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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (June 7, 1999)
\ . • ■ - . • ' ’ , : . ' ;* ' ‘ ; ' ■' Jazz in June gains in fan popularity Sphtt MpPt TTT?P_/nM ABOVE: ERIC COON .left, plays a game of footbag with friend Jeff Picraux, right, during the Jazz in June concert Tuesday evening. Ripif Tnwwr pv/HN FAR LEFT: PAT FUENNING and her 4-yeawld daughter Sarah, clap to the music at Jazz In June. Sarah cele brated her fourth birthday that same day. Ptpk Tnwwr pv/DN LEFT: SIX-YEAR-OLD JORDAN MURPHY and her 4-year olf brother, Benjamin, dance in front of packed crowds at Jazz In June. JAZZ from page 1 first show of the 8th annual Jazz in June, a series of free jazz concerts every Tuesday night at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery’s sculpture garden. During the show’s intermission there was an estimated 1000 people milling about, a smaller number than last year’s 2,500 attendees but still an excellent representation of how the event has changed over the past four years. As the event’s size increased over the years, the atmosphere has changed as well and Jazz In June is considered more of a community event than just a Jazz con cert these days. Kandra Hahn has been attending Jazz In June for the past four years and said it has been growing with every performance. “Every year we’ve watched it grow and grow and become more of a festival. People used to be more serious about the jazz, now it’s a community deal and people have came more and more pre pared,” she said, motioning to an array of sand wiches, drinks, sunscreen and bubbles sitting before her. For Ed Love, director of the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra, the event seems almost divinely inspired. “The setting is heavenly,” Love said in between bites of a peanut butter and jelly sand wich. “And since it’s free, it gives us a chance to piay for people who don’t normally get a chance to hear us. Because or the environment s relaxed reel and range of ages, Love tends to pick music easily rec ognizable by both Jazz enthusiasts and casual lis teners. Nothing too experimental but at the same time, nothing too bland. “I program this a lot like a symphony might do a pop concert,” he said. “That way it’s a good exposure to Jazz for people who might not see Jazz in a club.” Included in Tuesday night’s performance were numbers by Jazz masters like Woody Herman, Count Basie and possibly die night’s most popular tune, Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing.” While the music itself was definitely top notch Jazz, it served as a backdrop for community interaction, making the event feel like something between a cocktail party and a day at the beach, only less sunny. As die executive director of the Nebraska Art Association, Kathy Piper said the event has become more than anything she expected. “I would never have guessed that this would happen,” Piper said. “When we started this eight years ago we didn’t know if anyone would come and it was so great to stand on the steps and just watch people come over the hill.” She said the event started as way for the Nebraska Art Association to attract a more varied audience to the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and it’s dene so well that the Sheldon has hired more security guards to handle the Jazz In June crowds. “There was a night last year Mien there were Jazz In June Sheldon Sculpture Garden 7:00 - 9:00 pm Admission is Free June 1 Nebraska Jazz Orchestra June 8 Kathy Marrow June 15 Irie with the Gulizia Brothers June 22 Karrin Allyson and Friends June 29 Matt Wallace about 1,000 people in the gallery and that is a lot of people for that small of a gallery,” Piper said. “But we have people calling all the time and asking where is tfie Sheldon Gallery, so we’re just delight ed that people are finding it now.” Not only has Jazz In June attracted a large number of people, but a wide variety as well. Scattered across the grass and concrete on Tuesday was an eclectic mix of Lincoln’s many residents. They ranged from grade school children - some wearing shirts touting their school jazz band,' oth ers with shirts touting the Insane Clown Posse - to families and single parents to senior citizens. Hospice of Nebraska brought their grief group to the event and the Lincoln Regional Center budget ed money to buy 25 folding chairs for the 25 peo ple they had who attended the event annually. Piper said much of the event’s popularity is due to a combination of good jazz and scenery to match. I think jazz is just becoming more popular, but then there’s people who come to Jazz In June who don’t realty care about jazz but come for the ambiance, to see the sculpture garden and to talk to friends.” For whatever reason, Jazz In June is attracting people locally and nationally as well. The event was recently mentioned in the Wall Street Journal’s list of national museum events and was also described in Mary Phifer^ novel “Another Country,” which was featured on the New York Times best sella list Despite the continued attention, the Nebraska Art Association has no intention of changing the event’s form. As always they plan to offer a mix of national and local jazz acts. Tomorrow night’s show will feature Kathy Morrow, a newcomer to the event but a Nebraska native who will perform a range of songs from Duke Ellington to Aretha Franklin. Also this season Jazz in June will feature Jamaican jazz with Ire featuring the Gulizie Brothers and will end the month with Matt Wallace, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln gradu ate who was a featured performa with Maynard Ferguson for 11 years. Each event promises to bring in more people as the month wears on and Hahn is anticipating every one. “It’s just so wonderful, there’s such a mix of ages,” she said. “If you don’t come to something like this you’re really missing the point of Lincoln.”