Val performs with the 18-piece big band Tuxedo Junction in Guilford, CT.

Join us for a dance at this FREE event. Val is there on the first Monday, but the band, Tuxedo Junction, plays every Monday! Sign up for the mailing list! Come and enjoy the live big band music. Expect vocals featuring songs by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Julie London, Peggy Lee, and Anita O’Day.

Come dance and enjoy Tuxedo Junction: The Sounds of Swing – as we bring the classic big band swing sound to the Guilford, CT VFW. Come out and sing and dance to your favorite hits from the Great American Songbook and beyond!

The music starts at 7 PM, and we'll play until 8:30 PM.

The VFW provides a wonderful venue with ideal acoustics for a big band, a large dance floor, a bartender, and a cabaret atmosphere. Bring your

friends and family. Bring a snack or your dinner - just don't bring alcohol, as a cash bar is available!

VFW doors open at 6:00 PM. The band plays from 7:00 to 8:30 PM.

VFW Post 9666

Tuxedo Junction was started in 1989 by Pete Jacobs (trumpet) and Will Tayler (drums), WWII veterans who set up an 8-piece Dixieland jazz band in the basement of the senior citizens center in Madison, CT. Pat Todd soon joined on piano. 

The band quickly grew into a full swing band as Pete added big band arrangements and people joined: everyone from high school students to retired music teachers started to fill out the sections. Tuxedo Junction moved its practice home to the Westbrook Elks briefly, and in 1997 Paul James suggested that Bill’s Seafood restaurant in Westbrook, CT would be a great place to share the sounds of swing. 

After more than 20 years of Monday nights at Bill’s, originally outnumbering the customers and staff before turning it into the most happening place on the Shoreline for a Monday night, we moved outside to Town Greens, Overlook Farm in Killingworth, and the Guilford VFW.

Tuxedo Junction plays original big band arrangements from the 30’s through the present, including charts from Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Sy Zentner, Buddy Rich, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and more. 

We focus on danceable tunes from swing to waltz, foxtrot to two-step, Latin and even some rock.  The band has weekly open rehearsals at local venues on the Eastern Connecticut shoreline. 

The public is invited to dance and listen in at no charge. 

We are also available for hire at public and private events throughout Connecticut.

After more than 1,001 performances, Tuxedo Junction has become a musical success story. We are now eighteen passionate musicians, men and women of all ages, following the great jazz tradition and warmly welcoming visiting jazz musicians to sit in.