Mambo Combo, the jazz group that delighted North Country audiences for several years, returns to the stage on June 26 at 7:30 p.m. for a drive-in concert at Plattsburgh’s Harborside Stage, bringing the band back together for one night of swinging highlights.
Founded by the late Dr. Rick Davies, and led in more recent years by acclaimed trumpeter Herm Matlock — whose performance credits include gigs with everyone from Benny Goodman to Aretha Franklin to The Temptations — Mambo Combo rapidly became an audience favorite, presenting a wide repertoire from traditional jazz classics to Latin-infused tunes to funk highlights, all of it imbued with a union of respect for the heritage of the music and inventiveness in the improvisational solos that the group’s members performed.
Now retired from teaching and living out of the Plattsburgh area, Matlock leapt at the opportunity to hold a Mambo Combo reunion concert at the Harborside Stage when longtime band member Eli Moore of Saranac contacted him with the idea. Approximately a dozen musicians from the combo’s recent years of existence will gather on stage for this concert, excited to present a full-length evening of the best music that their genre has to offer, an ideal program for a summer night.
The Harborside Stage is stationed in the parking lot near Dock Street, close to the Plattsburgh City Marina. Attendants will begin parking vehicles on a first come, first served basis at 6:30 p.m. for this concert, with tickets available at the gate. Admission is only $20 per carload — not per person — with the box office proceeds going to the artists.
Attendees have the option of bringing a lawn chair or blanket and sitting in the area near their vehicle to watch the concert, or remaining in their car, where they can listen to the music by rolling down their windows or by turning on their car radios and hearing the broadcast over an FM frequency directly from the stage. Attendees are not required to wear face masks but are respectfully requested to refrain from bringing alcohol or pets (service animals are welcome) into the concert venue.
This concert is generously sponsored by RE/MAX North Country, whose kind financial contribution has allowed this program to take place as an affordable live music offering in the North Country.
For more information, please contact Benjamin Pomerance at pomerance.benjamin58@gmail.com.
Upcoming Live Events
6/26 Mambo Combo
7/3 Lake Champlain Mass Choir
7/9 Ursa & The Major Key
7/17 Hill & Hollow Music Presents: Mazel Tov Cocktail Party
7/24 Beartracks
