The galleries at the Arts Center at Duck Creek in Springs are quiet in the winter, but the center is about to launch a new initiative: three off-site music programs that will happen at the Sagaponack Farm Distillery, starting on Sunday at 3 p.m.
Peter Watrous, a longtime music critic for The New York Times and the curator of Duck Creek’s summer music series, and Jess Frost, the venue’s executive director, put their heads together to figure out what would keep the center a little more active during the cold months.
“We thought about a music series, Jess approached the farm distillery, and they liked the idea of opening up for those shows,” said Mr. Watrous in a phone conversation. “I had played a couple of times in the winter out there, at the Green Room in Sag Harbor, the distillery, and a couple of other places, and it was really great because you basically know everybody and people have been inside for months at a time. It’s a festive way to get together and have a really good time for a couple of hours.”
Mr. Watrous is also an acclaimed guitarist, and his trio will open the series on Sunday. He will be joined by Chaz Martineau on saxophone, Charlie Lincoln on bass, and Willis Edmundson on drums.
“It’s sort of a shape-shifting group,” said Mr. Watrous. “We move from fairly standard straight-ahead jazz into some elements of Americana, some elements of experimental 20th-century classical music -- there’s a bunch of stuff in it. It’s really pretty improvised, nothing stays the same, one performance one night will not sound like another performance the next night. We’re constantly feeding off each other, and if somebody decides to take the music in one direction, everybody knows how to follow that person. It’s really like a four-way conversation.”
Jazz can sometimes be limited in terms of the forms people are using, he noted. “It can get dull. We try not to let that happen.”
The second show, set for Jan. 4, also at 3, will bring the Emmanuel Michael Trio to the distillery. Based in New York City, Mr. Michael was raised in South Dakota as a first-generation Ugandan and Southern Sudanese. He is a 2024 recipient of a yearlong residency commission from Manhattan’s Jazz Gallery, with various performances throughout the year at the venue, as well as a grant to write and perform original works.
“Emmanuel Michael is a supremely gifted young guitar player,” said Mr. Watrous. “He comes from a jazz background, but he’s also of African descent, so African music comes out in his playing. It’s not conventional jazz in any way, shape, or form. He surrounds himself with the best young musicians in New York, and I would argue is one of the most in-demand players in the city right now.”
Julieta Eugenio, who will perform on Jan. 25 at 3, is an Argentine tenor saxophonist, composer, and bandleader based in New York. She has performed with Johnny O’Neal, Leon Parker, and the touring production “Swing Out,” and has appeared at Dizzy’s Club, SummerStage, and the Joyce Theater. She was nominated for best new artist at the Jazz Music Awards and named one of Grammy magazine’s “10 Jazz Emerging Artists to Watch.”
“Julieta is a gifted saxophone player,” said Mr. Watrous. “She’ll be playing in a trio setting with acoustic bass and drums. It’s like modern and straight-ahead jazz, impeccably executed. Everything is gorgeously balanced, there’s nothing extreme in any direction, and she’s just a really good improviser. She’s as good as classic jazz can be at this point.”
Tickets, available from Duck Creek’s website, are $20 for each concert; $50 for a three-show bundle. All proceeds will support the Springs venue’s free summer programming.
