For the second consecutive week, the Branford Green provided a beautiful night of jazz music for hundreds of residents and guests. The husband and wife team of Atla and Matt DeChamplain (pictured) presented a variety of music, including American Songbook and Bebop contemporary jazz pieces along with their original compositions.
Under a bright, sunny early evening sky last Thursday, Atla and Matt along with Kris Jensen (Sax), Matt Dwonszyk (Bass) and Ben Bilello (Drums) started the concert by playing “Cheek to Cheek,” one of Irving Berlin’s classic tunes. The audience loved it.
The young couple met at the age of 15 at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts. They became best friends before they became sweethearts and eventually married. Matt is from Wethersfield and Atla from Berlin.
In the past, both Matt and Atla have performed with some legendary artists. Matt opened for, or been part of a group that opened for such well-known musicians as Dave Brubeck and Wynton Marsalis. Atla sang with the legendary Jon Hendricks at the Monterey Jazz Festival and later studied with him at Toledo University.
First the group had to set-up. Matt Dwonszyk carried his bass onto the stage.
Here is Ben Bilello on drums.
Kris Jensen is seen here wailing on the sax.
Other well-known hits from the past the audience heard in their first set included Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing, If It Ain’t Got That Swing,) a song Atla sang just like the legend she idolized, Ella Fitzgerald.
Songs in the second set included Jimmy McHugh’s “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” and “Three O’clock in the Morning.”
After the performance, Jazz Series sponsor Al Canosa of Mosaic Printing Signage and Marketing Services, said “Matt and Alta were terrific. She has a great voice and he can really play those keys,” he said of Matt’s piano skills. “I loved hearing some of the classics they played tonight.”
Overall, it was a very popular concert and many in the crowd of nearly 1,000 gave the group a standing ovation at the end.
One fan delivered a token of his appreciation.
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