Speak Up for Jazz: Take the Greater Madison Jazz Community Survey

The Greater Madison Jazz Consortium is in the midst of crafting a first-ever action plan that speaks to our local jazz community as a whole. A compelling plan that’s grounded in the realities of the current scene and the wishes of jazz musicians, educators, venue owners, and fans will help point the way to a more vibrant and sustainable local scene and help the Consortium secure the resources needed to begin implementing the plan’s new initiatives.

To this end, the Consortium has been conducting a series of interviews with a few dozen key stakeholders, and is now inviting all other members of the jazz community to express their views through an online survey. To take the survey, simply go to http://www.greatermadisonjazzconsortium.org and click on the category (jazz musician, music educator, or fan) that fits you. (You are welcome to self-identify into multiple categories, and take the survey once in each category that fits you.)

The estimated time to complete the survey is 10-15 minutes, and your responses are anonymous and confidential, i.e., the only data to be released publicly will be aggregate data.

The survey will be “live” through day’s end Monday, May 27th, and the results will be compiled immediately thereafter for the Jazz Consortium Steering Committee’s planning retreat on June 2nd. Please help make this jazz community action plan the best it can be by completing this survey.

Thanks much for your time and your concern for the future of jazz in our community.

Howard Landsman, Convener
Cathy Sullivan, Project Coordinator
Greater Madison Jazz Consortium
Email: greatermadisonjazzconsortium@tds.net

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The Greater Madison Jazz Consortium is a partnership of nonprofit jazz presenters (Madison Jazz Society, Madison Music Collective, Midwest Gypsy Swing Festival, and Wisconsin Union Theater), educational institutions and programs (Madison Jazz Jam, Madison Metropolitan School District Fine Arts Department, and UW School of Music), and supportive media (WORT-FM), with additional support from Isthmus, the Capital City Hues, and the Jazz Institute of Chicago. Its work is made possible by a generous grant from the John and Carolyn Peterson Charitable Foundation.

Dex @ 90: Program Schedule Set for Maxine Gordon’s Visit to Greater Madison, March 11-14

The program schedule is now set for Maxine Gordon’s visit to Greater Madison, part of her 2013 world-wide tour to celebrate the life and music of the late great jazz saxophonist, Dexter Gordon, on the occasion of his 90th birthday. Under sponsorship of the new Greater Madison Jazz Consortium, Maxine will conduct the following programs during a four-day residency (3/11-3/14/13) in our community. (Note: Program schedule is subject to change. Check this site as the event dates draw near to verify the schedule, or email us at greatermadisonjazzconsortium@tds.net.)

• MONDAY, 3/11/13, 7:30-9:30 PM: “AN EVENING WITH MAXINE GORDON AND THE UW BLUE NOTE ENSEMBLE” (Location: Morphy Recital Hall, in the UW Humanities Building). One of the three student ensembles directed by UW Jazz Studies Professor Johannes Wallmann – the Blue Note Ensemble – will be learning Dexter’s music during the Spring semester. This evening, they will give a mini-concert of his music, interspersed with live on-stage interviews of Maxine by WORT-FM jazz hosts Steve Braunginn and Jane Reynolds and an audience Q&A. The audience will include members of all of Professor Wallmann’s student ensembles (Blue Note Ensemble, Contemporary Jazz Ensemble, and UW Jazz Orchestra) and students from Richard Davis’ Black Music Ensemble. Free and open to the public. http://www.music.wisc.edu/extensions/eventdetails.jsp?event_id=2496

• TUESDAY, 3/12/13, 6:30–10:00 PM: “ROUND MIDNIGHT” (Location: Chazen Museum of Art). Dexter had the lead role in Bertrand Tavernier’s 1986 film, “Round Midnight,” the fictional story of an expatriate American jazz musician in Paris loosely based on the lives of jazz greats Lester Young and Bud Powell. He also won a Grammy for the film’s soundtrack, while Herbie Hancock won an Oscar for Best Original Score. Maxine Gordon will introduce the movie with her presentation, “The Making of Round Midnight,” and conduct a Q& A following the film showing. This program is free and open to the public.

Maxine Gordon’s “Dex @ 90″ World-Wide Tour Coming to Madison: March 11-14

Paris, Copenhagen, Sweden, Philadelphia, New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center … and Madison, Wisconsin! Yes, Madison will be a stop on Maxine Gordon’s 2013 world-wide tour to celebrate the life and music of the late great jazz saxophonist Dexter Gordon on the occasion of his 90th birthday.

One of the unsung heroes of modern jazz, Maxine Gordon was Dexter’s wife and long-time manager, and shepherds his legacy through the nonprofit Dexter Gordon Society, Dex Music LLC (publishing and licensing company), his upcoming biography, and much more. Check out her presentation to the Library of Congress at http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4888 and her insightful All About Jazz interviews at http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=41600.

Under sponsorship of the new Greater Madison Jazz Consortium, Maxine will conduct a four-day residency (3/11-3/14/13) in our community. Her programs will include two free showings of the feature film “Round Midnight” (in which Dexter starred, receiving a Best Actor Oscar nomination, and for which Herbie Hancock won the Oscar for Best Original Score), on Tuesday evening, 3/12/13, at the Chazen Museum of Art, and on Wednesday evening, 3/13/13, at the Urban League of Greater Madison at 2222 South Park Street. Each showing will include Maxine’s presentation about the making of the film, along with a post-movie Q&A with the audience.

Introducing the Greater Madison Jazz Consortium

With the help of a $44,100 grant from the John and Carolyn Peterson Charitable Foundation, nearly all of Greater Madison’s jazz presenters, educators, and supportive media are coming together under a new organizational structure, the Greater Madison Jazz Consortium. Working together, and with additional support from the Jazz Institute of Chicago, these partners plan to take collaboration in the jazz community to a much higher level.

Greater Madison Jazz Consortium partners: Madison Music Collective Wisconsin Union Theater Madison Jazz Society Midwest Gypsy Swing Festival Surrounded by Reality UW School of Music Madison Metropolitan School District Madison Jazz Jam WORT-FM Supportive Media: Isthmus Capital City Hues

Saturday (10-20-12) is the deadline for discounted tickets to Jazz Junction

This coming Saturday, 10/20/12, is the deadline for purchasing deeply discounted tickets ($10/$5) to Jazz Junction held in Full Compass’ state of the art auditorium, “Studio 1.”

Fifty local jazz talents will share the stage to celebrate  the newly formed Greater Madison Jazz Consortium and welcome Johannes Wallmann as the new Director of Jazz Studies at UW-Madison. Johannes will present his vision for the School’s Jazz Studies program and a stylistic cross-section of our community’s finest jazz musicians (including Professor Wallman’s new 6-piece band) will play a two-hour concert.  See the flyer beneath the calendar to your left for more details. To purchase tickets, go to http://madisonmusiccollective.org/jazzJunction.shtml.