.........................Paul and Sue Preparing Madison Music Collective Materials Before the Potluck...................
OUR MISSION
The Madison Music Collective aims to present improvised music to a larger audience--without compromising artistic integrity or creativity--by providing performance opportunities in respectful settings, providing educational information to musicians and the public, and fostering a tightly-knit community of musicians and listeners.
The Madison Music Collective (MMC) was founded in the summer of 1985 by musician and UW-Madison music professor, Joan Wildman. After having two club dates cancelled without notice, Prof. Wildman was moved to form a "collective" of improvisational musicians to address live music performance issues, and support each other musically. She felt the improv musicians of Madison needed take more responsibility for the conditions under which performances were presented, as well as the level of musicianship that was exhibited in those performances.
And so began a grassroots effort of presenting performances in venues that promoted listening environments and fair pay for the musicians. One of the first venues to support Collective performances was O'Cayz Corral on West Wilson Street, near the Williamson Street intersection (the precursor of the High Noon Saloon on East Washington Avenue). Weekly MMC jam sessions at O'Cayz were the norm for a number of years, as well as MMC-sponsored stages for the Art Fair on the Square, the Taste of Madison, and the Willy Street Fair, to name a few.
In time, the Collective sponsored many performances, promoting both local and national/international improvising musicians, and was soon granted non-profit status. Performances were underwritten by membership dues, cover charges, local business sponsors, grant monies, and a plenitude of volunteer efforts. Eventually a monthly newsletter and jazz calendar were additional hallmarks of the Collective's efforts and presence in the Madison music community.
In 1992, the MMC hosted our first and only jazz festival on the UW Memorial Union Terrace. Juried local acts performed during the day with Lake Mendota as their backdrop, and the feature performance that evening in UW Music Hall was by pianist Eliane Elias and her quartet. It was a banner day in the MMC's history.
In celebration of our 10 year anniversary, we hosted an evening of simultaneous club performances on King St--from the Majestic Theater to the Argus, the King Club and Cafe Europa. Mayor Soglin put forth a mayoral proclamation declaring King and Main Street area the "Jazz Triangle of the Northern Hemisphere", with the main theme of the event being "All the Way From Right Here". Board member, Jim Clapp composed another beautiful proclamation about jazz, which was handed out to the audience members.
Other MMC-hosted performers have included Boston's Either Orchestra, soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy, vocalist Kitty Brazelton and DaDaDa, guitarists Bobby Broom, Stanley Jordan and Peter Leitch, reed & flute player/percussionist Roscoe Mitchell, saxophonist, Greg Osby, vocalist Jackie Allen, and pianists Ran Blake and Marilyn Crispell.
Through the years, the efforts of the Collective boards and volunteers took various formations and sponsored a wide variety of improvised music until its forward direction had faltered. In June of 2007 old and new members reunited to forward the cause of improvised music in Madison, with the intention of incorporating an educational component with the presentation of improvised music in a concert setting.
2007-2008 BOARD MEMBERS
President: Marilyn Fisher; Vice-President: Paul Hastil; Secretary: Willy Walter; Treasurer: Sue Peterson; Members At Large: Ben Karetnick, Dave Stoler, and Joan Wildman.
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