A little more than halfway into our busy Summer 2025 season, on Sunday August 3rd the 19-piece Compaq Big Band returns to one *THE* best outdoor concert spots anywhere - the Antonio F. Gentile Bandstand Summer Concert Series at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester, Massachusetts, overlooking spectacular Gloucester Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean!
The show runs 6:30pm-8:00pm and admission is *FREE* – just bring a blanket and/or lawn chair. The bandstand is located at 24 Hough Avenue and has plenty of free parking. We’ve had magical nights on this stage over the years, with some audiences numbering up to several hundred, and many saving their blanket/chair real estate beginning late-afternoon.
This performance is weather permitting. In the event of rain, the alternate concert date is Wednesday August 6th at the same location and time. If it rains both Sunday and Wednesday, there is no alternate date scheduled.
Fronting the band that evening will be the fabulous Cara Campanelli on vocals, channelin’ Ella Fitzgerald, and more. We will also be hittin’ the audience with some of our best instrumental arrangements, too. Think Bill Holman, Sammy Nestico, Chris Walden, and more, plus a few surprises – with some great patriotic charts sprinkled in, too.
As always, profuse thanks to David L. Benjamin Music, organizer of the Antonio F. Gentile Bandstand Summer Concert Series, and a tireless supporter of performers from all music genres on Cape Ann and the entire North Shore.
As is the case wherever we go, the band will have our professional, state-of-the-art traveling sound system, operated by our very experienced, full-time sound engineer. That means you’ll hear Cara, all the instrumental soloists, and the entire ensemble, clearly. All of this brought together with the band’s passion for production excellence.
Cape Ann is such a cool little corner of Massachusetts. If you can, make at least an afternoon and evening of it. Take in a great beach in Gloucester, or nearby Manchester-by-the-Sea or Ipswich. Lots of great choices for libation and sustenance - just to name-drop some favs close to the concert: eat-in-rough lobsta at Woodman's of Essex, cocktails on the deck of the Beauport Hotel Gloucester right across the harbor from Stage Fort Park, and Tonno Gloucester in downtown Glosta – plus LOTS more!
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Ridin’ the jazz waves that evening will be regulars John Finocchiaro, Chris Hildebrand, Scott Tringali, Jerry Griep, Kurt Thaller, Russell Bogartz, Bruce D. McLeod, Joe Heffernan, Kyle Emmie, Peter Sokolowski, Bruce Hanahan, Dave King, Gil Bristol, Dennis Cecere, and Jeff Hagan, plus alum David Bresnahan, and super-subs Leslie Havens and Andrew DiCicco.
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