Recent recordings are up

Recordings from our jam at Liliana's last week (Sun, 9-18-11) can now be found under Most Recent Recordings. There's some real nice playing all throughout that session. Just a reminder that you can download from the links or click the slider and listen from the site.

If you play in the first set we'll have a new tune for you to work on soon, but for now Jim Doherty's exercises for his workshop October 9th at Talula should keep you busy.


Madison Jazz Jam receives grant!

What a nice present for our one year old birthday! A  few days ago we received news the John and Carolyn Peterson Charitable Foundation fully funded our grant application for $8000! A big thank you to the John and Carolyn Peterson Charitable Foundation, our board, and everyone who pitched in with donations of money or time.

With these funds we will expand our Sunday jams (always 4-7 pm) to twice-monthly sessions, and alternate between Liliana’s on the West Side and Talula on the East Side.

Our next jam session is this Sunday, September 18th at Liliana's. We'll have an excellent house band with Michael BB on keys, John Christensen on bass, and Kieth Lienert on drums.  As always, the first set is reserved for newer improvisers and will include feedback from our saxophonist and educator, Dan Wallach. This month we'll be playing "Now's The Time" in addition to other tunes we've played previously in the first set.  The second set is open to everyone with players who did not participate in the first set receiving priority.


Jazz Fundamentals Workshop at Talula's

Jim Doherty, director of the UW Madison Jazz Orchestra, will be leading our east side sessions at Talula's. For the first session or two Jim will conduct a workshop during the first set (we'll still jam for the second set). This is a fantastic opportunity for inexperienced improvisers to work on fundamentals. A workshop like this typically runs $25 or more but we're offering it for free (donations encouraged). The first one is October 9th and Jim has prepared some materials to work on in advance. Here's Jim:
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THIS WEEK THE 1ST IMW of the 2011-12 Series with MMC

ATTENTION ALL MUSICIANS (PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR):
JAM WITH OUTSTANDING GUEST PERFORMERS
AT MMC’s FALL WORKSHOP SERIES

The Lawrence University Jazz Faculty Quartet opens the Madison Music Collective (MMC) Fall 2011 season with an afternoon concert (3:30-5:30 PM) and evening workshop (6:00-7:00 PM) on Sunday, September 11th at the Brink Lounge, 701 East Washington Avenue, in Madison. The Quartet features saxophonist José Encarnación, pianist Bill Carrothers, bassist Mark Urness, and percussionist Dane Richeson.

This will be the first of three MMC concert-and-workshop programs at the Brink this Fall. The others will include Chicago-based tenor saxophonist Frank Catalano and his quintet on November 13th and guitarist Jack Grassel’s Super Guitar Trio on December 11th.

Each workshop will be led by bassist Laurie Lang, director of last year’s Improvisational Music Workshop series at the Washington Hotel Coffee Room, along with members of the bands featured at that afternoon’s concert. During the workshop, band members will talk a bit about the music they made at the concert, their approach to creating it, and how they work together as a group. The audience will be invited to ask questions and participate in discussion with the band’s members, and musicians in the audience – both amateur and professional – will be invited to the stage to make music with the band. For more information about the workshops, contact Laurie Lang, 833-2200 (ph), laurielang@tds.net.

These post-concert workshops at the Brink will be free and open to people of all ages who’d like to get more deeply into jazz music. Come for just the workshop at 6:00 PM, or come early for the concert and stay through the workshop. Concert admission is $10 for the general public, with a $2 discount for students with an ID and for members of MMC and the Madison Jazz Society. Food and beverage service will also be available from the Brink Lounge menu.

Lastly, MMC’s Fall 2011 season also includes a Friday, November 4th evening concert (8:00 PM) by internationally-renowned jazz pianist Geoff Keezer at the Overture Center’s Promenade Hall. For information about any of the four concerts, contact Sue Peterson, 332-5516 (ph), sueannpete@charter.net.

These MMC programs are made possible by grants from the John and Carolyn Peterson Charitable Foundation and the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission (with support from the Overture Foundation and the Evjue Foundation, the charitable arm of the Capital Times), and additional support from Liliana’s Restaurant, Farley’s House of Pianos, the Cardinal Bar, the Tornado Club Steakhouse, and Oak Bank, with promotional support from Isthmus and WORT-FM.