Jazz has had a unique and colorful interaction with American colleges. The naturally fast, loud and undefinable nature of jazz has been an integral part of American colleges.
Madison has its own extensive culture of jazz music, defined by its diversity, wide array of genres and subgenres stemming from different cultures. In this mixture is a smaller, intimate jazz community that supports itself outside of university funding. It’s made possible by non-profit ventures like BlueStem Jazz and Cafe Coda, amongst others.
BlueStem Jazz is dedicated to bringing progressive creative jazz music to Madison. Since 2016, the organization has worked to book and promote local musicians, stemming from a deep love for the art form born while attending jazz shows in other cities, according to co-founder of BlueStem Jazz David Stone.
“A lot of times we’re at these shows, we’re thinking, why isn’t this stuff in Madison,” Stone said. “So we decided to bring it to Madison.”
Stone and his BlueStem partner Thomas Ferrella traveled extensively throughout the U.S. to hear great music, from Iowa City to Knoxville, and decided that Madison needed the music they fell in love with. Taking donations from friends and supporters, they created BlueStem.
BlueStem Jazz works with a wide array of venues to support these artists, with the two most frequent being The North Street Cabaret and Audio for the Arts. The venues are intimate and personal, each seating less than 100 people.
“We’re coming up on our 500th show, and I can’t think of a bad show,” Stone said.
Another such venture is Cafe Coda. Exemplifying Madison’s diversity, Cafe Coda offers workshops, master classes and live performances. It has a mission to inspire and broaden the cultural scope of Madison, according to Cafe Coda’s website.
Situated near the University of Wisconsin campus, Cafe Coda brings a variety of jazz performances from blues to afrofunk. It also offers swing nights and Karaoke Wednesdays for visitors, hoping to connect and unify the Madison community through jazz.
Cafe Coda also hosts “Cool School” every Saturday, where young musicians learn the basics of improvisation in music for free. Percussion, woodwind, brass and string instruments are available to participants. Participants are welcome with or without experience or their own instruments.
The Mansion Hill Inn is another such venue where local jazz life thrives. Their “Jazz and Cocktails” series events feature Madison-area jazz musicians for a door fee of $20. The Inn, located northwest of the Capitol at the top of Mansion Hill, hosts musicians in a dimly lit room, according to their website. Attendees above the age of 21 can purchase alcoholic beverages from the Mansion Hill Inn’s bar while they watch the show, according to their website.
A larger space, the Overture Center for the Arts, hosts over 200 performances every year. The Center attracts internationally acclaimed musicians to the concert hall, seating over 2,000 visitors, according to their website.
The Center features a total of seven state-of-the-art performance spaces with hundreds of local artist performances amongst international performers, some of whom are jazz musicians.
Later this summer, the Madison Jazz Festival is to make its return. The annual event features free and ticketed events across Madison, culminating in a final, free performance on the Memorial Union Terrace. The event celebrates different genres and styles of jazz, pulling musicians from the local area and across the country, according to their website.
Further, the Madison Jazz Society organizes interactive school visits where jazz artists perform for students, then invite and educate students on community jazz programming to help their exploration and curiosity. The Madison Jazz Society also provides grants to finance jazz in local classrooms through the Linda Marty Schmitz School Grant Fund. The grant specifically supports the chosen school’s in-school and extracurricular jazz programming, according to their website.
Additionally, the Madison Jazz Society offers community workshops and jam sessions. For both the seasoned and entirely inexperienced musician, these spaces are welcoming to any skill level. The Madison Jazz Society also partners with other arts organizations to provide community jazz educational activities, according to their website.
Jazz in Madison has a great scene, categorized by its diversity. Whether entirely new or seasoned performers, there is something for everyone to both learn and experience the American art form of jazz here in Madison.
