ALL Jazz Fest 2018

Join us for the inaugural ALL Jazz Fest during Spring Gallery Night on Friday, May 4, 2018. From 5-9pm, fifteen of Madison's finest local jazz ensembles will be performing free concerts in 5 locations around Schenk's Corners: MadCity Music, Maven Vocal Arts, Monona Bank, Studio Paran (outside), and Union Hair Parlor. Following the Gallery Night reception, Jazz Fest headliner Russ Johnson's Headlands will perform at 9:15pm at Arts + Literature Laboratory, along with special guest Greg Ward II, who will also perform with some of the groups earlier in the evening. The festival will close with an after hours show by the Tony Castaneda Latin Jazz Band at Alchemy at 10:30pm. This jazz festival highlights the talent of Wisconsin jazz musicians and brings avant-garde music to new audiences.

ALL JAZZ FEST SCHEDULE:

Monona Bank: Anders Svanoe Double Trio @5pm, Anders Svanoe Trio @6pm, Major Vistas @7pm, Tony Barba @8pm

Studio Paran (outside): Space Junk @5pm, Jon Hoel Trio @6pm, Ted Keys Trio @7pm, MRS. FUN @8pm

MadCity Music: YINS @6pm, Shaper @7pm

Maven Vocal Arts: Eli Bucheit Trio @6pm, Lundberg/Packard Quartet @7pm, Lesser Lakes Trio @8pm

Union Hair Parlor: Brennan Connors & Stray Passage @7pm, Lucas Koehler Combo @8pm

Arts + Literature Laboratory: Russ Johnson's Headlands with special guest Greg Ward @9:15pm

Alchemy: Tony Castaneda Latin Jazz Band @10:30pm

The ALL Jazz Fest is sponsored by the SASY Neighborhood Association, Monona Bank, Dane Arts & WORT FM.

Russ Johnson

Trumpeter Russ Johnson is a recent Midwest transplant after spending 23 years as an important member of New York City’s jazz community. He has seven recordings as a leader or co-leader and performed on more than 75 recordings as a sideman. Russ has worked alongside many of the legendary figures in jazz including Lee Konitz, Steve Swallow, Bill Frisell, and Joe Lovano. In addition, he has recorded and/or performed with a long list of the most prominent musicians currently on the international jazz scene, including Myra Melford, Ken Vandermark, and Tony Malaby. Russ has performed in more than 40 countries across the globe. His groups have recently performed at the Chicago, Winter Jazz Fest (NYC) Hyde Park, (Chicago) and Bergamo, (Italy) jazz festivals.

His most recent recordings, Meeting Point (Relay Recordings) and Still Out To Lunch! (Enja Records) received 4 1/2 & 4 stars respectively from Down Beat Magazine and appeared on many "Best Recordings of 2014/5" lists... Read More

Greg Ward

Greg Ward is a saxophonist and composer who was born in Peoria, IL. Currently based in Chicago, Ward has had the opportunity to perform and record with a varied group of artists like Prefuse 73, Lupe Fiasco, Tortoise, William Parker, Makaya McCraven, Linda Oh, and Mike Reed. As a bandleader, Ward has produced 4 recordings including Fitted Shards: South Side Story, Phonic Juggernaut, Touch My Beloved’s Thought, and Rogue Parade. As a composer, he has also received commissions from the Jazz Gallery in NYC, the Chicago Jazz Institute, the City of Chicago’s Made In Chicago: World Class Jazz Series, and the Peoria Ballet Company. He has also been awarded the New Music USA Van Lier Fellowship in 2012 and a DCASE IAP grant in 2017.

Anders Svanoe

Appearing on ECM Records, Pi Recordings and Irabbagast Records, saxophonist Anders Svanoe has brought new creativity and vigor to the baritone saxophone. As leader of the Anders Svanoe Trio, Double Trio, Latin Jazz Quintet, and member of The Transatlantic Art Ensemble (Roscoe Mitchell, Evan Parker, Craig Taborn, Barry Guy), The Roscoe Mitchell Big Band, The Cab Calloway Orchestra and numerous other bands throughout his carreer, Neil Tesser, author of The Playboy Guide to Jazz says, “Svanoe presents originality within the now decades-old tradition of free improvisation – a welcome, promising, and especially inventive presence as the music finds a new audience.”

As a member of The Transatlantic Art Ensemble, Anders recorded two noteworthy ECM recordings in Munich in 2004 (The Transatlantic Art Ensemble is Roscoe Mitchell’s Note Factory and Evan Parker’s Electro Acoustic Ensemble combined into one “all star” group). One of those recordings, Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2... Read More

Paul Dietrich

Paul is currently a resident of Madison, Wisconsin where he is an active member of the music scene. In addition to his own groups, he plays with the Darren Sterud Orchestra, the Madison Jazz Orchestra, the Neophonic Jazz Orchestra, the Ben Ferris Octet, and the Ben Ferris Quintet, whose 2016 album, Home, featured two of Paul's compositions. Paul is also active as an educator. In addition to a private studio, Paul is also the coordinator of the jazz program at Prairie Music & Arts, and directs the Madison East High School Jazz Orchestra.

