Each of the four nights of this year’s Millpond Live series will lead you on a musical journey filled with surprise and delight, stirring your soul and your spirit. The music will get your heart beating and your hips shaking. When we book the artists for Millpond Live we go for a variety of genres and exciting juxtapositions. We weigh authenticity, talent, and a certain something we can’t quite name to create a show that is more than the sum of its parts and that will stay with you. Then there’s the beer, food, craft vendors, friends and families that add up to the kind of gathering that we all need so much these days. It’s also free, thanks to generous donations and grants from organizations that support and depend on all of you and see the value in making possible an event that reminds us who we are as individuals and as a community.

Visit the event website at millpond.live.

Mtali Banda

With musical versatility that has brought him all over the world, Mtali Banda embraces jazz and soul music as a means for social change. Currently based in Massachusetts, Mtali Banda grew up in the midwest and south. The son of a Malawian refugee father and an African-American mother, all the sounds he was exposed to can now be heard in his music. He has shared the stage with Sonia Sanchez, Talib Kweli, The Soul Rebels, Anik Khan, and The.Wav. He toured as the saxophonist for the Jeremy Turgeon Quintet, and was the composer and saxophonist for Mixed-Race Mixtape – a hip-hop theater piece which toured nationally. His musical versatility has brought him all around the world. Just this past year he recorded in Southern Africa and performed with several well-known African artists, including Faith Musa and LAWI. As a first generation Malawian-American, he is a part of the growing Southern African music scene that has embraced jazz and soul music as a means for social change.

Freelance

Freelance is a Harlem-based collective with an expansive sound and encyclopedic knowledge of musical genres. Cross-pollinating styles and manipulating melody to great effect, you’ll hear echoes of legends like Mint Condition, Earth Wind and Fire, Stevie Wonder, and even Radiohead. Their all-star lineup of musicians regularly accompany Grammy Award winning artists such as Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Solange, Estelle, Esperanza Spalding, Terence Blanchard, Bilal, Terrace Martin, Lalah Hathaway, and others. Their name is a reference to their work ethos as a collective of musical entrepreneurs, generating returns with creative freedom and inspiring others to pursue their passions and “Live Freelance.”

Reyna Tropical

If you’re a fan of music, period, go ahead and jump onboard the Reyna Tropical train, because there’s just so much here to love. Fabi Reyna, (vocals and guitar), was living in Portland when she called her musical partner, Sumohair (percussions, backup vocals, more), to join her and together they formed Reyna Tropical.

The music is a cross between Mexican happiness, Caribbean hip-moving, Afro-Mexican rhythm, and, as NPR stated, “bright guitar riffs and meticulously layered samples with lulling lyricism… to create a tropical sound as complex and expansive as their shared experiences of bicultural Latinidad.”

Reyna’s voice is as soothing and beautiful as Norah Jones. What makes the music that much more interesting is that Reyna is the founder of She Shredz, “a community-driven, comprehensive answer to guitar culture and music media. Dedicated to women & gnc guitarists and bassists, their mission is to educate, empower, and inspire people through unexplored musical and cultural landscapes. Their vision is to continuously refine, redefine, and reimagine the possibilities of how music connects us, ensuring an inclusive and accessible music community 100% of the time.”