Milwaukee’s New Jazz App

MKE JAZZ.LIVE is a new app officially unveiled Wednesday and professes to allow fans, and musicians, to easily find live jazz shows and venues “across the Milwaukee area

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Local Music

Imagine a place where the angels are all hip to your city’s live jazz, and they uncannily hover virtually everywhere with attuned ears, ready to report. MKE JAZZ.LIVE claims that Milwaukee is now, in effect, getting close to being such a place.

The new site was unveiled at a press conference at the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts, one of three non-profit partners of the web app. The other current partners are prominent supporters and promoters of jazz in this city: Jazz Unlimited of Greater Milwaukee, and WMSE radio 91.7 FM.

Labor of Love

The web was created as a “labor of love” by Ignacio Catral, a jazz fan, drummer and co-owner of Catral Doyle Creative Co., a web design and development firm.

The announcers of the site were Steve Smith, president of Jazz Unlimited, Catral, the web designer and Chris Stawski, who has hosted “Dr. Sushi’s Free Jazz BBQ” for 25 years on WMSE, currently from 9.a.m to noon Tuesdays. Stawski is a civil litigator as a “day job.”

About two-thirds of the shows on the calendar are apparently found by the app’s programmed search of club websites, with the rest submitted directly by venues and musicians. Here’s the site link: www.mkejazz.live.

User Friendly

A quick survey of the MKE JAZZ.LIVE site Thursday seemed impressive: A link tap takes you to the site with an across-the-top scrolling filter listing the many venues listing jazz events, including a number new to this veteran Milwaukee jazz journalist. The artists or band, the location, time and date are immediately visible for each listing, and a “more information” tab should take a visitor to the venue’s website, which might include a video of musicians, such as The Mason Street Grill, which showed pianist Mark Davis and bassist Jeff Hamann playing. There’s also an “add to calendar” tab.

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Other site tabs include “by date,” “by venue,” and “by neighborhood.” Performers or artist reps can “Submit a show” on another conspicuous tab. It doesn’t appear you can search a specific artist or band’s name.

Some current MKE JAZZ.LIVE listings include multiple Grammy-winning Milwaukee trumpeter-composer Brian Lynch at Blu nightclub in the Pfister Hotel at 8 p.m. this Saturday, July 25.

Don’t Miss the Jam

Also listed is Tlalok and Johnny Padilla, at 7:30 and 10:30, p.m. Wednesday, July 29 at Pomeroy, 723 S. Second St. Tlalok Rodriguez is a bilingual singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, and Padilla is one of Milwaukee’s most esteemed saxophonists.

The star-ascending Milwaukee band Heirloom will play shows at 6 and 8:30 p.m, on Aug. 7 at the Jazz at the Vine series, 3000 S. Howell Ave., in Humbolt Park

Catral was inspired to develop the site after he and new site promotions director/guitarist Jeff Bentoff were playing at a jam session late last February. “We realized we had missed the Brian Lynch event at Blu nightclub. We wondered how could we possibly miss this?” Catral recalls. “We said jokingly, somebody should do something about that.” Then he started brainstorming and tinkering. Less than five months later, the site is somewhat comprehensive and growing.

Not involved with the site development per se, radio programmer Stawski (Dr. Sushi) commented, “They have done a phenomenal job putting this site together. I said to the station, we need to tap into this resource, and now we have.”

Stawski notes that WMSE has several locally hosted weekly jazz-oriented programs and added that the station’s complete archives of jazz programs are available on the station website. Stawski also noted that jazz always needs support, as one of least-financed musical art forms, even compared to classical music, which tends to have more upscale support.

A Thursday Google search of “live jazz in Milwaukee” delivered first a list of venues but not the events. Following that list was MKE JAZZ.LIVE’s app, and then Milwaukee Jazz Institute’s list of events.

The announcement event at the JGCA included a live performance by four young winners from Jazz Unlimited’s annual scholarship program. The high school juniors and seniors are Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra students, says Smith, whose MJU organization has supported and promoted live jazz since 1971.

Performers included pianist-flutist and vocalist Lilly Talbot, pianist Ben Markgraf, bassist Noah Newman and drummer Malik Smith. Talbot sang and played a fine rendition of “The Girl from Ipanema,” conveying both savvy and a hint of vulnerability.

MKE JAZZ. LIVE promotions director Jeff Bentoff, also developed the Music in the Park summer concert series in Lake Park. He also co-founded 88Nine Radio Milwaukee (WYMS-FM) and was press secretary for Mayor John Norquist and deputy chief of staff handling media relations for former county executive Chris Abele.

Bentoff said the new organization is reaching out to other potential local jazz partners.