Since Tim Whalen moved to Ohio, performances by the Tim Whalen Nonet in Madison have become rare events not to be missed. This Saturday at 9:30 the Nonet brings its powerful horn driven harmonies back to the Magnus and you will want to be there. I don’t care what the polls say, the Nonet is the most popular jazz group in Madison. Nobody brings out a larger, livelier crowd. Get there early to get a good seat!
To get you primed, Madison Jazz is featuring “Old School” from the Magnus CD released last year. This is a live CD recorded over a weekend in December 2006 and one night in November 2007. I was at 2 of the 4 nights of recording and the band was on fire as usual.
Saturday night the Nonet will be highlighting songs from the Magnus CD. The group got its start by covering Art Blakey and the Messengers tunes but now mix in many originals and other jazz songs. The tunes on the CD traverse a wide range of jazz styles but seven of the eight have one thing in common; they are original compositions by the leader, Tim Whalen. You can listen to the songs and read more about the CD at CD Baby.
The soloists on “Old School” are Joel Adams and Al Falaschi. Here’s the full list of musicians:
Tim Whalen – piano/music director
Jon Schipper – trumpet
David Cooper – trumpet
Joel Adams – trombone
Al Falaschi – alto saxophone
Paul Daugherty – tenor saxophone
Anders Svanoe – baritone saxophone
Nick Moran – bass
Jamie Ryan – drums
Here are the highlights for jazz in Madison this weekend:
Friday, February 20
Caravan Gypsy Swing 5 pm at the Memorial Union Rathskellar. The Union has been having a nice mix of local jazz artists for their weekly “Behind The Beat” series. Listen to a tune and find out more about the group here.
Patrick Breiner’s New York trio, Basement Magic, 9:30 pm at Magnus. Listen to a tune and read more about them in this earlier article.
First the bad news: there’s almost no live jazz going on in Madison this Saturday. There’s piano jazz at Lilliana’s and Louisianne’s and nothing else that I know of. I noticed a trend like this over the last few Saturdays. What’s up with that?
The good news is jazz is alive and well tonight and tomorrow. My pick for tonight is Gerri Dimaggio 8:30 – 10:30 at the Cabana Room. Gerri plays every Wednesday at Sambas upstairs but I much prefer hearing jazz in the Cabana Room; the room is intimate and the sound much cleaner. The Sambas dining room is large, the volume not enough to overcome the talking, and nobody seems to pay attention to the music. Sambas is great for gorging on huge slabs of beef, but the Cabana Room does jazz better.
When the Concourse Bar dropped live music the managers of the Cabana Room must have seen an opening and decided to go for it. Since the beginning of the year the Cabana Room on the lower level of Sambas Restaurant has quietly turned into a Madison jazz hot spot. I say quietly because jazz has been added Wednesday through Saturday evenings with barely a word of promotion.
The New Breed Jazz Jam session on Wednesday nights is the one exception. Their gig is listed on the Crazeology Calendar and at the Isthmus guide. And if you follow this site you know I’ve talked it up a lot, and with good reason. Last week the jam was one big party. The room was full, and the audience attentive but animated, enthusiastically cheering on the jammers. It was fun and I hope it lasts; the Cabana Room is a great venue for the jam.
It’s cool outside but now that the students are back the Madison jazz scene is starting to heat up. Let’s go to the highlights:
Tonight the Big Mouth Cooperative brings their mix of freewheeling bop and funk to Cafe Montmartre. The Big Mouth Cooperative and the Red Quartet rotate Monday evenings at Cafe Montmartre. A great way to kick off your week.
Wednesday night the New Breed jazz jam begins an 8 week run at the Cabana Room. Bring your instrument, join in the fun, and support the jam. Let’s make 8 weeks turn into 8 years.
Thursday night is a special treat. Bobby McFerrin is at the Overture Center. See Special Events for more information.
Sunday the Vagabond Reeds with special guest Brad Pregeant will open the Madison Jazz Society’s 2009 spring concert series. Check out my previous post for videos and a preview of the concert series.
As always, for more information on other jazz events check out Crazeology’s Jazz Calendar.
Around this time of year it’s easy to get worn down by winter. In order to deal with it some people focus on upcoming spring vacations to warmer areas. Others look at seed catalogs. I take vitamin D (don’t get me talking about vitamin D or I might not shut up, oh OK, here’s a snippet: 2000 units daily, very safe), and think ahead to fun summer events like the Isthmus Jazz Festival in June.
There’s no more beautiful place in Madison than the Memorial Union Terrace on a warm summer night. For the last few years the Isthmus Jazz Festival has been held at the Union Terrace, but for many years before that it was at the Civic Center. Each venue has pros and cons. For the sake of this discussion let’s imagine the Civic Center still exists. Which venue do you prefer for the Isthmus Jazz Festival?
Use the poll to your right to vote. Unfortunately, a poll is a very crude device and doesn’t capture your reasoning so feel free to leave a comment.
Although specific to Milwaukee, this news is pertinent to Madison jazz fans and musicians interested in trends within the jazz world.
The struggling economy appears to be hitting the jazz scene hard. Recently General Motors, the long time major sponsor for the Montreal Jazz Festival announced it is pulling its support from the festival. Closer to home, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports the Hal Leonard Corp has ended its 16 year sponsorship of the Hal Leonard Jazz Series.
Not much jazz happening lately in Madison. It seems to get like this during the winter break and then pick up again once school is in. I was looking forward to the jam session beginning again next Wednesday but I hadn’t heard anything more. That didn’t seem good. Well, it’s not happening next week but at least it’s going to happen. Here’s the scoop from Dave Stoler:
12/31: Esther Knutson & Cliff Frederiksen, 7pm, Basie’s @ The Radisson Inn
12/31: Dave Stoler & others, 8pm, The Brink Lounge
12/31: Harmonious Wail, 9:30pm, The Concourse Hotel’s The Bar
12/31: The Don Peachey Big Band, 6pm, The East Side Club
12/31: John Chimes & The Gumbo Ya-Yas, 8pm, Louisianne’s – Middleton
12/31: The Doug White Trio featuring Ray Rideout, 9:30pm, Nadia’s
12/31: Swingtime Music, 8pm, Samba Brazilian Grill
12/31: The Stellanovas, 8:30pm, Stella’s Speakeasy – Stoughton
And from other sources:
Mama Digdown’s at the Majestic at 11 pm as part of a multiband lineup.
I go out to hear jazz more than most people, but putting this site together raised my awareness of all the great Madison jazz I still haven’t heard. This Friday at 9:30 the Alison Margaret Jazz Quartet plays at Magnus (no cover), and based on the recordings and background information on her webpage I’m expecting a great show.
The four songs on her MySpace page are sampled from her 2007 release of originals and standards, ”Come Sunday.” If the rest of the CD is this good it is well worth buying; the musicianship and songwriting is stellar all around. Alison’s voice is vibrant, polished, and expressive. The originals are appealing, especially ”Lonely Shadows” which won first place in the jazz division of the 2007 Midwest Song Contest. And the musicians on the recording include some of Chicago’s best.
