Free Summer Concert in the Park!
The 2025 season of free concerts in the Park concludes on Monday, August 11th at 7 pm with a concert by Chris Coogan Quintet. The concerts are returning to the renovated Seth Thomas Park on South Main St. in Thomaston. Each concert begins at 7 pm and concludes at 8:30 pm. The Fine Arts Connection of Thomaston’s concert series is indebted to the Thomaston Savings Bank Foundation for core funding.
For over 20 years, Coogan has led the Chris Coogan Quartet, a combo with a repertoire that includes straight-ahead jazz, fusion jazz and boogie-woogie. S’Funky, Coogan’s first jazz album containing his original songs, was released in 1995 and re-released in 1999. It features the song Cranberry Isle which took the top jazz prize in the 1997 John Lennon Songwriting Competition. Coogan’s credits as a jazz musician include performing with the late Sal Salvador, Bette Midler, Donna Summer, Paul Newman, Whoopie Goldberg, Jo Ann Woodward, Alec Baldwin, Gene Wilder, Larry Coryell, Dave Liebman, Harold Danko, Ronnie Spector, James Naughton and Phoebe Snow, as well as arranging for Teo Maceo, producer for the late Miles Davis. He appeared on television’s Celebrity Jeopardy and the Arsenio Hall Show and has performed at Manhattan’s Blue Note and the Montreaux Jazz Festival.
Coogan also leads a successful career as a choral director; as well as a writer and arranger of gospel music. He weaves jazz black gospel and white choral music into a new brand of music that engages a broad, cross-cultural audience. In 1993, he founded the good News Gospel Choir with 15 members. Today, this 50-voice, multi-denominational singing group performs nearly every weekend at churches, festivals, fundraisers and various community events throughout the state of Connecticut. “I see myself as a catalyst who uses the medium of music to bring people together” Coogan said. “It’s my passion to help people find joy in making music and singing from their souls”.
Alcohol is not permitted in the Park by Town ordinance. Bring your lawn chair, your friends, and your love of music to Seth Thomas Park on Monday, August 11th!! All ages welcome, and the Park is handicap-accessible. In the event of inclement weather, the concert will move to the Thomaston Opera House, 158 Main St. in the Town Hall. Visit the FACT website for further information or weather alerts concerning concert relocation: www.thomastonfinearts.com.