A decades-old tradition will return to Green Bay once again, celebrating jazz music and musicians throughout the city.
Green Bay Jazz Fest, once a one-day event put on by UW-Green Bay dating back to 1970, will bring jazz-focused events starting March 31 through April 5.
“In 1970, UW-Green Bay was still a very new university and was very flexible in the things that we could do, and we were actually the second university in the state to offer a jazz festival…” said UW-Green Bay Associate Professor of Music and Jazz Fest Organizer Dr. Adam Gaines. “At the time, it was still a pretty new thing to offer a jazz festival like that and to show off high school big bands, which were still just becoming normal parts of education. Jazz bands were considered not serious music, so it’s not something that educators were really pushing. But by the early ‘70s, these festivals popped up around the country to learn from each other and showcase [jazz bands.] We were one of the first ones on the bandwagon.”…