Hot Notes | Cool Nites Concerts in the Park will be performing in the Riverton City Park on July 8 at 7:00 PM. WyoJazz will be featured as the guest artists. The CWC Community band will be performing a program patriotic music to keep the 4th of July celebration going according to Dr. Jeremy Cochran, the band’s director.

Kelly Dehnert, the founder of WyoJazz, said he formed the group in the 1990s when he was Professor of Instrumental Music at Central Wyoming College. “We brought jazz artists together from around the state to perform special events.” He added that the first time the group performed, it included Jeff Troxel and Ronny Bedford for a HNCN concert. He said the group has performed History of Jazz shows for the schools, for the International Climbers Festival, as part of the ArtLink elementary school lunch concerts, and several Hot Notes / Cool Nites concerts.

According to Dehnert, who plays trumpet for the group, members for this concert are Willie Wright (saxophones), Jeff Troxel (guitar), Ari Kamil (vocalist), Austen Fowles (piano), Feike van Dijk (Latin percussion), Sean Francis (bass), and Michael Shelley (drums).

The Hot Notes | Cool Nites concerts are sponsored in part by the Lander and Riverton Recreation Boards, Home Source Realty, Wyoming Arts Council, Rocky Mountain Agronomy, Wind River Visitors Council, and the City of Shoshoni. The concerts are free, but Dehnert noted, “We pass the sousaphone for any contributions the audience can make to the series.”

According to Cochran, the Community band is always seeking out band musicians who are “young or old.” The band rehearses before the concerts at 5:30 pm and is served dinner by the DOES in Riverton and Covenant Presbyterian Church in Lander. Interested musicians should contact him at the college at jcochran@cwc.edu for information.