Maybe I never noticed. Maybe I never really stopped to put all the pieces together. But, less than 24 hours after bringing you the Jazz at the Vine lineup for 2023, here I am once again providing further evidence of Milwaukee being … I believe I used the term jazz-friendly yesterday. I’m upping that to jazz-crazy, with Jazz in the Park piling on the good news for lovers of the genre by releasing its roster of artists for the quickly approaching summer season.
Really, both the “at the Vine” and “in the Park” varieties of jazz events aren’t just for enthusiasts; they’re for anyone who enjoys relaxing outside on a temperate evening with a cool beverage in hand amid the kind of music you can only describe as “wafting on the summer breeze.”
That’s the kind of scene you can expect when Jazz in the Park (presented by Johnson Financial Group) makes its return in just a few weeks — Thursday, June 1, to be exact — at Cathedral Square Park. On that Thursday and the 11 following, you can gather for happy hour from 5 to 6 p.m. and that week’s performer immediately following from 6 to 9 p.m.
It’s presented by the East Town Association, which kindly requests that you purchase beverages from the tents along Jefferson Street as a way of financially supporting the free music series. Alternatively, there are also VIP packages available (brought to you in part by our friends at OnMilwaukee) that’ll score you two bottles of wine, a charcuterie board, a reserved table that fits eight people and a parking pass. You can pick one up — or just show up and DIY it — for any of this year’s performances:
- June 1 — The Group, Kavon Cortez Jones & The Next Paperback Hero
- June 8 — B.D. Greer & The Gents
- June 15 — Altered Five Blues Band
- June 22 — Urban Empress & The Urbanites
- June 29 — Christopher’s Project
- July 6 — CNJ Latin Jazz
- July 27 — Bill Bonifas & Friends
- Aug. 3 — Fresh Coast Jazz featuring The Jazz Men
- Aug. 10 — Funk Club Wagon
- Aug. 17 — Milwaukee Jazz Institute: WE SIX
- Aug. 24 — Caché MKE feat. Salsabrositas Rumba Caliente
- Aug. 31 — The Kal Bergendahl Project, "Come Together" (The Beatles Soulfully Reimagined)
