WESTPORT– Dan Pugach and his Quintet will perform at VFW Post 399 this Thursday at VFW Post 399, 465 Riverside Ave., Westport.

The show is part of the Jazz at the Post series, which offers a new concert each Thursday, presented by the Jazz Society of Fairfield County with the FVW Post.

This week’s shows features Dan Pugach, a GRAMMY® Award-winning drummer and composer, a 5X nominee, 2X ASCAP Foundation Jazz Composer Award winner, a recipient of the BMI Charlie Parker Composition Prize and a participant at the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Residency Program at the Kennedy Center and is a Chamber Music America “New Jazz Works” Grantee. 

His  album, Bianca Reimagined: Music for Paws and Persistence (2024), featuring Nicole Zuraitis, won the 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.

This week Dan leads his quintet, which will include Dave Smith on trumpet, Greg Wall on saxes, Nitzan Gavrieli on piano and Sam Weber on bass.

Dinner by Chef Derek Furino will be served at 7 p.m. The price is $25 and spots can be reserved here or by calling 475-298-5079. 

Musical sets begin at 7:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. The 7:30 set cover charge is $20 ($15 for students / veterans). The cover fee for the 8:30 set is $10.

The Jazz Society of Fairfield County offers “free or low-cost concerts by accomplished artists, outreach to under-served audiences, and educational and performance opportunities for student, amateur and emerging professional musicians,” its website says.

Since 2015, the organization has worked with Post 399 since 2015 to bring the weekly jazz event to the post’s home on the Saugatuck River, featuring “celebrated jazz artists such as Ethan Iverson, Antonio Hart, David Kikoski, Harvie S and Joe Farnsworth as well as introducing our audience to the new generation of musicians moving the tradition forward,” the society’s website says.