When Was iGnitE 2025?
iGnitE jAzz! 2025 took place June 5–7, 2025 in Madison, Wisconsin.
About
A dynamic summer camp and educational intensive designed for jazz enthusiasts of all ages and skill levels. This immersive experience offers flexible programming tailored to three distinct groups, ensuring an engaging and enriching journey into the world of jazz.
Jazz Explorers – Discover the Legends, Stories, and Sounds of Jazz
A class for those wanting to learn more about jazz artists and topics through presentations and interactive discussions.
Jump In & Jam – Hands-On Jazz for All Ages
A class for ages 7 – 97 offering hands-on experience, the building blocks of jazz improvisation, small band formation, and collaborative music-making.
Workshop Sessions – Level Up Your Jazz Skills
A class for musicians who already play jazz and want to refine their skills by learning from expert jazz artists.
All sessions will be held at MYArts, on the 4th Floor.
Scroll on for the full schedule of events!
Thursday, June 5th - 5:00-8:30pm
5:00-5:15PM: Welcome Meeting
5:15-6:45 PM: Breakout Sessions
7:00-8:30 PM: Performance
Jazz Explorers Track
Much of the jazz history we know comes from a carefully crafted narrative of the music that focuses on popular jazz styles and performers over the course of the 20th century. While these people and their music are often well loved for good reason, jazz music as we know it has been influenced by a variety of people whose stories have become “footnotes” in many jazz history textbooks. These footnotes are often added to official histories when they are convenient, for example woman jazz musicians are often included during the war years when male musicians were being drafted into service. Indeed, female jazz musicians were particularly visible during these years, though several figures who inspired generations of musicians in the later half of the twentieth century are not even afforded a footnote in the “official” jazz history. In this presentation, I will talk about such jazz footnotes, how to identify them, and most importantly why they matter.
Jump in and Jam Instrumental Track
Let’s Get Started with Amy Lewis
Jump in & Jam Vocal Track
Making the Song Yours Workshop
with Austin Cebulske & Adam Czerepinski
Teaching Artist Showcase - An interactive concert
7:00 – 8:30 PM
Friday, June 6 - 5:00-9:00pm
5:00-5:15 pm: Welcome Meeting
5:15-6:45 pm: Breakout Sessions
7:00-9:00 pm: Breakout Session Performances & Open Jazz Jam
Jazz Explorers Track
The legend of Miles Davis’s second great quintet is deservedly cemented in jazz history for revolutionizing the post-bop idiom and reaching unrivaled depths in terms of intuitive communication through music. Often overlooked in this narrative is an earlier iteration of the second quintet that laid the groundwork for this revolution in sound through the liberal and imaginative interpretation of jazz standards. In February of 1964, Miles Davis, George Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, & Tony Williams recorded one of the most inspiring and visionary sets of live music ever captured to tape at the Philharmonic Hall of Lincoln Center in New York City. This presentation will survey the revolutionary elements of this performance and showcase how performers can adopt a more radical post-bop aesthetic when interpreting jazz standards like “Stella by Starlight,” “All of You,” and “All Blues.”
Jump in and Jam Instrumental Track
Feel the Rhythm & Make it Groove with John Becker
Jump in & Jam Vocal Track
Charles Mingus Composition Workshop
with Adam Czerepinski
Breakout Session Performances & Open Jazz Jam
7:00 – 9:00 PM
Saturday, June 7 - 9:00am-6:00pm
9:00-9:30am: Welcome meeting & Warm-up activity
9:30-11:00am: Saturday Morning Breakout Sessions
Jazz Explorers Track
Jump in and Jam Instrumental Track
Jump in & Jam Vocal Track
Get ready to groove with nothing but the power of our voices. In this joyful session, we’ll create rhythm, harmony, and movement through fun, accessible singing games and group improvisation. Whether you’re new to singing or a seasoned vocalist, this is your chance to explore vocal creativity, build musical trust, and co-create rich, rhythmic vocal compositions. Sally will guide you through layering techniques and playful exercises that make collaboration effortless—and a whole lot of fun.
Standards in Different Meters Workshop
with Devin Drobka
11:15am-12:15pm: Morning iGnitE! Sessions
iGnitE! Session 1: Body Percussion for the Average Jazz Lover
with Katherine Kramer
iGnitE! Session 2: Saxophone Meet Up
with Pawan Benjamin
12:15-1:15pm: Lunch Break
1:30-3:00pm: Saturday Afternoon Breakout Session
Jazz Explorers Track
with Reneé C. Baker
Chicago Artist, Musician and Composer, Renee’ C. Baker will screen parts of her film “Body & Soul” the recontexturalizing of Oscar Micheaux’s silent race film with Renee’s new musical score performed by AACM and Chicago Modern Orchestra Project. A lively discussion and Q & A to follow.
