Based in Weston, MA and neighboring communities, our eight-piece band specializes in lively toe-tapping early New Orleans jazz and Tin Pan Alley popular music from the 1900’s to the Chicago era Roaring Twenties. This era of music includes New Orleans street marches and struts, blues, ragtime and quick-step dance music pioneered by King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Ferdinand (Jelly Roll) Morton and Bix Beiderbeck. Even if these names are unknown to you, the happy sounds that they created will sound familiar to you.

Our concert programs include a family-friendly mix of music, historical anecdotes, humor, and even a little audience participation. We also provide background music for special events such as 50th wedding anniversaries, college reunions and “senior” birthday celebrations. We like to facilitate dancing at such events, and can add waltzes, a few Latin rhythms, Klezmer, and even a polka.

A note on decibels: If you enjoy typical contemporary pop bands with loudspeakers as large as refrigerators sending out eardrum-splitting sound waves (leaving you with sign language as the only means of communication), you probably will not like the Ancient Mariners. We are (mostly) an acoustic band, which means that the sound generated by the individual instruments passes directly to your ears – which is how musical instruments were designed for centuries. We like to work with our hosts to ensure that we are neither too loud nor too soft.