Over the past decade it seems as though half the East Side has moved down to Bay View, so perhaps its fitting that a neighborhood music festival is following suit.
After six concerts over three years, Milwaukee Jazz Vision is moving its "Eastside Jazzfest" to Tonic Tavern, the Highbury Pub, Club Garibaldi and Studio Lounge, as the Bay View Jazz Fest makes its debut during Bay View Gallery Night on Friday, June 6.
Each of the four venues will host multiple performances from 5 until 10 p.m.
"We're squishing it all into this one night," says event co-organizer, musician Jamie Breiwick, with a laugh.
Admission is free and a complete lineup is below.
"Milwaukee Jazz Vision had been thinking about a multi-venue format for a while," says Milwaukee Jazz Vision’s Erica Davis. "Something that would feel more festival-like."
Milwaukee Jazz Vision is an association of musicians, teachers, students, listeners, music industry professionals and community leaders working to bolster the jazz scene in the city.
"We approached Jeff Redmon with Bay View Gallery Night with the idea of doing a jazz festival in Bay View and he was on board right away, and liked the idea of planning it on the same night as Gallery Night. That's been such a vibrant event from the beginning, and there was always music, but this will be more formalized."
The most recent Bay View Gallery Night event drew more than 10,000 people Davis says. She hopes combining the jazz festival with Gallery Night will enhance both.
"It would be nice to see even more people, but our main focus is to put local music and musicians in front of a bigger audience and to enhance an already great event."
Breiwick says Milwaukee Jazz Vision hopes the festival – modeled on New York’s successful Winter Jazzfest – will become an annual event, "of course," he adds, "assuming this one is a success."
Club Garibaldi
2501 S. Superior St.
- 10 p.m.-1 a.m. – De La Buena
The Highbury Pub
2322 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.
- 5:30-6 p.m. – BRONZEVILLE JAZZ QUINTET (Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra)
- 6:30-7:15 p.m. – DEIRDRE FELLNER/SAM STEFFKE DUO Deirdre Fellner (vocals), Sam Steffke (piano)
- 7:45-8:30 p.m. – SPIRITS QUARTET Jamie Breiwick (trumpet), Tony Barba (tenor saxophone), Tim Ipsen (bass), Andrew Green (drums)
- 9-9:45 p.m. – JACOBI & THE PILLOW SNATCHERS Eric Schoor (tenor saxophone), Matt Wilson (guitar), Isaiah Joshua (piano), Evan Paydon (bass), Maurice Liddell (drums), Nastassja Bates (vocals)
Studio Lounge
2246 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.
- 5:15-6 p.m. – OPUS Curt Hanrahan (saxophones), Jim Sodke (piano), Steve Lewandowski (guitar), Larry Tresp (bass), Brian Ford (drums)
- 6:30-7:15 p.m. – CARLOS ADAMES GROUP Jay Anderson (tenor saxophone), Elias Holman (piano), Conway Powell (bass), Rodrigo Villanueva (drums), Tony Ayala (percussion), Carlos Adames (percussion), Alberto Rivera (percussion)
- 7:45-8:30 p.m. – THE HUSH ENSEMBLE Aaron Gardner (tenor saxophone), Steve Peplin (guitar), Clay Schaub (bass), Jeremy Kuzniar (drums)
- 9-9:45 p.m. – DEVIN DROBKA'S BELL DANCE SONGS Tony Barba (tenor saxophone), Jay Mollerskov (guitar), John Christensen (bass), Devin Drobka (drums)
Tonic Tavern
2335 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.
- 5-5:30 p.m. – BATTERMAN ENSEMBLE (Wisconsin Conservatory of Music)
- 6-6:45 p.m. – MARK DAVIS QUARTET Eric Schoor (tenor saxophone), Mark Davis (piano), Jeff Hamann (bass), Jeno Somlai (drums)
- 7:15-8 p.m. – ERIC JACOBSON feat. CNJ LATIN JAZZ Eric Jacobson (trumpet), Neil Davis (guitar), Joey Sanchez (bass), Cecilio Negron Jr (percussion)
- 8:30-9:15pm, KEVIN HAYDEN BAND Kenny Reichert (guitar), Terry Harris (piano), Alan Harris (bass), Kevin Hayden (drums)
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
