August 1 - Johannes Wallmann (workshop) - Becker, de Broux, Huwe, Lang & Stine (jam/showcase)

Educators – Johannes Wallamann (lead) Chance Stine, Dan Wallach and Laurie Lang
Houseband – Mr. (John) Becker (Sauk Trail): piano; Sally de Broux: vocals; Jim Huwe: drums; Laurie Lang: (bass); Chance Stine (sax)
Workshop - 2nd floor at Common Ground Middleton (Branch and Century Ave) $25/fee covers instruction and dinner
~4:30 -5pm – Warm ups – mostly scales and call and response ear training
5 – 6pm - Johannes Wallmann will teach about how to practice improvising over a song form.
6-6:30pm jazz social conversation and dinner
~6:30 – 7pm – we will try out what we’ve learned kicking off the jam
~7-8:15pm – open jam — sign up for the song of your choice to play with professional band (these are songs from the audition list for MHS jazz bands)
On the Sunny Side of the Street
July 25 - Workshop, Jam & Showcase
Educators - Chance Stine, Dan Wallach and Laurie Lang
Houseband - Becca May Grant (piano), Jim Huwe (drums), Laurie Lang (bass), Chance Stine (sax), Dan Wallach (sax)
Showcase - Betsy Ezell Band - Betsy - (vocal), Becca May Grant (piano), Jim Huwe (drums), Laurie Lang (bass), Richard Hildner (guitar) maybe Dan and/or Chance (sax)
4:30 -5pm - Wallach Warm ups - mostly scales and call and response ear training
5 - 6pm Riffs -- This week we'll learn about riffs and how they work. How Duke Ellington used the most simple riff in C Jam Blues to be the melody of this song and how we can take a simple short phrase and use it to accompany others solos, how to transpose it and how to use it to develop a solo.
6-6:30pm jazz social conversation and dinner
6:30 - 7pm - we will try out what we've learned kicking off the jam
7-8pm - open jam -- sign up for the song of your choice to play with professional band
~8:15 -9pm Showcase the Betsy Ezell Quintet -
Betsy Ezell - Vocal
Jim Huwe - Drums
Becca May Grant - piano
Laurie Lang - bass
Richard Hildner - guitar
August 5, 2018 Jam CHALLENGE
Last week I explained how we're going to start playing featured tunes that are rarely heard in the context of our jam. We duly played Coltrane's "Cousin Mary" and Paul Desmond's "Bossa Antigua" at the last jam, with more or less satisfactory results. So for the next jam on August 5, I'm challenging myself to kick things up a notch by picking one of the two featured tunes to memorize. My goal is to get on stage and actually listen to the other musicians while I play, rather than following the changes on my phone or chart. Doing so will allow me to pay attention to things other than the harmony, like being more attentive to the time feel and not being surprised when it's my turn to take a solo. That gives me two and a half weeks to memorize one tune. If you're like me and have trouble memorizing tunes, I invite you to join me and give it a shot. If we blow it, we can always ask the house band how they commit music to memory.
For the August 5 jam, then, the first candidate for memorization is "Joyce's Samba," a tune that I associate with Cannonball Adderly. In my experience the title is a misnomer because it's identified in Real Book Vol. 2 as a bossa, and Cannonball played it as such on a 1962 record called Cannonball's Bossa Nova. The harmony seems simple enough, and since we're doing it as our "easier" number of the week, I suggest we do it at the slower bossa tempo as well.
The second candidate you might attempt to memorize is Dizzy Gillespie's bop classic, "Woodyn' You." This one is the more difficult of the featured tunes in part because it's harmony consists of a lot of minor ii-V's (min7b5 - dom7#9). Here you're in Locrian mode and altered scale territory, a region unfamiliar to the likes of me. And this tune is more difficult because it's usually done at a brisk clip.
So we can look forward to the following for the August 5 jam:
- we'll stretch out our hands, ears, and minds with a couple of rarely played tunes;
- we'll get a chance to work on minor ii-V7's;
- and we'll get some practice memorizing a song.
