This Friday, May 16, 2025, The Friends of the Frankfort Library will showcase a jazz/swing combo Bleu Django for their first concert of the season. All concerts for the 2025 season have moved to Friday nights. The Skanta Theatre will open its doors at 7 p.m. for guests to find their seats on concert evenings, and musicians will take the stage at 7:30 p.m.
Season tickets are $30 for all three concerts and individual concert tickets are $12. You can call (765) 654-8746 or stop in at the Circulation Desk to purchase tickets.
The Bleu Django Band consist of Bob Foster – rhythm guitar, Carolyn Dutton – violin, Daryl Jones – lead guitar, Fred Withrow, bass. Our professional bassists are much in demand with other groups and are rotated when available between Fred Withrow, Ron Kadish, and Jesse Wittman. Each one adds that driving bass end to the la pompe rhythm section that defines this genre of music. Additional members may include Michael Davis on rhythm guitar and our vocalist Emily Dunn providing vocals on select songs.
Bleu Django made its first public appearance at a restaurant in Noblesville, Indiana, where the group was heard by the owner of the Chatterbox, an Indianapolis jazz club, who immediately booked them. Jazz author and photographer Duncan Scheidt also heard the band there and invited it to perform at his annual convention of jazz record collectors. Since then, Bleu Django has played regularly at the Chatterbox and been engaged for numerous public and private concert series and festivals as well as a number of private parties and house concerts throughout the state. In the fall of 2006 the band performed at the four-day “Jazz at Chautauqua” festival in Chautauqua, New York where it was joined by jazz guitarist Howard Alden who provided the guitar track for Woody Allen’s acclaimed movie, “Sweet and Lowdown.” Last year the group played on the main stage at the Palladium in Carmel during opening week ceremonies and was featured at the annual Folk and Roots Festival in Champagne/Urbana, Ill.
Other venues have included the Indiana Fiddlers Gathering in Battleground, both the wine and the Hops and Harvest Festival in Story, the Ethnic Expo and the Harlequin Theater in Columbus, the Royal Theater in Danville, the Uptown Jazz and Blues Festival in Lafayette, the Indiana University Art Museum’s Jazz in July series in Bloomington, the Hedgehog Music Showcase in Arcadia, the Clowes Auditorium at the Indianapolis Central Library, and Depauw University.
The Future 2025 Concert Series Lineup:
Celtic fiddler Emily Ann Thompson on September 12, and three popular local musicians Jason and Gibson Wells and Hunter Wainscott will share the stage on November 14.