EC-CHAP Jazz Series: An Evening of Jazz with Matt and Atla DeChamplain

Tickets $20.00 in Advance (ONLINE) / $25.00 at the Door

EC-CHAP “Frequent Flyer” Rewards Program Available

SPECIAL NOTE: Matt DeChamplain is no stranger to The Packing House. An exceptional jazz pianist who has graced our stage since 2016 as a part of the Greg Abate Quartet; and again in 2018 with his own“Drummerless Trio”. Matt returns this spring with his wife Atla, an accomplished jazz vocalist. We are excited to have this extraordinary jazz duo debut their original works and arrangements at The Packing House!

Atla & Matt are high school sweethearts. They met when Atla was 15 & Matt was 16, and have been performing together ever since.

“We started as best friends. We were both studying jazz music at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts (a performing arts magnet school), and we loved the same musicians: Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Jon Hendricks, Nat King Cole… We’d stay after school and work on music together. Jazz was really the foundation for our friendship. We just loved sharing our passion for the music. …looking back, we had an amazing journey together, and I especially appreciate how our personal relationship gave us the opportunity to challenge each other musically. We’re always sharing new records…new sounds with each other and encouraging each other to develop and grow.” -Atla

In 2015 the DECHAMPLAIN’S released PAUSE, their first album as a team. “Pause is a documentation of what we’ve been working on since we met. It features mostly songs from the Great American Songbook… these are jazz standards that we’ve been performing together for years. The pieces we picked for the album were songs that our live audiences always request. PAUSE features the musicians we’ve been performing with for the last 10 years including a guest appearance by the legendary vocalist Jon Hendricks.”

"...the DeChamplain's have much to celebrate with the release of their first recording together, a beautifully crafted, briskly executed, and triumphant disc called Pause.” – Owen McNally, NPR

The couple have played venues all over the U.S. such as The American Stage Theater (FL), The Side Door (CT), The Steinway Gallery (MI), The Monterey Jazz Festival (CA), The Valentine Theater (OH), Millennium Hall at the Kennedy Center (Wash. D.C.) Provincetown Jazz Festival (MA) and a weeklong engagement at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola (Jazz at Lincoln Center, NYC) opening for acclaimed vocalist Freddy Cole, brother of Nat King Cole. They have had the good fortune of sharing the stage collectively and independently with such artists as Jon Henricks, Dave Brubeck, Jimmy Cobb, Ken Peplowski, Earl McDonald, Avery Sharpe, Eric Alexander, Nat Reeves, Steve Davis, Javon Jackson, Kurt Elling, Yoron Israel, John Lamb and many others.

Atla is currently a Professor of Amplified Voice at the University of Rhode Island and Matt entered his tenth-year teaching at The Hartt School of Music. They are excited to be releasing a new album in the Summer of 2023 (check for updates at www.atlaandmattdechamplain.com). In addition, Matt has teamed up with the great jazz violinist Jason Anick to record a tribute album honoring Stephane Grappelli and Oscar Peterson due out in September of 2023. Matt was also featured on an album of original works by Greg Abate and Paul Del Nero due out in 2023 on Summit Records.

Join us for an amazing evening of acoustic jazz by these acomplished musicians! This program is hosted by the "Eastern Connecticut Center for History, Art, and Performance" (EC-CHAP). Doors 7:00pm / Show 7:30pm. Tickets $20.00 Advance (Online) / $25.00 Door.

Soft drinks and snacks available. We are pleased to offer our exclusive "BYOB&F" model - Bring Your Own Beverage & Food (Wine & Beer Only - I.D. Required).  You can also bring your paid ticket to Willington Pizza House (or WP Too) for eat-in or take-out the night of the show and receive 15% off your meal purchase. Ask for "The Packing House" pizza - you won't go wrong! Click here for secret recipe. 

For information and table reservations, please call 518-791-9474.