The Red Rose Ragtime Band performed at the very first Madison Jazz Society concert in August of 1984 and returns to participate in the Society's year-long 35th anniversary celebration.  The band was formed in the early 1980's in the Chicago area with the express purpose of playing a musical repertoire reflecting almost every aspect of early jazz music, including ragtime.  Today, the Red Rose performs perhaps the widest variety of traditional jazz sounds of any band in America.  No matter what the tune, Red Rose plays each in the style in which it was originally played or recorded.  In other words, they play it all.  www.redrosejazz.com

Bringing a little bit of the Big Easy to the Brew City, Sweet Sheiks is a Milwaukee based band inspired by music of the teens, twenties, and thirties. With a mix of early jazz, vintage pop tunes, delta blues and originals, they shake the dust off the antiquated sound they've revived. Resonator guitar, banjo, tuba, violin, trombone, clarinet, washboard and musical saw are instruments you may see in this rotating group of musicians."  This group, making its first MJS appearance, will close out the Society's spring concert series celebrating its 35th anniversary.  www.facebook.com/sweetsheiks

The Madison Jazz Society will continue the year-long celebration of its 35th anniversary with a free year-end party featuring music and dance performances.  The New Century Dance Orchestra, which was scheduled to perform at the Society's cancelled February concert, will provide music for listening and dancing. The band recreates the jazzy dance band sounds from the roaring twenties into the swing style of the 1930s. The ten-piece band is reminiscent of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and the earliest music of Duke Ellington – the generation of “big band” music that preceded the swing era. Special guest Chloe Feoranzo, direct from New Orleans, is a clarinetist and saxophonist who has been performing professionally since the age of 15. She is a freelance musician and full-time member of Shake 'Em Up Jazz Band and has been touring part-time with Postmodern Jukebox. Chloe will perform with the New Century Dance Orchestra and be part of the special jazz tap performance during the afternoon. During the afternoon, the Beautiful Friendship Double Trios (jazz tap dance & music) will provide a performance filled with history and innovation. Musicians and dancers will improvise, melody will sometimes be carried by a dancer and you will see musicians move to the music. Tap dancers will create the groove (or beat) while musicians produce the mood and melody. The double trio will be a mixture of these two art forms that will be fun to see and hear. The Dance Trio will be Katherine Kramer, Jenai Cutcher and Donna Peckett. […]

MJS first met Steve Pikal when he performed at one of our Capital City Jazz Fests with the Barbary Coast Jazz Band.  He has performed with the Jim Cullum Jazz Band and plays trombone as well as bass.  His solos are exciting and audiences always respond to him. Perpetual motion machine Steve is a marvelous force of nature.  Ask any musician (he’s among the “first call” bassists for jazz festivals around the country) who has been privileged to play alongside him.  Two of the musicians joining him will be former Prairie Home Companion pianist Butch Thompson and Wisconsin’s own Bob Schulz.  Thompson will be making his first MJS appearance since our 2007 Capital City Jazz Fest.  In a career spanning over 40 years, Butch has a world-wide reputation as a master of ragtime, stride and classic jazz piano.  Bob organized his Frisco Jazz Band in 1989, patterning it after Bob Scobey's Frisco Band.  Schulz was a founding member of the Riverboat Ramblers before joining Turk Murphy’s Jazz Band in 1979.  Other musicians performing with Pikal will be Charlie DeVore on trumpet and Tony Balluff on reeds.

Direct from New Orleans, Shake ‘Em Up Jazz Band is an all-female supergroup made up of some of the most sought-after young stars of the New Orleans Traditional Jazz scene.  They are living proof that traditional American New Orleans jazz will never die.  These fine musicians have played with other bands and their mutual talents blended so well, they continued to perform in their new identity.  One of their CDs features songs originally composed, arranged or performed by women. Darren Sterud’s New Orleans Tribute Band is one of Madison’s newest bands dedicated to the jazz of New Orleans.  In March of 2016 the New Orleans Tribute made its debut.  The band was assembled from some of the best jazz musicians in Madison.  In its debut, the band played to a full house and, since then, the band has gotten call after call for gigs.  Members of the band are part of other Madison music institutions such as Mama Digdown's Brass Band, Youngblood Brass Band, Tony Castaneda Latin Jazz Band, The New Breed Jazz Trio, Golpe Tierra, Brothers By Choice and The Jimmys.