The iconic Madison Jazz Festival returns with ten days of live music and special events from Friday, June 10 through Sunday, June 19, 2022. Headlined by 8-time GRAMMY Award winner Christian McBride and GRAMMY-winning drummer and composer Brian Blade, this year’s Jazz Fest line-up is one of the strongest and most diverse in its 35-year history.

Since 2018, this annual summer event has been expanded to spread across the city in a variety of settings - small and large music venues, parks, libraries, restaurants, businesses, and other community spaces - with mostly free and low-cost events so that all community members can take part. Whether you’re new to jazz or a life-long fan, there’s something for everyone in this year’s festival.

The celebration will kick off on Friday, June 10 with Strollin’ Capitol East, a great way to hear a wide variety of jazz styles - from Latin jazz and vocal jazz to avant-garde and straight-ahead. The free neighborhood jazz crawl will feature ten local bands in four venues within close walking distance: the High Noon Saloon Patio, Robinia Courtyard, Arts + Literature Laboratory (ALL), and Dark Horse Art Bar.

This will be followed by the public presentation “The Future of Jazz Education in Madison” by St. Louis jazz educator Harvey Lockhart with a jazz educator’s roundtable discussion at ALL on Saturday, June 11 at 10am.  Also on June 11, you can join long-time Duke Ellington fan and Greater Madison Jazz Consortium founder Howard Landsman for a free program featuring recordings of 17 lesser-known but equally-awesome works in “Uncommonly Dukish: Rarely Heard Gems of Ellingtonia” at Sequoya Library at 2pm.

Throughout the week, the Festival will feature many renowned jazz artists such as Chicago drummer Juan Pastor, whose ensemble Chichano will fuse Central and South American rhythms with North American jazz harmonies at Cafe CODA on Saturday, June 11, 8pm. On Sunday, June 12, ALL will present a special concert by Filipino-American saxophonist and composer Jon Irabagon with Ryan Cohan (piano), Clark Sommers (bass), and Dana Hall (drums) at 7pm. Named one of New York City's 25 Jazz Icons by Time Out New York and winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition, Irabagon is unique in his mastery of both straight-ahead jazz and free improvisation and everything in between.

The 9-piece Latin jazz band Rebulú will perform a free concert at Warner Park on Monday, June 13, in partnership with the NewBridge Summer Concert Series. The evening will begin with Latin dance lessons at 6pm, followed by two sets of their soulful blend of Cuban, Puerto Rican, and African diaspora grooves topped with powerful vocals.

Madison’s Rob Dz will host the New Breed Jazz Jam Lyricist Lounge at Robinia Courtyard on Tuesday, June 14 starting at 9pm. Bring your instrument to join the jam session or come to listen as spoken word artists and jazz musicians improvise together.

More free performances will be presented during Jazz on State on Wednesday, June 15, which is part of the second year of a new summer jazz series at the top of State Street (also June 8 and 22).

On Thursday, June 16, the Festival returns to Cafe CODA for rising star vibraphonist Thaddeus Tukes. A composer and percussionist who “brings poetry to the vibraphone” (Chicago Tribune), Tukes has been a featured soloist at venues from Carnegie Hall in New York to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Chicago Symphony Center, and he leads one of the most in-demand jazz small ensembles in Chicago.

This year also marks the 50th anniversary of Duke Ellington’s 1972 UW-Madison residency. In addition to Howard Landsman’s presentation at the beginning of the festival, the Mead Witter School of Music Jazz Studies program will host a 3-part celebration on Friday, June 17 at the Hamel Music Center. Beginning at 5:30pm, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s Victor Goines will perform as a guest artist with the Sun Prairie and Middleton High School jazz programs, followed by a panel talk featuring jazz scholar Patricia Willard; Emeritus Professor of Music James Latimer, who organized the residency; and former UW student Jane Coyne, who later toured as a vocalist with Ellington's orchestra. The 8:30pm finale will be a concert by UW-Madison Jazz Faculty and Alumni featuring the UWIS Suite, which Ellington composed for the occasion of his Madison residency, as well as other Ellington compositions.

The culmination of the Jazz Festival will take place June 18-19 at the Memorial Union with two special presentations, incredible local and regional musicians giving free performances on the Memorial Union Terrace, and ticketed headlining concerts at Shannon Hall. On Saturday, June 18, you’re invited to start the afternoon at 1:30pm in the Memorial Union Play Circle for a conversation and Q&A with Brian Blade moderated by Stephen Braunginn. Starting at 2:30pm, the Terrace stage will feature a series of electrifying performances by Emma Dayhuff’s Phoenix Ensemble with Greg Ward, Isaiah Collier & Vincent Davis presented by the Madison Music Collective, vocalist Sarah M. Greer, saxophonist Sharel Cassity and the UW Faculty Band, Cuban dance music by Charanga Agoza, and Mama Digdown’s Brass Band. Led by one of today’s top jazz drummers, Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band will perform in Shannon Hall at 8pm.

The final day will start with one last Ellington event: “Duke and Paul” presented by Patricia Willard at 1:30 in the Memorial Union Play Circle. The Wisconsin Union Theater will present a Celebration of Black American Music on the Terrace from 3:00-7:30pm, featuring local artists including Francis Medrano’s Black Power Dance, and Adem Tesfaye, the Madison native emcee/songwriter, hip-hop guitarist, and music producer whose music style has deep roots in hip-hop, funk, reggae, and blues. Closing out the Madison Jazz Festival and celebrating Juneteenth will be jazz superstar Christian McBride, also in Shannon Hall, with his brand new group: Nicole Glover (saxophone), Ely Perlman (guitar), Mike King (piano), and Savannah Harris (drums).

New this year, Madison Jazz Festival audiences are invited to participate in a festival passport program and earn exclusive rewards simply by attending events, including discounts on future jazz concerts and festival t-shirts.

As a special pre-festival event, Cafe CODA is hosting the "End of an Era" celebration for long-time WORT-FM Strictly Jazz Sounds DJs Stephen Braunginn and Jane Reynolds on Wednesday, June 8, starting at 7:00pm. Steve and Jane are closing out decades of commitment to jazz radio (20 and 37 years, respectively), and many of the finest jazz players in the Upper Midwest will come together to say “thank you” in a session produced by UW Jazz Studies Director Johannes Wallmann.

The Madison Jazz Festival is made possible with the support of The Capital Times, John and Carolyn Peterson Charitable Foundation, Dane Arts, Madison Arts Commission, Arts Midwest, Madison Music Collective, Madison Jazz Society, Jazz on State, NewBridge, Audio for the Arts, Prime Urban Properties, Graduate Madison, WORT FM, Wisconsin Arts Board, and the National Endowment for the Arts, Madison Gas & Electric, Wisconsin Public Radio, and the High Noon Saloon, with additional funds from the Endres Manufacturing Company Foundation, the Evjue Foundation, Inc., charitable arm of The Capital Times, the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation, and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation.

Please visit MadisonJazzFestivalWI.org for full details and tickets.