As the director of jazz from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, where I helped to resurrect the jazz program, I decided I wanted to continue my passion for teaching jazz history and music education after retirement. In 2005 I started the Woody Herman Jazz Festival at UWM. Woody Herman was born in Milwaukee, attended St. John Cathedral grade school and began to play the saxophone and clarinet on the vaudeville circuit. After setting out on the road, he had a desire to pay back his teachers who encouraged him to go into music. He established a jazz festival in Milwaukee dedicated to his mentor Sister Fabian, who encouraged him at a young age to develop a career in music. This included continually working with young musicians that carried on throughout his 50 years as a big band leader. He would draw these eager and young musicians to join his band.
As a young school musician, myself, I was a part of the Woody Herman Jazz Festival and was impressed at the excitement, dedication and musical results that his festival brought about. Kevin Lynch (jazz writer for the Shepherd Express) provides this great quote from Ted Gioia (jazz historian) who wrote “ Herman’s evolution from sweet music to traditional jazz to modern jazz is almost unprecedented in the history of music. For Woody Herman is best understood ... as a catalyst. His talent lay in enabling-spurring those around him to their deepest creative currents, inspiring them, letting them ‘loose’.”
This became the catalyst and inspiration to establish, along with my brother Warren Hanrahan, a veteran drummer of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra, Through our collaboration with local musicians we have developed a teaching and performance model, to bring the history of jazz, along with contemporary performance skills to future generations. Even through the abrupt interruption of the pandemic, we began to put together festivals in the Milwaukee area which include middle and high school jazz ensembles, focusing on educational clinics, coaching and performance.
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The Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra is a 501(c)3 nonprofit ensemble. Established in 2017 it relies on donations and grants to facilitate jazz education festivals. Our upcoming calendar includes the Kenosha Jazz Fest, on Friday, November 10 (clinics for the high school ensembles) and Saturday, November 11 (clinics for middle school and Masterclasses in improvisation and instrumentation). The evening beginning at 6 p.m. includes performances by middle and high school jazz ensembles and culminates with a final set of original and iconic big band jazz featuring The Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra. This jazz fest takes place at Indian Trails Academy in Kenosha. Tickets are available at the Indian Trails Box Office or at the door. MJO has recorded two well-received albums and CDs will be available for purchase at the Fest.
he Milwaukee area has produced outstanding musicians through a strong tradition of jazz education that continues to this day.
Visit: Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra
Photo Credit: Erol Reyal
