The State of Jazz To Come

As part of our InsideMilwaukee blog, The State of Jazz To Come, Milwaukee Jazz Vision sought an interview with Dr. Martin Jack Rosenblum, senior lecturer in UW-Milwaukee’s Music History & Literature department. As an artist and educator, he is someone who’s lived through nearly every important cultural moment in America for the last five decades.  Given his extensive resume and personal interest in jazz, we asked him a few questions about it – both as a cultural experience and as part of Milwaukee’s history.  “Rock isn’t dead; its medium is.  Jazz isn’t dead; its audience is.” — MJR Graham Marlowe:…

Greetings Milwaukee Jazz Fans! Saturday night brings forth the third installment of EASTSIDE JAZZFEST, Milwaukee’s bi-annual jazz festival, but with a slight change of approach. This time around the festival will be an even split between local and New York-based talent, with the Eric Jacobson Quintet and Curt Hanrahan Quartet representing Milwaukee, along with a quartet and trio from George Braith and David Hazeltine, respectively, to represent New York.   Hazeltine, whose trio will close out the festival, has a personal history in Milwaukee — most notably as a legend of the famous Jazz Gallery scene. While often bumping elbows with…

Reviewed by Graham Marlowe Choir Fight Makes Its Point Thick, homey fumes of authentic Mexican food wafted through Charles Allis Art Museum Thursday night as Choir Fight, a fiery Milwaukee jazz sextet, proved to a modest thirty that, while jazz may not be the fringe culture springboard it once was, the music itself is far from dead. For a band so moist with creativity, the odor was especially fitting. The evening’s natural, off-white light show was somewhat romantic for jazz, which often burns from whatever midnight oil venues are willing to provide. But as that sunset poked its weary head…

One of the goals of the Milwaukee Jazz Vision was to develop and implement a tiered jam session scene. This is something Milwaukee has been sorely missing for quite sometime now. Many have popped up here and there, but none have “stuck”. We here at the MJV are attempting to fix that! As long as there have been jazz musicians, there have been jam sessions. The jazz jam session is a forum in which players can get together and display their abilities to each other and the public. Certainly the jam session serves an important role in any jazz community.…

Greetings Milwaukee Jazzers! Here it is, our preview of the Second Bi-Annual Eastside Jazzfest.  WHAT: Milwaukee’s newest music festival and the first to showcase the unique sound and talent of Milwaukee’s jazz scene, the EASTSIDE JAZZFEST returns Saturday, February 26 to the Todd Wehr Conference Center located at 1047 N. Broadway. Grammy© Award Winning jazz artist and Milwaukee Native, Brian Lynch is headlining the February festival. Five other jazz ensembles, representing the most exciting, versatile musicians with ties to Milwaukee will round out the bill. The evening begins promptly at 6:00 p.m. with performances from student jazz combos from the…

The state of jazz to come. What does that mean for us Milwaukeeans, musicians and fans alike? Why is jazz important? As a friend and colleague recently asked, “Why Jazz?” Corporate backed, pre-packaged, overly processed, commercially motivated music is flooding any and all of our media outlets (two words for you, Bieber Fever). Popular music v. music with any sense of truth, honesty, creativity, life or depth … Bieber wins nine times out of 10 in the public forum.  Is jazz (in Milwaukee, or elsewhere) dead as so many have written? When faced with this question myself (having dedicated my…