Jazz Stories

I ventured 20 miles south from Madison to the sturdy town of Stoughton to catch virtuoso guitar player Fareed Haque. I learned of the show because Madison has a community radio station, WORT, and earlier in the week they interviewed Fareed. On the strength of what I heard on the radio, I decided to check it out. The 1901 Stoughton Opera House is a historical gem. It’s set at one end of main street, and Stoughton has a classic midwest mainstreet look. I wandered in to the building and earnest greeters in white shirts and black pants let me know that the opera house was upstairs. Up a steep staircase I went, soon arriving in a restored auditorium with a balcony, boxes, and golden oak seating. ...

Madison has so much free music in summer. Tonight I strolled to the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Monona Terrace, which is situated on the edge of the lake. Its a very modern, pretty structure. On the rooftop, they host free concerts and its landscaped with planter boxes full of prairie flowers. The “Docksiders” were a cover band playing 1970s soft rock. As I strolled up, they were doing a stirring rendition of Rikki Don’t Lose That Number – and the guitar nailed the classic solos. I also liked a Michael McDonald medly, which included the title song of the second album I owned. This was “Takin’ it to the Streets” by the Doobie Brothers. ...

The Orrin Evans Quartet took the stage of the Madison Jazz Festival on a beautiful evening at 7 pm. Audrey and I packed a picnic dinner, including fresh sugar peas from the morning farmer’s market. The terrace was packed with people, most with plastic pitchers of beer, in most various states of disattention to the music. Which was unfortunate as Evans led a blazing, innovative set with super talented musicians. ...

Saxophonist Miguel Zenón joined with Pianist Luis Perdomo to perform songs from Latin America as a duo. It was a treat to hear music without any amplification inside a gallery of a local arts space. I appreciated the full emotional range of Zenón’s saxophone, and he inserted fun quotes of jazz classics as he played. Perdomo sensitively accompanied Zenón with fluid time in ballads and driving Latin rhythms in the uptempo pieces. They played selections from the “El Arte del Bolero” albums. ...

Raul Midón kicked off the Madison Jazz Festival. Nothing better to make me feel welcome in town than a local Jazz Fest! Raul is a virtuoso guitar player, and he generates a lot of sound for one guy: strumming, slapping, fingerpicking and more. At one point, Raul played his bongos with one hand, his guitar with the other hand, and imitated a trumpet thru pursed lips. He’s also a wonderful songwriter and vocalist. His one man show held the audience entranced for two sets. ...