Laura Windley

Friday - Oct 2, 2026

4:00pm – Sequoia Center - Overland Swing Express with Laura Windley – Hal Smith, Dan Barrett, Dave Bennett, Jonathan Stout, Kris Tokarski, Danny Tobias, Steve Pikal

7:00pm – Veteran’s Memorial - Josh Collazo's Jazzboree with Laura Windley – Josh Collazo, Riley Baker, Marc Caparone, Nate Ketner, Carl Sonny Leyland, Matt Weiner, Laura Windley

Saturday - Oct 3, 2026

3:00pm – Sequoia Center - New Orleans Night Owls with Laura Windley - Hal Smith, Kris Tokarski, Ryan Calloway, Colin Hancock, Dan Barrett, TJ Muller, Matt Weiner

7:30 pm– Veteran’s Memorial - Laura Windley Loves Pockets Jazz Band – Laura Windley, Riley Baker, Charlie Halloran, Nate Ketner, Dave Kosmyna, Hal Smith, Jonathan Stout, Matt Weiner,  Jacob Zimmerman

Sunday - Oct 4, 2026

10:30am – Morris Graves - Dan Barrett's Old Fashioned Jazz Band with Laura Windley - Dan Barrett, Dan Block, Josh Collazo, Chris Dawson, Sam Rocha, Danny Tobias, Laura Windley

7:30pm – Eagle House - Dave Stuckey's Jam O’Rama – Dave Stuckey, Clint Baker, Marc Caparone, Josh Collazo, Nate Ketner, Dawn Lambeth, Carl Sonny Leyland, Matt Weiner, Laura Windley

Laura came to jazz music from the dance floor, picking up swing dancing in 1998.  A few years later she became a DJ for those same dances, broadening her knowledge and love of jazz and swing with non-stop listening and music collecting. From there it was only natural that she try singing the songs that she had grown to love and, because a swing singer needs a swinging band, Laura went on to co-found the Mint Julep Jazz Band. 

Laura has become a staple of swing dance events throughout the U.S. and overseas, performing with her own band as well as bands led by Jonathan Stout, Michael Gamble, Paul Cosentino, Craig Gildner, and  Glenn Crytzer, performing with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, as well as performing at Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing with her own band and with Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders.

Singing in a sweet style with a serious rhythmic underpinning and drawing comparisons to a young Ella Fitzgerald, Ivie Anderson, and Helen Forrest, Laura is known for her authenticity of sound – as you enter the dance hall, you may think you are hearing a vintage recording. She can’t help but swing, no matter what the tempo, and she has a splendid conversational approach to the lyrics.   Michael Steinman has called her “the Joan Blondell of swing singing: sweet, tender, and lemony all at once. And once you’ve heard her, you won’t mistake her for anyone else.”