Jump in and Jam Instrumental Track
Jump in & Jam Vocal Track
Silencing the Inner Critic: How to Release Your Creative Potential Workshop
with Hannah Johnson
Find yourself freezing up or trapped in negative thoughts while improvising? This class will explore physical and cognitive techniques to amplify awareness, self-assuredness, and presence while playing.and then how to create interlocking groove with every instrument in the band.
3:15-4:15pm: Afternoon iGnitE! Sessions
iGnitE! Session 1: Improvising Musical Conversations in Duos
with Leah Reinardy
Duo playing presents unique opportunities to be in musical conversation with another artist, and its format can require artists to take different collaborative approaches than they would in a trio/quartet setting. In this 1-hour workshop, Leah Reinardy will facilitate a series of exercises where participants will listen and improvise in duos. Participants will have opportunities to give and receive real-time feedback on their improvisations and will leave the session with multiple strategies for improvising with a musical collaborator. This workshop is open to instrumentalists, vocalists, and percussive dancers of all ages and levels of musical experience. The session is interactive – everyone will make music! Bring an open mind and your instrument if it is portable. Small instruments will be available at the workshop if you cannot bring an instrument.
iGnitE! Session 2: Jazz Pail Drumming for Everyone
with Noah Brooks
Saturday, June 7: Final Performance
4:30-6:00pm
Participants will perform some of what they have learned in this showcase performance!
Sunday, June 8: Madison Jazz Festival Events
5:00-6:00pm Panel Discussion on Women in NOLA music with The Original Pinettes
7:00 pm The Original Pinettes in Concert
Instructors & Facilitators
Renee' C. Baker
Renee’ C. Baker is a visual artist, film artist, composer, and recontextualist, Baker is a true engineer of multi-disciplines. Layering movement and film projections, she creates an exquisite arena of surrealistic activity within a sonic theatre. Her compositions, crafted with careful construction, allowing indeterminacy, experimentalism, classicism, subjectivity, and objective interpretations to coexist. Both performer and audience are cast into unknown roles, inhabiting a temporary environment of limitless potential. Baker is a member and interim Chair of the renowned Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Her graphic score novels have received critical acclaim from performances in Berlin, Poland, London, Scotland, and Vietnam. More at https://www.reneebakercomposer.net
John Becker
John Becker has been a performer and educator in the Madison jazz music scene for many years. He plays jazz at the drum set, piano, vibraphone, hand drums, and also orchestral and classical percussion. John is a prolific composer of original jazz music. He is a Wisconsin native but started his career playing professionally in Los Angeles for several years. Upon returning to Madison, he taught percussion as adjunct faculty at UW-Whitewater. For the past three decades, John has also been a full-time music educator, teaching general music (and improvising in jazz) to elementary school age students in the Middleton-Cross Plains schools. He directs the choir at Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel in Madison and enjoys sharing the joy of jazz with people of all ages.
Pawan Benjamin
Pawan Benjamin has made a global name for himself as an artist over the last decade and a half. A veteran for over 15 years of the New York City music scene, Pawan has performed in traditional and modern settings as both an in demand saxophonist, bansuri flutist, composer and producer. In 2018, Pawan was awarded the prestigious Van Lier Foundation award for emerging artists in New York City, and recorded his first record, “Tinte Baja” as a homage to his Nepali American heritage.
Pawan has had the opportunity to perform with artists such as Reggie Workman, Roscoe Mitchell, Nicholas Payton, Brandee Younger, Marc Cary, Mike Stern, Sameer Gupta, Rez Abassi, The Cab Calloway Orchestra, the Temptations / Four Tops, and dancer and choreographer Bill T Jones among many notable others.
As a saxophone student Pawan has studied with Hanah Jon Taylor, Roscoe Mitchell, Bob Mintzer, Steve Wilson, Steve Slagle, Donny McCaslin and Dan Blake, and is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music. https://pawanbenjamin.com
Austin Cebulske
Austin Cebulske is a saxophonist, educator, and composer hailing from the historically and culturally vibrant music scene of St. Louis, Missouri. He is currently residing in Madison, WI, where he serves as Lecturer of Saxophone & Music at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
As a performer, Austin has been an active recording and performing musician having released several albums as a leader. He can also be heard as a sideman on recordings with artists like the Funky Butt Brass Band, Drew Zaremba’s Big Band, & the Zach Rich Sextet. Throughout his career, Austin has been privileged to perform with such luminaries as Sheila Jordan, Vincent Gardner, Donald Harrison, Carmen Bradford, Dick Oatts, and Marquis Hill. His extensive performance history has led him throughout Europe and across much of the United States, including to such iconic venues as Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Jazz At the Bistro, Frederick P. Rose Hall at Lincoln Center and Dazzle Denver. https://www.austincebulskejazz.com
Adam Czerepinski
Adam Czerepinski was born and raised on the east side of Madison, WI, and after twenty years living on the east coast, once again calls Madison home. Proficient as a multi-instrumentalist, Adam is a versatile keyboard and bass player, and one of the ok-est trumpet and flute players in town.
