Jazz in June blooms into summer arts tradition
Melanie Mensch
Staff writer
If you play jazz, they will
come.
Or so the Nebraska Art
Association hoped when Jazz in
June began nine years ago.
The NAA created the free
weekly jazz concerts entice a
younger audience to venture inside
the Sheldon Memorial Art
Museum and see its variety of art
work.
“We had no way of knowing
whether people would come when
we fust started,” said Nancy Piper,
executive director of the NAA.
“We weren’t sure if any people
would come.” /'•>
Not only did Jazz in June
attract 200 people the first year, it
has since drawn thousands with its
successful combination of music
and art
Each Tuesday this June,
crowds of people will make their
pilgrimage to the Sculpture
Garden, the area west of the
Sheldon. Beneath shady trees and
amid iron structures, concert-goers
armed with picnic baskets, blan
kets and lawn chairs claifti their
spot on the grassy carpet to listen to
the cool sounds of jazz in die sum
mer breeze.
Kicking off this year’s concert
series on Tuesday, June 6 is the
UNL Jazz Quintet New to Jazz in
June, this group features four pro
fessors of UNL’s music depart
ment. Members are Tom Larson,
piano; Darryl White, trumpet;
Peter Bouffard, guitar; Rusty
White, bass; and “Fig" Siguard
Lyles, drum. The UNL Quintet will
play original compositions and
familiar mainstream jazz.
Darryl White, a UNL profes
sor who has played his trumpet
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with the quintet for three years,
said die public’s appreciation for
jazz has grown.
“Jazz in particular is one of the
only true American art forms,” he
said. “Jazz in June is a great combi
nation of two great forms of art.
People who are not necessarily
artists begin to appreciate other
forms of art”
Other jazz acts include the
Nebraska Jazz Orchestra, which
will play a variety of traditional big
band favorites on June 13. The
Matt Wallace Group on June 20
will dabble in every jazz style from
mainstream to pop, funk and
fusion. The Angela Hagenbach
Sextet, influenced by the zesty
Latin rhythms of Musa Nova, will
treat crowds to the sounds of salsa
jazz on June 27.
Daniel Siedell, curator for the
Sheldon, said Jazz in June offered a
different venue to see and hear
local jazz acts perform.
“It brings people to the
Sculpture Garden,” he said.
“They Ye sitting around art, only a
few feet away; the gallery as a
backdrop. It helps people become
more familiar and comfortable
being around museums.”
And with a crowd of music
ft As it turns out, we developed a new
audience, not just a younger one ...
We had no idea it would grow so
big”
/ , • v *
Nancy Piper
executive director, Nebraska Aits Association
enthusiasts within eye-shot of the
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery,
more folks may stroll into the
gallery for a lode at exhibitions.
In the Gallery through June is
The Perpetual Well: Contempormy
Art from the Jewish Museum in
New York. This exhibit features a
kaleidoscopic collection of paint
ings, sculpture, prints and photog
raphy by both Jewish and non
Jewish artists, such as Richard
Avedon and Annie Leibovitz.
Also featured in the Gallery
during Jazz in June are the engrav
ings and etchings of Leonard
Baskin, and another exhibit on per
formance art
Pqw said the success of Jazz in
June had exceeded the NAA’s
hopes of attracting a younger audi
ence. ,
“As it turns out,” she said, “we
developed a new audience, not just
a younger one. It1!: any age, from
tiny babies with their mothers to
students studying to older people
sitting in wheelchairs. We had no
idea it would grow so big.”
Although soft drinks, iced tea
and cookies will be sold during the
concerts, people are encouraged to
bring their own food, blankets and
chairs. Volunteers from die NAA
will be selling Jazz in June posters,
T-shirts and Cds and tapes of the
nightfc featured band
Concerts will be Tuesdays at 7
p.m. The Sheldon Memorial Art
Gallery will open its doors at 6:30
p.m. prior to the concerts and will
be open during the concerts. In
case of rain, die concerts will be
held in the Sheldon Auditorium.
Series presents jazz in casual atmosphere
Shelley Mika
Staff writer
Often times going to a jazz
concert involves getting tickets,
pulling out dress clothes and"
arriving on time to get to your
cramped seats. Occasionally sac
rifices like these have to be made
in order to catch a bit of musical
culture.
However, for those who
crave a little jazz without the
hassle of formalities, Jazz in
June provides the best of both
worlds.
After several years of the
annual music event, held in the
Sheldon Art Gallery Sculpture
Garden, most people are proba
bly familiar with the laid back
atmosphere abounding every
Tuesday in June.
Many people bring lawn
chairs, others make themselves
comfortable in the grass. Still
others prefer to mill about, occa
sionally stopping to say hello to
an acquaintance while others in
front cling to every note emitted
from the concrete stage above.
Regardless of how people
choose to enjoy the festivities,
every Tuesday in June around
7:00 jazz musicians are guaran
teed to share their love of the
genre in the warm summer air.
In years past the Jazz in June
committee has included musi
cians from several different geo
Summer
Daily Nebraskan
Editor Tun Karstens
Associate Editor Sam McKewon
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graphical areas. However, this
year, aside from one artist, the
committee chose to include
mainly local musicians.
The following is a list of
musicians scheduled to perform
for this year’s Jazz in June:
June 6 UNL Jazz Quintet.
The members of the UNL Jazz
Quintet (a number of which are
UNL music instructors) include
Tom Larson on keyboard, Peter
Bouffard on guitar, Darryl White
on trumpet, Rusty White on
Bass, and Siguard Lyles on
drums. The band will perform
original compositions as well as
music from Darryl White’s CD
“Ancient Memories.”
June 13 Nebraska Jazz
Orchestra. Led by Ed Love, the
Nebraska Jazz Orchestra con
tains about 16 members and
plays mostly big band tunes.
June 20 Matt Wallace
Group. From Omaha, Wallace
plays a number of different saxo
phones. The group will play a
wide variety of styles and con
tains approximately six people.
June 27 Angela Hagenbach
Sextet. Hagenbach, a singer
from Kansas City, has a group
called Musa Nova which does
mostly Latin styles. A desire to
do more in Lincoln this year
inspired her to expand her group
to perform at Jazz in June.