“Jazz Junction” will celebrate the progress our local jazz scene has made over the past seven years (i.e., since the birth of the Jazz Consortium and the arrival of Johannes Wallmann to as the first director of jazz studies at UW-Madison) while raising funds to sustain the performance and education programs developed and supported by the Greater Madison Jazz Consortium.

The concert will feature live performances by Greater Madison’s finest jazz musicians, as well as recognition of UW School of Music professor John Schaffer on the occasion of his retirement from the university. (Professor Schaffer was led the drive to create and fund the UW’s new Jazz Studies Program and to bring Johannes to Madison as its director.)

• First set by UW Jazz Faculty Ensemble: Les Thimmig, saxophones and clarinet; Louka Patenaude, guitar; Johannes Wallmann, piano; Nick Moran, bass; and Matt Endres, drums.

• Second set by the Madison All-Stars, with John Schaffer on bass and a rotating cast of our community’s top jazz musicians.

Proceeds from “Jazz Junction” will help sustain the annual series of Strolllin’ jazz mini-festivals, the InDIGenous JAZZ series of concerts showcasing music composed and performed by our community’s jazz musicians, jazz artist residencies in our local elementary and middle schools, the array of off-campus programs at the 2019 Isthmus Jazz Festival, the Artistic Development Program that commissions engaging new works from our local jazz musicians, the Consortium’s robust online jazz calendar, and its free monthly e-newsletter.

Tickets for this benefit concert are $30 for the show. Advance tickets purchased online are $5 off. A limited number of student tickets are available for full-time students with a valid student ID.

VIP Tickets $150 include reserved, best-in-house seating, a private VIP reception with John Schaffer and Johannes Wallmann, complimentary admission to the next Jazz House Party, and a copy of the "Best of InDIGinous Jazz Vol. 1" CD. (Purchase your VIP ticket before May 22 to be listed in the Jazz Junction program.).