The Indianapolis Guitar Summit performs at Jazz in July in 2008.

Former (retired) WFIU Major Gifts and Grants Officer, Nancy Krueger, started the Jazz In July concert series in 1991, when she was the IU Art Museum’s special events coordinator. “I had tried a regular Friday night music/tour event which wasn’t always successful,” she recalls. “Summers were rather slow for entertainment on campus.”

In 2015, the IU Art Museum began a new era of leadership and renovation, and the Jazz In July concert series came to an end. After construction of the Conrad Prebys Amphitheater outdoor performance space on the IU campus began, WFIU Jazz Director David Brent Johnson and Jacobs School Jazz Studies Chair Tom Walsh started to discuss reviving the series as a joint WFIU-Jacobs production.

Kathryn Sherman & the Heartland Trio at Jazz in July in 2018.

In 2018, WFIU and Jacobs relaunched Jazz In July at the Prebys Amphitheater, featuring the Al Cobine Big Band as the first act. IU Auditorium officials estimated the size of the crowd, which spilled out all around the amphitheater and even behind the stage on the grassy embankment of the Jordan River, at nearly 700 people. Jazz In July was back!

After a hiatus in 2020, Jazz in July became Swing in September when it returned in 2021. Now located in Dunn Meadow, the summer jazz concert series continues to offer a weekly performance every Friday evening, free and open to all.

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