Join us this fall for Swing in September! Presented by WFIU and the IU Jacobs School of Music Jazz Studies Department, this free outdoor concert series features a variety of musical acts from swing bands to jazz vocalists and more.
The concerts will take place every Friday in September at 6:30 p.m. in the Northwest Quad on the Indiana University campus (East side of Luddy Hall, between 11th St. and Cottage Grove Ave). Free parking is available after 6 p.m. in the nearby Fee Lane or Forrest Avenue parking garages. In the event of rain, the concerts will be moved indoors to Recital Hall.
View the Northwest Quad at IU on Google Maps
The performances will be emceed by WFIU voices David Brent Johnson, William Morris and John Bailey. We encourage guests to bring lawn chairs, blankets, or even a picnic!
Sept. 6
6:00 PM: Bloomington North & South High School Jazz All-Stars
6:30 PM: Hickey Shanafelt 9ollective
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The Bloomington North & South High School Jazz All-Stars are Tanner Davis, trumpet (BHSS); Maddy Waters, piano (BHSN); Erik Jensen, bass (BHSS); Scott Sprinkle, drums (BHSS).
The Hickey-Shanafelt 9ollective is a modern jazz nonet dedicated to writing, commissioning, and performing original music, written by local artists for the Indianapolis community. Founded in 2019, the band is led by longtime friends Kent Hickey and Alex Shanafelt, who are inspired by the works of Artemis, Anat Cohen, Chuck Owen, Lucas Pino, Dan Pugach, and Maria Schneider, among others. In October 2022, the 9ollective recorded and released their debut album illuminate. The ensemble plans to return to the studio in August 2024 to document the “Kaleidoscope Suite” and record an album of original Christmas arrangements.
Sept. 13
Palonegro
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Palonegro’s music spans from South American Andean styles to Afro-Caribbean rhythms and Latin jazz and features the original compositions and arrangements of the band’s director Sergio Ospina Romero. Palonegro’s journey began in Bogotá, Colombia, in 2009. Between 2014 and 2019 Palonegro was based in Ithaca, New York, where they recorded their first album Two Minutes Apart. After another season in Colombia, Sergio relocated to Bloomington and Palonegro became a Latin jazz quartet with Sergio Ospina Romero on piano, Jacob Smith on bass, Michael Wimer on congas, and John Maruri on drums.
Sept. 20
The Big Push
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The Big Push is a quintet based in Bloomington that performs a mix of original music and arrangements of jazz standards. The band is named after Wayne Shorter's composition "The Big Push" from his album The Soothsayer. In addition to Shorter, influences include Joshua Redman, Brian Blade, Joe Henderson, and Art Blakey. This band loves to swing! The group is comprised of Caleb Robinson on tenor saxophone, Nadia Reist on trumpet, Dan Ventura on piano, Alex Hoberty on bass, and Tate Sherman on drums and cymbals.
Sept. 27
Postmodern Jazz Quartet
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The Postmodern Jazz Quartet has played regularly at venues around Bloomington since its formation in 2004, including Tutto Bene Wine Bar, Player’s Pub, Café Django, Topos, Bear’s Place, C3, and Morgenstern’s Books and Café, where the band currently holds a monthly jazz salon. The group’s set list includes jazz standards and hard bop classics. The band includes Jeff Isaac on piano, Pat Harbison on trumpet, Jonathan Elmer on trombone, Dave Bruker on bass, and Dan Deckard on drums.
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