By Avery Wageman
Contributing Writer
Once a single-day event bringing together high school jazz bands from across the state, Green Bay Jazz Fest is blooming this spring.
For 53 years UW-Green Bay has organized Jazz Fest as a celebration of jazz and as an opportunity for high school band students from across the state to perform together. This year’s festival is expanding to a five-day event that includes performances from bands both local and from across the country.
Adam Gaines, Associate Professor at UW-Green Bay and Director of Jazz Fest, is excited for the potential impact of the festival on Green Bay’s jazz community.
“The biggest thing is really to get a strong start here. We got a big grant from the city…which has really helped kick this thing off. We’re really thankful for that,” Gaines said. “This is kind of a first go at trying to make a brand-new festival here in town and get some real buzz started about it. I personally hope that people show up to the concerts and give it a try.”
To kick off Jazz Fest, the swing-influenced, Chicago-based Alejandro Salazar Quartet will be performing at the Tarlton Theater at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 12.
The following day, a free community screening of “Young Man with a Horn” will be showing at the Brown County Central Library at 6:30 p.m. on April 13. The 1950 film is loosely based on the life of cornet player, Bix Beiderbecke, and stars Kirk Douglas, Doris Day, and Lauren Bacall.
Three events will be hosted throughout the evening of April 14. The All-City and UW-GB Alumni Jazz Bands will perform at 7:30 p.m. at The Weidner. The All-City Jazz Band will be composed of the top jazz musicians from local high schools, the first year students from different schools will be playing together as one large band.
For the night owls, Identity Blues will be playing at Hagemeister Park from 8 to 11 p.m. and the Tarlton is hosting a Late-Night Jam Session at 10 p.m. featuring various artists from the festival and community.
On Saturday, April 15, Cat Plan, a local string, woodwind, and brass quintet will be playing from 3 to 5:30 p.m. at Titletown Brewery.
Jazz Fest’s headliner is the New York-based band, Blood, Sweat & Tears, whose self-titled album won against The Beatles’ iconic “Abbey Road” for the Album of the Year Grammy in 1970. Their music blends jazz, rock, and blues. Blood, Sweat & Tears will perform at The Weidner at 7:30 p.m. on April 15.
To close out the festival, Hotel Northland will be hosting a jazz brunch at 11 a.m. on April 16. Green Bay band, Pegasis will be performing original music that is a concoction of alternative, funk, jazz, latin, and pop.
For music fans wary of jazz, Gaines encourages people to keep an open mind in regards to the genre.
“I think a lot of people are sort of scared of the word ‘jazz,’” he said. “They hear the word ‘jazz’ and they think of one, specific thing usually like big bands from the 1940s…or they think of really hard-core 1950s or ’60s jazz musicians who are kind of more insulated. But there’s just so many types of music that fits under that umbrella.”
Expanding Jazz Fest this year with artists who play a range of jazz subgenres, gives the community a chance to sample a few types of music under the jazz “umbrella.” Gaines said he hopes that as local interest in the genre grows, the festival can continue to become curated to the community’s music interests.
To buy tickets and learn more about the Green Bay Jazz Fest schedule, check out https://www.weidnercenter.com/green-bay-jazz-fest/.