It’s a bittersweet journalistic truth: 800 words are far too few to cover Milwaukee’s jazz scene. But what an impoverished world it would be had Louis Armstrong declined to record simply because the three-minute side of a 78-rpm record couldn’t contain the whole of his inexhaustible genius for melodic invention. Similarly, a cross section though it is, giving a few worthy musicians wider recognition seems a worthwhile endeavor. Let the reader beware and the overlooked be forgiving—this is “the state of jazz in Milwaukee.”
One of the first of the legendary traveling jazz bands—The Original Creole Orchestra—blew one of its final gigs at a long-vacant Kenosha theater in 1918. But “trad” (i.e. traditional) jazz still lives in our midst… although hardly.
“Dixieland is the one type of music you can put in front of any age group and they like it. But look around you,” said Milwaukee drummer/bandleader Bill Sargent, who was photographing the band, as he gestured around the ballroom at Bollywood Grill, “No one brought their grandkids.” More than 70 were present for the Rhythm Aces’ gig, the majority of whom were themselves more than 70. One would be mistaken, however, to infer from audience demographics that trad jazz is old hat. The rambunctious polyphonic music of the Rhythm Aces possesses an infectious swing that would tap the toes of even the most devout “Belieber.”
Provided that one’s exposure to jazz is not limited to elevator rides, many people associate the music with the bebop of the 1940s and its offshoots, hard bop and post-bop. These are the languages students learn when they pursue an academic course of jazz study, which is offered by three local institutions—UW-Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and the West End Conservatory. UWM’s Jazz Studies program has been sporadically offered since the early ’80s but, in the wake of newly slashed budgets, the program is once again hibernating.
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While it isn’t a degree-granting program, the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music’s Jazz Institute has propagated the music for more than 40 years. Its alumni include Grammy winners and its teachers are among Milwaukee’s most active and accomplished jazzmen. “I see the Conservatory as a place that integrates the classroom with teachers who play in the real world,” says WCM teacher and We Six guitarist Paul Silbergleit.
The West End Conservatory (WEC) has been around for less than three years but has assembled an impressive faculty and established a solid reputation. “I try to help my students discover their individual sound,” says Devin Drobka, who teaches at the WEC and is one of Milwaukee’s most active drummers, “I’m more of an awareness developer than a teacher.”
Over the years the learning process has changed as much as the music, with jazz-teaching conservatories being a phenomenon of the past 50 years. For an earlier generation of musicians, the stage was the only classroom. Born into Depression-era Milwaukee, Manty Ellis played his first gig at age 9 with Bert Bailey and His Brown Buddies. Decades and countless gigs later, perhaps no musician has made a greater mark on jazz in Milwaukee than the legendary guitarist. These days Ellis gigs with a rotating cast of his favorite local musicians billed as the Jazz Foundation of Milwaukee.
Ellis is an emblem of Milwaukee’s rich jazz tradition and a repository of knowledge about its history. Fortunately, a younger generation of Milwaukee musicians is doing its part to document this history. In 2010, Milwaukee Jazz Vision was founded to organize festivals, promote gigs and generally advocate for the local jazz scene. One of MJV’s founding members, trumpeter Jamie Breiwick, also began building a Milwaukee jazz archive. “Out of fear of this history being lost I decided to do what I can to preserve it,” says Breiwick, “I started with Google Images and then reached out to people on Facebook. Slowly but surely I’m building up a nice site with photos, interviews, old newspaper articles and videos.” As suggested by his ubiquitous hashtag, #nohistorynofuture, Breiwick sees an important connection between jazz’s past and its future. In fact, this connection was a common theme among interviewees both in reference to learning how to play and learning how to appreciate jazz.
What’s the forecast for the future of jazz in Milwaukee? “I don’t worry about it,” shrugs Ellis, “because jazz takes care of itself. How can you stomp out self-expression?” It’s an obvious but significant truth: jazz in Milwaukee is as healthy as Milwaukee wants it to be. Each time you go hear live music, or abstain from doing so, you cast a ballot in our American Idol marketplace. On a citywide level, sustaining a vibrant scene only requires occasionally dipping one’s toes in unfamiliar waters. Considering the pool of local talent, chances are you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you happen upon young guitar phenom Kenny Reichert, gypsy jazz ensemble 4th Street Elevator or Wisconsin Conservatory faculty supergroup We Six. So what do you say, Milwaukee? If they play it, will you come?