We have 19 days before the next jam. If I notice some growth in any of the three areas above over that time, I'll be satisfied. I invite you to take up the challenge to memorize one of these tunes.
The house band will be a virtuosic quartet made up of: Ken Hoffman (ts), Dave Stoler (pno), Ben Ferris (bs), and Keith Lienert (dr).
Let's get cracking with the memorizing. See you on August 5!
Join us July 25- good music, good fun and a time to grow
Video from July 11 showcase of Students played a blues and Miles Davis - "Tune Up"
a shout out to Common Ground Middleton for being amazing hosts and providing a sweet space, great food, EXCELLENT coffee and fun beers on tap.
Please give them your business:
blog: https://commongroundmiddleton.blog/
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/commongroundmiddleton/
July 25 will feature Betsy Ezell Band
https://www.facebook.com/betsyezellmusic/
The Method Behind MJJ's "Featured Tunes"
We've just posted our house bands and featured tunes for the next eight weeks. Speaking of our featured tunes, I thought I'd provide some insight into the process of picking them.
If you've spent any time at our event, you'll know that we take pride in the educational nature of our jam session. In fact, MJJ was founded in 2010 as an explicitly educational jam session, one in which jammers and audience members learn together about improvising from playing, listening, or both. We facilitate learning in part by selecting two songs for each session that attendees can work on prior to the jam. The first tune of each week is an "easier" tune suitable for beginning and intermediate improvisers; the second is a bit more difficult. In this way we can usually count on several people arriving having prepared to play a given song, thus allowing multiple jammers to get experience playing together. And picking the tunes can help motivate you to practice and structure your practice routine by giving you a couple of numbers to work on that you know will be played at the jam. As with all other songs, our house bands are on call to comment on jammers' playing on these featured tunes.
So how do we select the tunes of the week? Traditionally we've picked from the lists of standards found on our "Jam Tunes" page. These are classic vehicles for improvisation welcome at every meeting of the Madison Jazz Jam. But lately I've found myself falling into a rut of choosing the same small selection of songs. In order to spice things up a bit, I've started picking tunes of the week according to three categories or themes over a period of 8 jam sessions. In this way I hope to push us to play some new material rather than the umpteenth iteration of "Autumn Leaves" or "All the Things" (valuable as those can be). The categories are: 1) song titles; 2) genres; 3) composers. For the next 8 jams, we'll play: 1) blues tunes named after women; 2) more or less Brazilian numbers (bossas and sambas); 3) pieces composed by Dizzy Gillespie. These categories yield some songs that are rarely heard at our jam but fit well for our educational purposes, like "Cousin Mary," "Little Boat," and "Woody 'n You." If you're like me, you've probably been looking at these things in the Real Book for years and have never bothered to mess around with them. Let's start messing around with them. We'll learn new melodies and chord progressions, and we'll be exposed to new recordings. We'll stretch our hands, ears, and brains, and with luck we'll make this educational jam session a bit more educational.
I look forward to seeing you this Sunday at North Street Cabaret, where we'll play "Cousin Mary" (a blues named after a woman) and "Bossa Antigua" (a Paul Desmond number set to Brazilian rhythms).
And if you'd like to suggest a theme, I'd love to hear your ideas.
Mike
July 15, 2018 Jam
Hi all,
I apologize for not posting this sooner. We return from our break this Sunday, July 15. Our house band will be Ken Hoffman (ts), Doug White (pno), John Widdicombe (bs), and Keith Lienert (dr). Featured tunes are Coltrane's "Cousin Mary" and "Bossa Antigua" by Paul Desmond.
I can't say more at the moment because I'm at work. But stay tuned for an announcement about our next batch of featured tunes.
Come out to play music with us at North Street Cabaret this weekend!
