Front Porch Music Series
Bill Cole’s 85th birthday concert at the Thetford Hill Congregational Church in 2023. Left to right: Mali Obomsawin, Warren Smith, Bill Cole, Taylor Ho Bynum and Ras Moshe. Photo Credits: Li Shen.
7th Annual Front Porch Music Series
- Summer 2026 -
July 25
Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Bill Cole
in concert
1:00pm
1590 Tucker Hill Road
Thetford Center, VT 05075
Free Admission
Bring a chair
The Front Porch Music Series began on Bill Cole's porch during Covid, when musicians weren't working and people couldn't hear live music. Bill invited colleagues to play before a live audience who brought lawn chairs and sat in the front yard.
After the first years at Bill's house, the Series continued at the Thetford Hill Church and in 2025 at the Claremont Creative Center.
Li Shen wrote about the 2023 Series : "It’s nothing short of amazing that this amount of talent will convene in Thetford, VT of all places. Through improvisation on the fly, they will create sounds that explore the limits of both the instrument and the player and challenge the listener’s concept of music.” To read Li's full article, visit: https://www.sidenote.news/event-front-porch-improvised-jazz-concerts-migrate-to-thetford-hill-church-with-an-impressive-line-up/.
Recordings of 2025 and prior are available below!
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2024 Program Notes
Thank you for supporting the 5th annual Front Porch Music Series!
People asked about the written material included in the concert programs for the 2024 Series. So we asked Bill (Aug. 20, 2024)!
Q: Is there a theme to the 2024 Series?
A: Yes, the theme is the possibility of violence. I'm concerned about the extreme divisiveness, political and otherwise, in our country at this time.
Q: Why did you select the Sowande quote for the 1st (June 8) concert? [See quote below]
A: This passage is saying that when evil goes into a person, and once it's involved with this person, it becomes the master of this person's mind.
Q: How do the proverbs that you selected for the 2nd (July 13) concert relate to that? [See proverbs below]
A: The first one explains how you can tell who's an evil person. The second one shows the degree to which evil can spread and take over.
Q: What was behind the proverbs on the 3rd (August 10) program?
A: The theme for the 3rd concert was Beauty. Through the beauty of music, if we produce that, it's positive for the community. I found these proverbs interesting in this context.
Q: What's coming up for the 4th (September 21) concert?
A: The theme for the 4th concert will be Love. With the arc of this summer's performance subjects, we will have offered something that is in opposition to evil.
June 8, 2024:
“Once the divisive element is allowed to enter one’s mind, it soon becomes that mind’s landlord, and impels its owner in directions that were neither originally foreseen nor intended, nor desired, but against which struggle is totally ineffectual.” -Fela Sowande
July 13, 2024:
The man who is glad when he is taught to do evil must be evil by nature.*
Mean people are more numerous than trees in the forest, good people are rarer than eyes.*
*Yoruba proverbs
August 10, 2024:
When your slave dies his mother does not know; when your child dies there is wailing in the house.*
One statement may lose a lawsuit; another may win it.*
Anger avails nothing: patience is the father of character; an elder who has patience has everything.*
*Yoruba proverbs
2025 Concert Footage
June 14, 2025: Set #1
June 15, 2025: Claremont Creative Center