Jazz Benefactor John Peterson passes

The Madison jazz community has lost its greatest benefactor.  John Peterson (of the John and Carolyn Peterson Charitable Foundation) passed away on September 30th at age 83.

Last month his foundation approved a $42000 grant to fund a comprehensive plan for collaboration on a wide range of initiatives to strengthen our community’s jazz scene (including the creation of the Greater Madison Jazz Consortium – more about this soon).  In addition to this grant, John and his foundation provided vital support over the years for the Mary Lou Williams Centennial Celebration, the Capital City Jazz Fest, Jazz at Five, Madison Music Collective, and Madison Jazz Jam. He also gave the one million dollar gift to endow the professorship in Jazz Studies at UW-Madison now held by Johannes Wallmann.

A jazz-infused memorial service (including Johannes on piano) will be held for John on Sunday, 10/14, at First United Methodist Church, 203 Wisconsin Avenue.  Visitation is from 2:00-3:00 PM, with the formal service beginning immediately thereafter.

The Cress Funeral Home site has a complete obituary and page to record your memories of John.

Madison jazz people news

Guitarist Luke Polipnick has left town for Omaha. Luke will be missed for his playing and his organizational energy and skill. Luke was a regular at jam sessions, played in many bands including a long running Wednesday gig at the Dragon Fly Lounge with Glacier ((Ben Willis, Geoff Brady), and one of the founders of  experimental jazz presenters Surrounded by Reality.  What is happening to Surrounded by Reality now that the final founding figure has left town? Audio for the Arts owner, Steve Gotcher is taking it over. The Isthmus has a nice story about that.

Dave Cooper has not been active in the Madison jazz scene lately. That’s too bad because he is one of the midwest’s best jazz trumpeters and was one of the main draws for the New Breed Quintet for many years. Fortunately, he has a blog that helps fans stay connected. Recently, he profiled his father-in-law,  Madison Jazz trumpet legend Doc DeHaven and included an mp3  collage of Doc’s recordings in that post. He also took a recent trip to China and his travelogue about that experience is quite interesting.

Howard Landsman was named the 2012 Isthmus Jazz Personality of the Year. Howard prefers to keep a low profile and consequently isn’t well-known by the Madison jazz public, but everyone within jazz presenting circles says the same thing, “no one deserves it more.” I agree totally. Howard was the FORCE behind the Mary Lou Williams centennial Celebration, raising over $150,000 and organizing an amazingly diverse program of activities that engaged the entire community throughout 2010. Over the last few years he has been instrumental in the resurgence of Madison Music Collective and it’s concert series, and has helped Madison Jazz Jam obtain funding for its all-ages jams. Congratulations, Howard!

Gerri’s new Christmas CD

Just in time for the holidays Gerri DiMaggio has released a Christmas-themed CD. You can listen to samples and buy it at CD Baby. Here’s Gerri:

This THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1st 6:30 to 9:00 at “The Cove” in The Edgewater Hotel we will be celebrating the Holiday’s with the release of the new CD, “It’s Coming On Christmas”.

Join me, Paul Hastil on piano, and Nick Moran on bass and have a cocktail around the fire with your friends!

We wish you great joy and peace in this holiday season!

Best,
Gerri

Louka in the news

Louka Patenaude is one of Madison’s best and most unusual guitarists. If you haven’t been to the Cardinal Bar for the New Breed jazz jam on Tuesday nights, he is one of the reasons you must go. Want to know more about him? See the Doug Moe feature story on Louka in Sunday’s local section of the State Journal.

Bill Carrothers interview

Ten days ago the Lawrence University Faculty Jazz Quartet played an amazing concert at the Brink Lounge here in Madison. Everyone in that group is great, but in the talk after the concert the person I heard mentioned most was keyboardist Bill Carrothers. Yesterday, NPR published a feature interview with Bill. He is an interesting guy. Check it out.

Les Thimmig in the news

Here’s a link to a nice article in yesterday’s WSJ about UW – Madison jazz professor, Les Thimmig.