Something every week in June with TURNmusic
June 2, 2026 | By Waterbury RoundaboutTURNmusic will be hopping in June with something on the calendar every week. Director Anne Decker sent along these details.
June 3: Double bill experimentation and improvisation
Wednesday Knudsen is a multi-instrumentalist experimental musician living in upstate New York
Alex Homan
This midweek concert brings two artists to Waterbury with this intriguing introduction:
Wednesday Knudsen is a multi-instrumentalist experimental musician living in upstate New York whose work engages an interplay between compositional and improvisational approaches, exploring interactions of environmental context and notions of occasion with given sets of dynamic parameters.
Alex Homan combines elements of sounds recorded to cassette, no-input feedback, improvised electric guitar and vocals, creating microcosmic passages that provide a soundtrack for the imagination.
Showtime: 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $15-30 sliding fee; free admission for under 21. Tickets are available at sevendaystickets.com.
June 8: Poetry, jazz and improvisation are Rachel Ambaye’s ‘Imagined Reality’
Rachel Ambaye will perform her show “Imagined Reality” on June 8. Courtesy photo
Through a blend of poetry, jazz, and improvised music, Rachel Ambaye’s Imagined Reality show explores the obsessive nature of memory and the deformation that occurs in keeping moments alive.
Cyclical and searching, much like the compulsive desire to fully understand, this project lives in the tension between clarity and confusion — getting closer to comprehension while simultaneously drifting further from reality.
Built around improvisation and emotion, each performance becomes its own living reconstruction of the past, much like memories themselves: fragmented, distorted, and influenced by the present. This music asks what happens when we refuse to let go of certain moments, and how repeated resurfacing can transform truth into something unfamiliar.
Inspired by the freedom and uncertainty found in states of reflection, Ambaye’s Imagined Reality treats performance as a deeply present act of processing and creates a shared emotional space, one where audience and musicians move through this experience together, face-to-face with the blurred line between truth and recollection.
The result is an intimate and immersive performance rooted in vulnerability, improvisation and collective discovery.
Showtime: 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $15-30 sliding fee; free admission for under 21. Tickets are available at sevendaystickets.com.
June 17: Jazz Jam hosted by Nina Towne
TURNmusic’s monthly Jazz Jam hosted by musician and band leader Nina Towne happens on Wednesday, June 17, from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Phoenix Music Hall & Gallery.
Jazz Jam provides an opportunity for a community of all ages – from school-age to elders – to gather and play, sing, or just hear jazz and socialize in an organized, relaxed, and welcoming atmosphere.
Players join in on the songs others bring, and/or you can bring a few copies of sheet music for the tunes you want to call. Many tunes are called from The Real Books. Singers, please bring copies of lead sheets or sheet music for your tunes in your key.
Admission: $10.
Summer Music in the Alley shows are set
Plans for three Friday night summer Music in the Alley concerts – one each in June, July and August – are coming together, organized by TURNmusic with Blackback Pub.
Save the dates for June 26 with Mal Maiz, July 24 with La Lovo, and Aug. 21 with Ray Vega’s Afro Caribbean Ensemble.
The 2026 globally inspired lineup starts with the psychedelic Latin grooves of Sonido Mal Maïz, followed by the vibrant, cross-cultural Afro-Latin folk and rock energy of LA LOVO. International Latin jazz ambassador and legendary music educator Ray Vega closes out the series.
A little more about the bands:
TURNmusic hosts jazz musician Ray Vega at The Phoenix in Waterbury on May 22. Courtesy photo
TURNmusic hosts psych-latin group Sonide Mal Maïz June 26. Courtesy photo
Sonido Mal Maïz is a Vermont-based group that explores the psychedelic side of Latin music, weaving modern and traditional rhythms from Central and South America. The poetic storytelling in the lyrics incorporates the complexity of the myths and legends of the ancient oral culture of Central America, and the music emanates a passion and fire that is ignited in their collective heart. Maiz “Brujo” Vargas founded the group in the epicenter of the Burlington scene back in 2015, joining forces with some of Vermont’s most professional and inspired musicians. The product is a coalescence of explosive and complex sounds that will make you dance and celebrate and will heal your soul.
LA LOVO brings a vibrant, cross-cultural sound, blending Afro-Latin grooves, Colombian folk rhythms, soulful vocals, heartfelt lyrics, and rock ’n’ roll energy into one unforgettable summer evening. Led by singer-songwriter Cintia Lovo, the set invites Vermont audiences into a rich musical journey full of movement, storytelling, and connection. LA LOVO offers a fresh, joyful, and deeply alive performance by celebrating multicultural rhythms that just make you want to dance.
International ambassador of Latin jazz, Vermont Public Radio host, and distinguished music educator, Ray Vega brings his undeniably brilliant mix of Latin and Afro-Caribbean jazz in August. Vega has performed and/or recorded with the likes of Joe Henderson, Lionel Hampton, Mel Torme, Jazz at Lincoln Center Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, and Paul Simon, among others. Currently a senior lecturer at the University of Vermont, along with coaching four jazz combos, he teaches trumpet and jazz history. Vega has taught master classes in trumpet performance, jazz improvisation, brass performance techniques and Afro-Caribbean jazz throughout the U.S. and as far away as Australia.
The free concerts will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. in Jack’s Alley on Stowe Street (beside Stowe Street Emporium). The Phoenix Gallery and Music Hall is the rain location.
Beverages will be available for purchase from Blackback Pub. Other sponsors are Waterbury Arts, Mad River Painting, and Landmark Realty.