Wayne’s Music World: Big Band on campus…and off

The UW Jazz Orchestra
photo courtesy Michael R. Anderson

The University of Wisconsin Jazz Orchestra is important. It provides a vital training ground for talented students who will take jazz into the future.  It gives those students a foundation in one of the genre’s root forms while exposing them to the masters of yesterday and, in some cases, the masters of today.   45 years after its founding the UWJO concluded its season playing increasingly complex music under UW director of jazz studies Johannes Wallmann. 

Wayne’s Music World: UW Honors Jazz Band hits right notes…and other thoughts

The UW Honors Jazz Band plays its first gig under Professor Johannes Wallmann.
Photo courtesy Michael R. Anderson

The UW Honors Jazz Band is the best jazz idea in Madison in 2013.  But it isn’t just an idea. These kids can flat-out play.  As a veteran “listener” I’ve listened to a lot of good musical ideas.  They don’t always work.  The UW Honors Jazz Band from the fertile musical mind of Professor Johannes Wallmann proved at its inaugural concert that it is a really great working idea.

The Honors Band was the early May opening act for the UW Jazz Orchestra.  I’ll say more about that band’s fine performance next week.

The impressive set list for the Honors Jazz Band included Matt Dennis’ classic Angel Eyes and Thad Jones’ The Farewell plus A Single Sky by Dave Douglas and Samba de Los Gatos from Mike Steinel, a prominent jazz faculty member at the renowned University of North Texas.  With a set like this the auditions for the by-invitation-only band must have had a sign reading, “No wimps allowed.”

The band worked together for just three, albeit very long, rehearsals. The players looked very serious, expected from a young group making their initial public appearance.  At the same time, the listener felt a sense of swing from the group.  These are talented musicians playing more than notes.  They seem to have a surprising understanding of the music they are playing.

Carmen Lundy Vocal and Instrumental Workshops

I heard Carmen Lundy in Madison a few years ago during the Mary Lou Williams Centennial. She impressed me as a fantastic vocalist with many expressive vocal techniques at her command. She is also known to be an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger. Here is an announcement from Madison Music Collective with details about two workshops she’ll conduct when she returns to Madison in June to headline the Isthmus Jazz Festival. 

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Madison Music Collective is teaming with Wisconsin Union Theater to co-produce the headline concert at the Isthmus Jazz Festival, and this year’s headliner is world-class vocalist Carmen Lundy.  In addition to her free evening concert at Old Music Hall on 6/22/13, Carmen will be conducting two outstanding workshops for vocal and instrumental musicians in our community (both amateur and professional).

To register for one or both workshops, complete the form (which appears at the end of each program announcement) and send it, with your fee (check payable to “Madison Music Collective”), to Laurie Lang, 3014 Dianne Drive, Middleton, WI 53562 or pay by PayPal by donating $25 at  http://madisonmusiccollective.org/support.shtml and attaching your registration form to an email directed to laurielang@tds.net.  Scholarships are available.  For info about them, contact Ms. Lang at 833-2200 or laurielang@tds.net.

Outstanding High School Jazz Ensembles in Concert on 4/20 and 5/5

Under the direction of the awesome educator Steve Sveum, the jazz program at Sun Prairie High   School is one of the best in the country. As it has often done over the past two decades, the school’s Jazz Ensemble I has been selected as one of 15 finalists in the annual nation-wide “Essentially Ellington” competition produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City (watch here as students find out the big news). In the coming weeks, Madison area jazz fans have two chances to catch performances by Jazz I as they prepare for their big trip to New York.

This Saturday, April 20, at 7:00 PM in the school’s Performing Arts Center (888 Grove Street in Sun Prairie), Jazz I will be performing in a concert that also features the other two Wisconsin high school jazz ensembles that made the “Essentially Ellington” finals this year: Beloit Memorial and Lake Geneva Badger. Each band will be performing the pieces that they’ll be performing at LincolnCenter next month. This concert is free and open to the public.

Then, on Sunday, May 5^th, at 7:00 PM, Jazz I will give its ticketed “Send Off” concert of Ellingtonia to help raise the funds needed to send the band to New York. This concert will be held at Sun Prairie’s Cardinal Heights Middle School Auditorium (the former high school building) at 220 Kroncke Drive in Sun Prairie, and will feature special guest vocalist Kyle Ketelsen singing the Sinatra songbook.

Come out and support these very talented and hard-working young musicians who will be responsible for keeping the music alive for decades to come.

Wayne’s Music World: Great New Jazz at Clayton Concert and on CD

Gerald & Justin Brown of the Gerald Clayton Trio – photo by Claire Weissenfluh, courtesy UW Union Theater

The next big thing in jazz has arrived.  Gerald Clayton is making music that must be heard, receiving rave reviews and touring behind the newest CD with his name and photo on the front.  Four days after the release of Life Forum, a sold-out Madison crowd gave Gerald and his New York City-based trio a standing ovation following two hours of contemporary jazz that ranged from bop to breathtaking.

The audience of 223 began filling the UW Union Theater venue early.  Clayton told the crowd that, “Madison seems like a hip place.” His presence added to our hipness.  The sightlines at the Institutes for Discovery hall were poor but the acoustics were fine and, judging by the bopping heads during every selection, Madison is hip, indeed. 

Wayne’s Music World : musings on a new CD, a new group, and a swingin’ band

Gerald Clayton’s new CD, Life Forum, came out Tuesday.

Gerald Clayton brings acclaimed new music to UW Union Theater Saturday night. Clayton is touring in support of his just-released album, Life Forum. The no-reserved-seats concert is in the Town Center at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery.

My first quick reaction – the CD was released on Tuesday — is that Clayton’s composing is maturing. The melody structures seem stronger. Life Forum is Clayton’s first release for Concord Jazz and follows 2011’s highly acclaimed Bond: the Paris Sessions. His trio is supplemented on the CD with trumpet, alto and tenor. Most songs are mid-tempo and sans swing.