Upcoming Performances
Friday, May 10, 7 PM
At the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts - 926 East Center Street
Nothing focuses your attention on the important things in life more than confronting -- and beating -- cancer and then starting a family. Watching her children living in the moment and playing with abandon made ELLIE MARTIN realize that you cannot take anything for granted. Despite a successful and rewarding career in academia, the singer and songwriter decided it was time to follow her dream and record an album.
VERDANT, Martin’s debut recording, showcases her wide ranging vocal and compositional talents. The album comprises 12 original songs that mostly follow the arc of her life in the last few years, reflecting her experiences as a woman, a mother, and a cancer survivor. Martin’s voice is light and warm as she skillfully navigates through her program of bebop, Latin grooves, ballads, and swing, undaunted by challenging intervals.
The songs on VERDANT come directly from Martin’s life. Audiences in the Midwest, where she tours extensively, have had plenty of opportunity to hear Martin in concert. With the release of VERDANT, a larger audience will finally get to enjoy the depth and breadth of her artistry.
Martin has a PhD in Jazz Studies and is currently the vocal jazz instructor at the University of Toledo, as well as Toledo School for the Arts. She has performed at the Pittsburgh Jazz Festival, the Sunset Jazz Festival, and the Michigan Jazz Festival. She was the featured vocalist with the National Arab Orchestra in San Antonio Texas, and she has performed alongside jazz luminaries Geri Allen, Terri Lynne Carrington, Esperanza Spalding, the New York Voices, Jon Hendricks, and Afro Blue.
Date: May 10
Time: 7:00pm
Cover price: 10$ (please note we do not sell tickets in advance, doors only. both cards and cash are accepted)
Saturday, May 11, 2024
At the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts - 926 East Center Street
Max Brown is a trombonist, composer, and arranger, who plays music in all styles but mainly focuses on jazz. Max is currently based in Madison Wisconsin, and he is additionally working his way into the Chicago and Milwaukee jazz scenes. He is a bandleader of both a jazz quartet, and a jazz/original music sextet. The Max Brown Sextet, features original compositions and arrangements of straight ahead jazz that occasionally venture into free or unstructured improv. Max has also built a presence in Indiana, where he spent 6 years from 2017-2023. Earning a Masters of Music in Jazz Studies – trombone from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (Bloomington IN) where he studied with Wayne Wallace, John Raymond, and Tom Walsh. As well as a bachelor’s degree in classical trombone performance from Butler University in Indianapolis.
Date: May 11, 2024
Time: 7pm
Free Admission
Sunday, May 12, 2024
At the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts - 926 East Center Street
ITALIAN SURF ACADEMY is a trio led by New York based guitarist Marco Cappelli, featuring bassist Damon Banks and drummer Dave Miller. The band plays a blend of Spaghetti Western, Exotica and Tex Mex, marinated in vintage Italian sauce. One third of the night will be dedicated to their album Barbarella Reloaded - a surf reinterpretation of the iconic 1968 Barbarella soundtracks- followed by the suite Morricone is Dissolving, written and performed by poet Denver Butson, who will be joining the band as special guest. Echoes of Mario Bava horror B-movies mixed with Martin Danny’s Hawaiian sound will be heard in the last part of the concert, taken by their last album Fake Worlds .
Date: May 12th
Doors 7:30pm, Show 8:00pm
Cover price: $20 (please note we do not sell tickets in advance, doors only. both cards and cash are accepted)
Friday, May 17, 2024
At the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts - 926 East Center Street
ASTRO (Anders Svanoe’s Teleporting Rhythmic Orchestra) is an experimental/free jazz large group. The group features an all-star group of improvisors and composers from the Madison and Milwaukee area. ASTRO will teleport musically from experimental to more familiar music written by baritone saxophonist, Anders Svanoe.
"The music here is anything but predicable and Svanoe writes memorable melodies, like the hard swinging bebop composition "Bird Strike" which would fit easily on a Pepper Adams recording. Svanoe's heated solo gives way to the coolness of Doherty's trumpet. Elsewhere the saxophonist goes toe-to-toe with Conroy on the brief meditative piece "Spiral Staircase Glamour;" and extends the reflection on "Altimeter High," which could easily be confused with the music of Don Cherry. Then there's the cartoon theme/Albert Ayler march "Walk On The SAS" which mines madcap for relevance. The closing track "Subsonic" features the bassists' bowed and plucked sounds that give way to luscious harmonies. Svanoe's richly verdant horn opens the composition to images of blue skies blue."
Mark Corroto- All About Jazz
"This album thrives on ambiguity, bleeding between styles and moods. If it’s firmly rooted in jazz it also explicitly draws on Svanoe’s love of heavy metal. If Svanoe is building these pieces around definite, composed themes (the full trio shares composition credits on the masterfully eerie “Hotshot”), he’s also determined to bend them into oblique improvised corners. Don’t get comfortable (or uncomfortable) in any one mode for too long. “Rosy Cheeks” takes you into the baritone-as-suave-tenor mode, a welcome if an almost misleading turn in the album’s sequence."
Scott Gordon- Tone Madison
Genre(s): Free Jazz/Experimental
Date: May 17
Time: 7:30
Cover fee: $10 (please note we do not sell tickets in advance, doors only. both cards and cash are accepted)