As a teenager, Adam was awarded a full scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in Jazz Composition he continued his studies at the Manhattan School of Music where he earned a master’s degree in Jazz Performance and a doctorate in Jazz Arts Advancement.
Adam leads several bands in the Madison area, including the devastating jazz/groove supergroup, Hornado. https://www.adamcz.com
Sally De Broux
Sally De Broux is a vocalist, improviser, and teacher/facilitator who brings joy, playfulness, and musicality to her sessions. She leads vocal improvisation and circle singing inspired by the work of her mentor and teacher, renowned vocalists Rhiannon and Bobby McFerrin. Based in Madison, she performs with a variety of jazz musicians and enjoys collaborating with other artists who share a love of improvisation. Sally is passionate about helping singers of all ages and experience levels find freedom and connection through vocal exploration. Her work emphasizes improvisation and group singing as pathways to creativity, community, and personal expression—making music accessible and meaningful for everyone.
Devin Drobka
Devin Drobka is one of the most in-demand and creative musicians in the Midwest for the past 15 years. Audiences around the world have been enthralled with his wide sonic palette and limitless rhythmic possibilities on the drums. A deep love of jazz, metal, folk, hip-hop, ambient, idm, and classical music has helped shaped Devin’s unique voice and vision on the drums both as a leader and as a sideman. His highly personal and creative drumming can be heard within the realm of jazz having performed with Greg Osby, Jerry Bergonzi, Dayna Stephens, and Joe Lovano as well as indie- folk bands like Field Report and indie rappers R.A.P. Ferreira and Serengeti. Devin can be heard on over 50 albums of genre bending, original music for which he is an advocate for. Devin currently composes music for his newest group, The Devin Drobka Trio, which draws upon his love of contemporary classical music and minimalism and his multi horn group, Bell Dance Songs, which is a response to his love of Albert Ayler, Paul Motian, and Ornette Coleman. Devin’s music has been described as “sounding like nothing else in midwestern jazz” and “gorgeous, innovative.”https://www.devindrobka.com
Hannah Johnson
Hannah Johnson provides an adventurous and joyful approach to her musical endeavors. Hannah’s desire to express herself in various genres keeps her busy composing and playing drums within the jazz idiom as well as folk + indie music. Hannah leads Milwaukee based quartet, Heirloom and is a highly sought-after side musician, playing with numerous regional and international artists and bands. She recently toured with soul and R&B artist, Durand Jones, who opened for country musician, Orville Peck, on his North American “Stampede Tour”. She currently works as an educator at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Falls School of Music, as well as her private home studio. https://hannahjohnsonmusic.com
Jordan Kowalski
Jordan Kowalski currently teaches the jazz band at Vel Phillips Memorial High School, and assists in teaching Music 103 at the University of Wisconsin. He has held teaching positions at the University of Miami’s “MusicReach” program and Guitars Over Guns Nonprofit, in addition to public K-12 and private studio teaching. Jordan is also dedicated to strengthening Madison’s live music community and does so by serving as a board member of the Madison Music Collective, hosting public music events like the Zuzu’s latin jazz jam on Sundays, and fostering a sense of connectedness whenever possible. Jordan holds a Master’s degree in Jazz Pedagogy from the Frost school of music at the University of Miami, and a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Wisconsin. He has also studied Cuban music in Camaguey, Cuba, and Brazillian music at the California Brazil Camp in Cazadero, CA. Jordan is currently a graduate student in Musicology at the University of Wisconsin. https://jordankowalski.weebly.com
Laurie Lang
Laurie Lang is an educator, community organizer, bassist and composer. Laurie is the current president of the Madison Jazz Society. She is highly motivated to bring jazz and music educators together and to work together to nurture creative improvisation in our local arts culture. Laurie had the distinct privilege to study bass violin, Black Music Ensemble and jazz history with late and great Richard Davis. Laurie has performed with many Madison Area musicians and has led several groups, recordings and multi-disciplinary projects. As an educator, Laurie has worked in many area schools as a jazz artist-in-residence, organized the Improv Music Workshop, facilitates Madison Jazz Jam and Workshops and worked on COPA Madison’s Harmony Madison project at One City Schools. Laurie is committed to all ages, all levels accessible music education. LaurieLangMusic.com
Dr. Amy Lewis
Dr. Amy Lewis is the daughter of Jayne McShann Lewis and Bennie Lewis and is the granddaughter of Frances McShann Shelton and jazz pianist Jay McShann. Dr. Lewis is a research associate as an Anna Julia Cooper Fellow in the Mead Witter School of Music at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research is focused on systemic oppression, equity, and racism in music education. As a public music teacher, she taught K-1, 6-8 general music, beginning band, middle school choir, and jazz band in the Chicagoland suburbs. She received the 2022 Compass Visionary Award, the 2019 Black Faculty, Staff, and Administrators Association Emerging Leader Award, and was also named the 2015 Illinois Education Association Teacher of the Year. She earned her B.M.E. degree from DePaul University, M.A. from Concordia University, and Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Her work is published in The Bulletin for the Council of Research in Music Education, Action, Criticism, & Theory in Music Education, and Michigan Music Educator Journal, and she is on the editorial board of the Research and Issues in Music Education Journal.
