Hot music for a cold month – that’s the idea behind Centenary Stage‘s January Thaw Music Fest in Hackettstown, NJ. Producer Susan Wallner talks with Eddie Allen, leader of 3hree for Louis, a six-piece ensemble playing the music of the great Louis Armstrong.

“Louis had a way of putting his signature stamp on every tune he played. There’s no way to improve on what he did with his music,” says Allen. “So, this three trumpet ensemble has taken some of the music Louis performed and rearranged them with “Louis-isms” throughout the music.” 3hree for Louis performs Sunday, January 22.

The January Thaw Music Fest began on Saturday, January 14, with the Hoo Doo Loungers, called “the East Coast’s New Orleans Party Band.” The festival concludes on January 28 with Sweet Plaintain, a quartet fusing Western classical traditions with hip-hop, jazz, and Latin rhythms.