Mike
July 11, (Wed) 4:30 Workshop 6:30 -9pm Jam & Showcase at Common Ground Middleton
July 11 - Harmony
Educators: Jim Erickson, Dan Wallach and Laurie
Jam House band: The Bill Evans &McCoy Tyner set”Rick Flowers (drums), Jim Erickson (piano), Lang (bass)
SUMMER WEDNESDAY FORMAT
WORKSHOP 4:30 - 6:30pm
at the upper room at Common Ground
$25 fee for the WORKSHOP: Price includes instruction & dinner. This will be a safe and fun atmosphere to learn more about jazz and improvising. If $25 fee is more than you can afford, PLEASE ask for sliding scale price and/or full scholarship. (text: laurie at 608-332-1408)
Basic Schedule for workshop
4:30 – 5 Jazz Listening session/Wallach Warm-ups
Call & response, listen to a featured recording, discussion and ear training with instruments or voice
5 – 6 Workshop/Clinic – “hands on” playing/learning jazz experience
6 – 6:30 Dinner with jazz friends (hang out with your friends and eat a dinner provided by Common Ground)
JAM & SHOWCASE 6:30 -9pm – FREE & open to all
in Main room at Common Ground (There is no chargefor the jam– open to all and no need to register ahead of time, come for 30 minutes or the whole 2.5 hour session, bring the whole family or come alone—we need an audience to buy food and drink to make this a successful event)
~ 6:30 – 7 set with the workshop-ies as a combo trying out what they learned
~ 7:15- 8 open jam (with sign up sheet)
~8:15 -9pm Showcase the House band (and/or maybe certain students or guest artists)
Workshops Continue at Common Ground on Wednesdays this summer
July 11 - Harmony
Educators: Jim Erickson, Dan Wallach and Laurie
Jam House band: The Bill Evans &McCoy Tyner set”Rick Flowers (drums), Jim Erickson (piano), Lang (bass)
July 25 - Riffs
Educators: Chance Stine, Dan Wallach and Laurie
Jam House band: “Betsy Ezell Quintet”Betsy Ezell (vocal), Becca May Grant (piano), Jim Huwe (drums), Richard Hildner (guitar)
August 1 - Practical skills for practicing jazz improvisation
Educators: Johannes Wallmann(piano) Chance Stine & Dan Wallach
House band: “The Art of Singing Jazz: Ella, Billie & Sarah” Jim Huwe (d), Laurie Lang (b) John Becker (p) Sally de Broux (v) Jim Huwe (d)
August 15 - Making your solo sing, learn to tell a story with notes
Educators: Laurie Lang (bass), Chance Stine & Dan Wallach
House band: Coltrane & Cannonball Set W/ a Nancy Wilson twist
Stine & Wallach, Jim Erickson (p) , Rick Flowers (d), Laurie Lang (b) Jan Wheaton (vocal)
SUMMER WEDNESDAY FORMAT
WORKSHOP 4:30 - 6:30pm
at the upper room at Common Ground
$25 fee for the WORKSHOP: Price includes instruction & dinner. This will be a safe and fun atmosphere to learn more about jazz and improvising. If $25 fee is more than you can afford, PLEASE ask for sliding scale price and/or full scholarship. (text: laurie at 608-332-1408)
Basic Schedule for workshop
4:30 – 5 Jazz Listening session/Wallach Warm-ups
Call & response, listen to a featured recording, discussion and ear training with instruments or voice
5 – 6 Workshop/Clinic – “hands on” playing/learning jazz experience
6 – 6:30 Dinner with jazz friends (hang out with your friends and eat a dinner provided by Common Ground)
JAM & SHOWCASE 6:30 -9pm – FREE & open to all
in Main room at Common Ground (There is no chargefor the jam– open to all and no need to register ahead of time, come for 30 minutes or the whole 2.5 hour session, bring the whole family or come alone—we need an audience to buy food and drink to make this a successful event)
~ 6:30 – 7 set with the workshop-ies as a combo trying out what they learned
~ 7:15- 8 open jam (with sign up sheet)
~8:15 -9pm Showcase the House band (and/or maybe certain students or guest artists)