Hanah Jon Taylor
Hanah Jon Taylor is arguably the preeminent saxophonist and flutist in Madison jazz and a leading catalyst, organizer and educator in inter-arts programming. Taylor was founder and director of The Madison Center for the Creative and Cultural Arts, which offered concerts and multi-arts classes. Taylor also directed Freedom Fest, which presented such world-class performers as Archie Shepp, Sonny Fortune, Richard Davis, Cecil McBee, Edward Wilkerson, acclaimed Chicago singer Dee Alexander, and Corey Wilkes and Roscoe Mitchell of the legendary Art Ensemble of Chicago.
With a career spanning over 30 years, Mr. Taylor has appeared with songwriter/folk artist Richie Havens, percussionist Steve McCall, the Colson Unity Troupe, saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, pianist Jobic LeMasson, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, bassists Rafael Garrett and Malachi Favors, and the Great Black Music Ensemble of Chicago.
Taylor moved to Madison years ago from Chicago and has been a long-time member of the influential Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). He has performed worldwide with musicians ranging from Woodstock-famous singer-songwriter Richie Havens to Nina Simone, Miles Davis, and many of the AACM’s leading lights. Taylor has a substantial reputation in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Today Taylor is the owner of Madison’s premier jazz venue, Cafe Coda. https://cafecoda.club
Noah Brooks
Bandleader and composer Noah Brooks aims to create original jazz music influenced by the traditional Blue Note sound and modern pop music. His music uses simple and catchy melodic lines that are easy for listeners to remember, and are blended with traditional bebop harmonic progressions and musical style.
Lucy Croasdale
Lucy Croasdale is a performer, composer, and educator originally from Madison, WI. She is a multi-instrumentalist who enjoys playing many different genres of music. While her main focus is saxophone performance (both jazz and classical), she also has a passion for pedagogy and composition/arranging. Lucy has created and led a beginner’s jazz workshop back in September 2021 – March 2022 and was commissioned to compose a jazz big band chart for the 2022 Fred Sturm Jazz Celebration Weekend at Lawrence University.
Lucy Croasdale holds a Master’s in Music Performance at The University of Texas at Austin where she studied with Dr. Stephen Page and a Bachelor of Music Performance with a Jazz Emphasis from Lawrence University where she studied with Steven Jordheim and Jose Encarnacion.
Sean Frenzel
Sean was brought onto the Hancock Center’s team as the Operations Manager in November of 2023. Since achieving his BA in Dance and Arts Management in 2020, he has worked in a variety of administrative roles in the dance and educational fields and has taught dance lessons for K-12 students.
Sean is a dedicated tap dancer, music fanatic, fantasy nerd, and loving father to his cat and many houseplants.
Leah Reinardy
Leah Reinardy is a multi-instrumentalist, improviser, and composer whose creative work is most informed by limitations. As a disabled artist, they view their limitations as parameters that spark the creative process rather than barriers to overcome. Leah studied percussion and jazz piano at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, where they served as musical director for tap master Heather Cornell for 2 years. This transformative experience led them to intentionally seek collaborations with dancers of many disciplines including tap, samba, maracatu, and ballet.
Katherine Schmit
Katherine Schmit is a teaching and performing artist based out of Madison, Wisconsin. She is the brass instructor at the Wilder Deitz School for Creative Music and a founding member of The Wayword Ensemble. In the Spring of 2025, Katherine earned a master’s degree in trumpet performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied with Jean Laurenz. She earned her bachelors degree in music education with an emphasis in trumpet performance from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Dan VanZeeland
Dan VanZeeland is a composer, pianist, and graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Thomas Wieland
Thomas Wieland is a composer, saxophonist, and graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
iGnitE Returns in 2027
iGnitE jAzz! 2025 has wrapped. The next camp is coming in 2027. Visit the current iGnitE jAzz! page to save the date.