Green Bay Jazz Fest celebrates jazz music and musicians for over five decades

A decades-old tradition will return to Green Bay once again, celebrating jazz music and musicians throughout the city.

Green Bay Jazz Fest, once a one-day event put on by UW-Green Bay dating back to 1970, will bring jazz-focused events starting March 31 through April 5.

“In 1970, UW-Green Bay was still a very new university and was very flexible in the things that we could do, and we were actually the second university in the state to offer a jazz festival…” said UW-Green Bay Associate Professor of Music and Jazz Fest Organizer Dr. Adam Gaines. “At the time, it was still a pretty new thing to offer a jazz festival like that and to show off high school big bands, which were still just becoming normal parts of education. Jazz bands were considered not serious music, so it’s not something that educators were really pushing. But by the early ‘70s, these festivals popped up around the country to learn from each other and showcase [jazz bands.] We were one of the first ones on the bandwagon.”

In its early days, Green Bay Jazz Fest was a competitive festival for high school jazz bands, but the festival has changed and grown significantly over the years.
This year’s festivities will kick off with a concert by Corni Angelicus, hosted at the Tarlton Theatre at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, March 31.

Wednesday, April 2, will bring a film screening of The Glenn Miller Story to the Tarlton Theatre’s historic screen at 7 p.m.

Mingus Fest, celebrating the life and music of Charles Mingus, will return to this year’s Jazz Fest, taking place at 6 p.m. at the Tarlton Theatre on Thursday, April 3.

On April 4, Jazz Fest attendees can expect to catch a performance by the All City Jazz Ensemble — made up of the top musicians from 11 area high schools — and the UW-Green Bay Jazz Ensemble at the Weidner Center at 7:30 p.m.

And wrapping up this year’s Green Bay Jazz Fest on Saturday, April 5, will be a headline concert by the Green Bay Jazz Orchestra with special guest John La Barbera at the Weidner Center at 7:30 p.m. and a late night jam session at the Tarlton Theatre at 10 p.m.

Even for those who are hesitant to call themselves fans of jazz, Gaines said it’s worth checking out the events during Green Bay Jazz Fest.

“It’s a celebration of a true American art form,” Gaines said. “I can’t underscore enough that in a time when people are all kind of divided, music’s one of these things we can get together and enjoy. I think people hear the word ‘jazz’ and get a little scared that it’s going to be too cerebral or esoteric or something — it’s not. We play a lot of blues. We play a lot of fun stuff. We’ll play tunes that people recognize and we’ll do things that get the audience involved. It’s always a really fun time, so people should come out.”