Tony Barba

After residing in New York City and Chicago for the past fifteen years, saxophonist/composer Tony Barba relocated to Madison, WI in the summer of 2013 where he has quickly been making a significant impact on the local music scene. Tony's career has spanned many genres and bands, wether it be leading his own groups or freelancing as a much in demand sideman. Tony is also a current member of the Youngblood Brass Band, which has released six studio albums and has performed all over the world.

Major Vistas

Major Vistas’ founding members Chris Bucheit and Mike Weiser compose instrumental music without being tied to a specific style or genre. It’s what makes their live performances so diverse in melody, rhythm, form, and improvisation. Elements of ambient soundtracks, jazz fusion, world rhythms, and emotional solos are revealed in their original compositions. Bucheit and Weiser are joined by Brad Townsend on bass - a commanding soloist and intuitively supportive rhythm section member. Percussionist Michael Brenneis completes the quartet with his deep experience as a dynamic improviser and master drummer.

MRS. FUN

MRS.FUN plays nu jazz. Complex, sophisticated and adventurous, their music is a unique blend of off-center jazz, ultra-funk, spoken word rap, and their own brand of neo-cabaret. Intelligent lyrics, stellar musicianship, and a dynamic stage presence are hallmarks of their music. The MRS.FUN sound is derived from Connie Grauer’s funky bass-driven keyboard playing, combined with Kim Zick’s skillful in-the-pocket drumming.“ Grauer is a piano player with few equals whose drive and energy spills across the stage and into the audience like nitrous oxide. She’s got a left hand that doesn’t quit, the mark of any great pianist, and a right hand with limitless boundaries”. Zick holds court as a “heart-stopping drummer” whose “grooves get so far out, most people need a map to get back.” Voted Best Contemporary Jazz Group by the Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI) three consecutive years, Grauer and Zick have also received WAMI awards for Best Instrumentalist... Read More

Brennan Connors & Stray Passage

Experimental Jazz Trio Brennan Connors & Stray Passage has been performing in Madison for over three years, exciting listeners with their range of sonic capabilities. The breadth of a performance ranges from focused minimalism to fiery high energy music, all while maintaining a sense of narrative organization and compelling ensemble interplay. Repertoire includes original compositions, a few old favorite tunes, and raw improvisation. The group is led by Brennan Connors on tenor and soprano saxophones. Geoff Brady provides orchestrated drum and percussion textures & Brian Grimm who rounds out the trio playing cello, contra-cello, and electric bass.

Matt Blair

Matt Blair is a pianist, composer, and educator who recently returned to Madison, WI. His work draws upon diverse musical traditions such as contemporary classical, electro-acoustic improvisation, free jazz, minimalism, and noise. In addition to his practice as a pianist, he incorporates extended electronic processing of the Fender Rhodes, synthesizers, and the computer in his music.

Since 2018, Matt has been releasing music on his label, Scribbled Fang Records. Recent releases have included Shadow Sets, a collection of compositions for solo piano that was produced by Dave King (The Bad Plus, Happy Apple), Post Rock Lately, the debut record of Collector, an improvising trio featuring Jakob Heinemann on bass and Devin Drobka on drums and electronics, and Flights and Poor Health Good Spirits, both releases by Big Thanks, a Minneapolis-based Trash House trio featuring Miles Allen on saxophone and clarinet and Jack Lussenden on drums. Other recent releases have included After... Read More

Devin Drobka

Devin Drobka is one of the most in-demand and creative musicians in the midwest for the past 15 years. Audiences around the world have been enthralled with his wide sonic palette and limitless rhythmic possibilities on the drums. A deep love of jazz, metal, folk, hip-hop, ambient, idm, and classical music has helped shaped Devin’s unique voice and vision on the drums both as a leader and as a sideman. His highly personal and creative drumming can be heard within the realm of jazz having performed with Greg Osby, Jerry Bergonzi, Dayna Stephens, and Joe Lovano as well as indie- folk bands like Field Report and indie rappers R.A.P. Ferreira and Serengeti. Devin can be heard on over 50 albums of genre bending, original music for which he is an advocate for. Devin currently composes music for his newest group, The Devin Drobka Trio, which draws upon his love of contemporary classical music and minimalism and his multi horn group, Bell Dance Songs, which is a response to his love of... Read More

ALL Jazz Fest 2018

ALL JAZZ FEST SCHEDULE:

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