This popular series of free concerts showcasing music composed and performed by local (and occasionally regional) musicians returns for its fourth season, starting with trumpeter Russ Johnson’s HEADLANDS quartet. Johnson, Director of Jazz Studies at UW-Parkside, is part of Madison’s “extended jazz family,” often performing here with UW-Madison Jazz Studies Director Johannes Wallmann. Johnson spent 23 years as an important member of New York City’s jazz community, and has worked with such top-flight jazz musicians as Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell and Steve Swallow. Appearing on over 75 recordings, his most recent CDs gained rave reviews in DownBeat magazine. Along with a set of newly-composed Johnson tunes, the quartet will perform his new extended work: a suite commissioned by Chicago’s Hyde Park Jazz Festival and premiered there last Fall. Other quartet members include pianist Rob Clearfield, bassist Matt Ulery, and drummer Jon Deitmeyer. Check out a sample of Russ’ music in a similar format at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoyVw1pDnWA. 7:30 PM, UW Memorial Union’s Frederic March Play Circle. Free admission. Co-produced by the Jazz Consortium, Madison Music Collective, and the Wisconsin Union Theater.
