Madison Jazz Calendar

Arts + Literature Laboratory announces another round of this program that supports the efforts of local jazz musicians to create and present engaging new projects. The program encourages local jazz musicians and composers to stretch themselves as creative artists. One project will be selected to receive a stipend of up to $5,000. (Other projects may be funded if additional funds are available.) Deadline for applications is October 31, 2022.  Further information and application form are available on the ALL website.

Madison Jazz Jam is trying a new format this fall. Dates, times, and location have all changed and the September jam has been canceled.

Starting in October, jams will run twice a month on Saturdays from 1-4pm at Café Coda.

The first Saturday of each month will feature a student band as the house band and the third Saturday of each month will feature a pro house band. This format is scheduled through December with the hope it will go well and continue after the first of the year.

The first session on October 1st features students from Sun Prairie High School.

Prior to the pandemic Sequoya Library hosted free jazz concerts in its large meeting room every Sunday afternoon (except summer). In another sign that life is returning to normal the live performances have returned.

The new format moves the concerts to the third Saturday (2-4 pm) of each month from August-December 2022. The complete fall line-up can be viewed at https://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/new/jazz-returns-sequoya-library. Each concert is also listed on the Madison Jazz Calendar.

Madison’s Michael Corcoran and Al Rasho teamed up to create this moving portrait of a night listening to the legendary Johnny Griffin. Johnny Griffin was a Chicago native who moved to Paris in 1963 and lived abroad the rest of his life.

Al says …

Before moving to Madison I was a filmmaker in Chicago and Johnny Griffin would return home from Paris for the summer. I always went to see him at Jazz Showcase. So, I was very pleased to hear someone had written a poem about the great saxophonist.

Michael wrote and read the poem and Al recorded and set it to music and images.

The Arts + Literature Laboratory Jazz Artistic Development Program is seeking applicants to create and present engaging new projects. This program encourages local jazz musicians and composers to stretch themselves as creative artists.

One project will be selected to receive a stipend of up to $5,000. (Other projects may be funded if additional funds are available.)

Applications for the 2023 program will be accepted starting September l, 2022.  Deadline for applications is October 15, 2022.  Further information and application form are available here.

Fans of the steel drum will be treated to a 5 day Madison residency by Andy Narell, Aug 12th through the 17th.

Andy Narell is a prolific composer and world-class instrumentalist who has spent the past several decades exploring the possibilities of Trinidad’s national instrument, the steel drum – a.k.a the steel pan, in contemporary music. His compositional and improvisational stylings marry the harmonic traditions of American jazz with the rhythms and aesthetics of Caribbean music, earning him high acclaim in both idioms. As a bandleader and soloist, he has performed for hundreds of concerts and jazz festivals throughout the globe, and has worked with renowned groups and musicians such as the Caribbean Jazz Project, Sakésho, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Marcus Miller, and Tito Puente.

During his residency in Wisconsin, Andy will perform in a variety of settings, across intimate seated concerts and main stage festival contexts, with Madison-based musicians as well as several Caribbean artists at the Sessions at McPike Park. Here is a complete list of Andy’s Madison appearances: