experience great music and community. “Music in the Alley is one of the unique experiences that makes Waterbury so great,” says Waterbury resident and TURNmusic Director Anne Decker.
Music in the Alley partner Blackback Pub will be serving food and beverages in the alley. Decker said the rain plan will be to play music inside the Blackback Pub if necessary. Landmark Realty is the series’ other major sponsor.
Find TURNmusic online at turnmusic.org.
Here’s the lineup:
Friday, June 23: Michael Chorney and Freeway Clyde
Michael Chorney (left) and Freeway Clyde bandmates play Music in the Alley on June 23. Courtesy photo
Michael Chorney and Freeway Clyde say they play psychedelic jazz soundtracks to non-existent films. A musician from Lincoln, Vermont, Chorney has worked as a composer, band leader, librarian, orchestrator, assembly line worker, arranger, janitor, dance accompanist, carpenter, engineer, house painter, teacher and side man.
In 2019, Chorney took home a Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for his work on the Broadway hit “Hadestown.” It was one of eight Tonys that the musical by Vermonter Anias Mitchell won that year, including Best Musical.
Chorney’s work spans genres from avant-garde prepared guitar pieces to arrangements of Paul Bowles, Kurt Weill and Sun Ra. His newest project, a seven-piece psychedelic jazz-rock collective called Freeway Clyde released its debut album “Sunflower” in February. Chorney also produced a duets album with Brooklyn-based violinist Dana Lyn, “The Melodia of Freeway Clyde,” which was released in May.
Freeway Clyde is Jeremy Fredrick (drums), Taylor Haskins (EVI, trumpet), Will Andrews (trumpet, samples, synthesizer), Matt LaRocca (viola), Zack DuPont (electric guitar) and Pat Ormiston (electric bass).
In The Times Argus on June 1, Arts Correspondent Tom Huntington writes: “Taken together, ‘Sunflower’ and ‘The Melodia of Freeway Clyde’ seal Chorney’s status as one of the most intriguing musicians, composers and bandleaders in the Green Mountain State.”
Friday, July 28: Reid Parsons + Cricket Blue
Reid Parsons is on the July 28 Music in the Alley double bill. Courtesy photo
Vermont native, Reid Parsons spins tales of triumph and tragedy through her soul-soaked Americana tunes. Parsons grew up in the Mad River Valley with strong influences of folk, blues, and jazz music. Performing alongside the likes of Cedric Burnside, Dexter Allen, and The Peterson Brothers in recent years, Parsons has rooted herself firmly in the blues tradition while exploring her folk singer-songwriter side. With her finger-picking style and mellifluous alto vocals, Parsons brings raw emotion onto the stage, taking listeners along for the ride every single time.
Taylor Smith and Laura Heaberlin are Cricket Blue. Courtesy photo
Cricket Blue is a Vermont-based folk duo of Laura Heaberlin and Taylor Smith. Their unique sound lies “somewhere between tingly/prickly,” characterized by intricate, layered guitar work and dreamy harmonies which sources consistently describe as “haunting” even though only Laura believes in ghosts.
The pair share songwriting duties, and the fruits of their collaboration are pieces that draw most heavily on traditional American folk music but borrow liberally from jazz and Romantic classical ideas.
Their lyrics wheel from balladesque narrative to stark character portraits to small meditations on philosophy or friendship, buoyed by signature tightrope harmonies which Laura once pitched to Taylor as “playing a two-headed narrator.”
They are working on their second full-length album. Find them online at cricketbluemusic.com.
Friday, August 25: Mal Maïz
Mal Maiz plays Music in the Alley on Aug. 25. Courtesy photo
Mal Maïz is a Vermont-based musical group that explores the psychedelic side of Latin music, weaving modern and traditional rhythms from Central and South America. The storytelling behind each song is designed in a poetic way, elaborating the complexity of the myths and legends that once were part of the oral culture of Central America. The band says it “delivers explosive and complex sounds that will make you dance, celebrate, and heal your soul.”
See more including video clips on the band’s Facebook page.
Additional support for Concerts in the Alley comes from Waterbury Studios, Revitalizing Waterbury, Axel's Gallery & Frame Shop, and birch + pine Real Estate Company.