Photo courtesy of Joan Dadian
Jazzy Joan aka Joan Dadian
Jazzy Joan a.k.a. Joan Dadian
At a time when jazz seems to flourish in Milwaukee, with multiple venues for live jazz as well as institutions that promote the music, Jazzy Joan is presenting that music from a global perspective. Her “Jazz Where It Is and Where It’s Going” is an informative record spin running monthly since 2024 at bar centro. Each episode in the series has a theme. Next up: “Jazz from the African Group of Nations.”
For that presentation, Joan curated four sets of music by 10 recording artists from nine African countries. A few of their names, especially Nigeria’s Fela Kuti, are familiar to anyone who has followed musical developments from around the globe. Most of the artists will be new to most of us
“Jazz Where It Is” followed the conclusion of Joan’s previous series of bar centro spins, “The ABCs of Jazz,” tracking mostly classic jazz artists alphabetically, letter by letter. With the inevitable arrival of Z, she decided to take a new angle. “I didn’t have to think about it,” she says. “I realized that I was enjoying discovering new, living artists. It made me wonder where jazz is going. I became more inquisitive on who is out there today making jazz.”
Many but not all previous installments of “Jazz Where It Is” focused on particular nations, including the UK and Italy, or on widely dispersed national cultures such as Armenia. She did an episode on contemporary Chicago, another on “The Young Lions of New York.” With her African show, Joan samples from an enormous geographical region, as diverse as Europe, whose musical traditions were seminal to the birth of jazz in the United States.
She will preface each of the four sets with a short introduction about the artists. Of course, her curatorial choices will give rise to questions about the definition of jazz in a world whose sonic boundaries have become porous. Example: Mali’s Amadou & Mariam took some influences from reggae. And Fela Kuti was surely inspired in part by James Brown. So where is jazz going?
“The current artists will give us clues,” says Joan. “It’s music that comes from a rich heritage—whether consciously or unconsciously, they are carrying that into their own style. Putting these shows together taught me that jazz is going outside its own bubble. Some people might tell me, ‘That’s not jazz!’ I’ll answer, ‘OK, if you say so!’ I like to say that jazz is a messy place, because it welcomes outside influences. Jazz drifts.”
7-11:30 p.m. Thursday, May 15 at bar centro, 804 E. Center St.
