Photo courtesy of Don Linke
Don Linke
Don Linke
Jazz at Noon brought live music to Skylight Music Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center for the past year and a half—until the pandemic unplugged all public social activities, musical or otherwise. Keeping the free series alive, its director, Don Linke, now posts a podcast culled from the Jazz at Noon archive at noon on Mondays.
Linke credits the Black Box Fund’s Deb Kern for the inception of Jazz at Noon and its virtual continuation. “She perused a Wall Street Journal article on a series like this that’s been held in New York for 40 years,” Linke recalls. “I know a ton of musicians,” he continues, describing how he booked Jazz at Noon. “I started contacting people who helped me on my way up” (including an 86-year old accordionist) “as well as Milwaukee music mainstays and musicians who were students of mine.”
Linke began by playing guitar in local rock bands during the late 1960s. “I didn’t know what the hell I was doing,” says the initially self-taught musician who eventually enrolled at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. He graduated with a bachelor’s at age 31. “At that point they needed a guitar teacher and I was in the right place at the right time.” It was the beginning of Linke’s 40-year college teaching career that began at the Conservatory and culminate with his retirement from UW-Milwaukee.
However, he didn’t spend those four decades in the classroom. Linke played in several fusion bands, notably Magewind and Cooler Near the Lake (with Duane Stuermer) and in the acoustic “world music” group Third Stone Creative Music Ensemble. Recent years have seen Linke release three albums in a trio format—drummer Victor Campbell setting the tempo alongside Linke on upright bass. Linke adds guitar later.
Whether on bass or guitar, Linke has been a mainstay through Jazz at Noon’s diverse sessions. “I could have done Jazz at Noon with just my trio and guests every week, but Milwaukee has a plethora of great musicians I wanted to include,” he explains. “The one thing they all have to do is play their asses off. I’m concerned with the level of playing, not the style of playing.”
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Earlier this year, the two CD-set Jazz at Noon Volume 1 was released by the Black Box Fund. Linke culled its 19 tracks from 350 selections recorded over the course of the series. Most of the Jazz at Noon podcasts will be taken from the album.
For how many more weeks will the podcast be posted? “It’s based on need,” Linke says. “We’re ready to go back to playing live—we just need a date for it.”
To listen, visit https://www.blackboxfund.org/jazz-at-noon-milwaukee-podcast
For more information, visit blackboxfund.org/jazz-at-noon.
