Event Calendar
Listening to music is an emotional experience. Music makes us feel something, and brings out feelings we didn’t know we had, and can do so without words.
But when words and music are put together, we get an experience that goes beyond instrumental music. You get a story, a situation, or even a string of nonsense words that produce a feeling.
The Lighthouse Big Band has invited some of our favorite vocalists to join us for an evening of musical stories, told by the band and the singers. Come join some of our favorite vocalists with the Lighthouse Big Band in the Fountain City Jazz and Dance Club for a most entertaining evening!
Come join us in the Fountain City Jazz and Dance Club for another entertaining evening of big band jazz!
Time: 7 PM – 9 PM
Bar Opens: 6 PM
Price/Tickets: Free Admission
Location: Fountain City Jazz and Dance Club
A WAMI nominee for Best Big Band, the band plays a variety
of genres in the big band style. The Lighthouse Big Band performs music including traditional big bands/dance bands of the 30’s and 40’s, the music of Count Basie and Duke Ellington, Latin Jazz, contemporary big bands like Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, as well as big band versions of rock/fusion music.
The LBB has long been the house band for the Fond du Lac Jazz Festival, and has appeared in concert and dance venues throughout the state backing such jazz stalwarts as Tom “Bones” Malone, David “Fathead” Newman, Kevin Mahogany, Eugene Rousseau, Tony Scodwell, Scott Whitfield and Ginger Bergman, Janet Planet, and the acclaimed jazz trumpeter Valery Ponomarev.
“The Lighthouse Big Band is honored to be a part of the area arts community, presenting listening opportunities, promoting learning opportunities and preserving this great art form,” says Brad Curran of Curran Music Studios and leader of the Lighthouse Big Band.
Band Information HERE
Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts, the Fond du Lac Jazz Festival and Education Foundation, Inc., the Lighthouse Big Band, and the Valley Jazz Institute, Inc. are proud to continue their partnership to promote jazz education and performance, with the annual April “Jazz Appreciation Month” (JAM).
Jazz Appreciation Month (fondly known as “JAM”) was created at the Smithsonian Institute in 2001 to recognize and celebrate the extraordinary heritage and history of jazz, America’s original art form, for the entire month of April. JAM is intended to stimulate and encourage people of all ages to participate in jazz – to study the music, attend concerts, listen to jazz on radio and recordings, read books about jazz, and more.
Throughout this April, JAM celebrations at THELMA will include an educational jam session geared toward students and led by WAMI winner the Jazz Orgy; “West Coast Jazz 1952-53; The Chet Baker/Gerry Mulligan Quartet” A musical presentation of that pivotal band’s “Cool” music along with a PowerPoint of what life was like in 1952-53, including ads, world news, and events of the day, presented by Brad Curran and the Jazz Quintet DIG; plus the regular performances by the Lighthouse Big Band; all culminating in the Fond du Lac Jazz Festival on Friday, April 28th and Saturday, April 29h.
The festival, which began in 1983, is among the longest running jazz festivals in the state of Wisconsin. The 2023 Fond du Lac Jazz Festival headliners are the renowned vocalist Janet Planet, tenor saxophonist Tom Washatka, and Fond du Lac native Mario Friedel, performing “Under the Venus Moon,” a Grammy nominated recording in 2022, featuring compositions by Friedel, arranged for big band by Washatka, and sung by Janet Planet.The festival will also return to the two-night affair with a “Meet and Greet” the artists on Friday evening, along with a clinic and musical presentation by the Valley Jazz Institute’s “Students’ Jam!”
Future plans for this jazz education partnership include forming and presenting student jazz bands, “the Valley Jazz Institute Ensembles,” as part of the new Valley Jazz Institute, Inc. In collaboration with local educators, the VJI will serve to present a variety of enrichment programs for local and area school jazz band students. The Institute will be dedicated to teaching, learning, and presenting jazz, with the goal of expanding educational opportunities outside of the classroom, creating a professional foundation for lifelong musical growth, and representing their community through wholesome entertainment.
VALLEY JAZZ INSTITUTE PRESENTS “STUDENTS’ JAM”
A Jazz Jam Session For Students featuring the rhythm section of the WAMI Award winning Jazz Orgy
Jam session: an often impromptu performance by a group especially of jazz musicians that is characterized by improvisation (2022 Merriam-Webster, Incorporated)
Jazz is a music born of spontaneous composition (improvisation) and the exchange of musical ideas in these impromptu sessions. Older musicians would share their ideas with younger players, helping them to learn the music (rarely written in those days,) how to create a solo, to know what is expected at these learning sessions, and to encourage them, not only verbally, but especially through the inspiration of their playing.
Jazz Education is our mission as we seek to provide highly motivated young musicians the unique opportunity to perform in a “real world” situation with professional-caliber jazz musicians
These JAM SESSIONS are geared towards that opportunity of sharing ideas in a real world situation. Area high school players, as well as other local musicians of all ages, are invited to join the members of the award winning Jazz Orgy (all educators as well as players) and noted jazz educator/performer Brad Curran in the Fountain City Jazz and Dance Club for an authentic jazz jam session. The creativity will begin at 6:30pm, to encourage participation by school age musicians. The session will continue until 9:00pm to allow for additional participants. Come out, bring an instrument to “jam” or just listen, support and experience spontaneous composition – jazz education before your eyes.
Time: 6:30 PM – 9 PM
Price/Tickets: Free Admission
Location: Fountain City Jazz and Dance Club
A WAMI nominee for Best Big Band, the band plays a variety
of genres in the big band style. The Lighthouse Big Band performs music including traditional big bands/dance bands of the 30’s and 40’s, the music of Count Basie and Duke Ellington, Latin Jazz, contemporary big bands like Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, as well as big band versions of rock/fusion music.
The LBB has long been the house band for the Fond du Lac Jazz Festival, and has appeared in concert and dance venues throughout the state backing such jazz stalwarts as Tom “Bones” Malone, David “Fathead” Newman, Kevin Mahogany, Eugene Rousseau, Tony Scodwell, Scott Whitfield and Ginger Bergman, Janet Planet, and the acclaimed jazz trumpeter Valery Ponomarev.
“The Lighthouse Big Band is honored to be a part of the area arts community, presenting listening opportunities, promoting learning opportunities and preserving this great art form,” says Brad Curran of Curran Music Studios and leader of the Lighthouse Big Band.
Band Information HERE
The Count Basie Orchestra’s music has been with us since the mid 1930’s, when William “Count” Basie took over the Benny Moten band, upon Moten’s death. After some challenges, the Count Basie Orchestra had a slew of hits that helped to define the big-band sound of the 1930s and ’40s. Some of their notable songs included “One O’Clock Jump”—the orchestra’s signature tune which Basie composed himself — and “Jumpin’ at the Woodside.”
During the 1960s and ’70s, Basie recorded with luminaries like Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Jackie Wilson, Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Peterson. Basie ultimately earned nine Grammy Awards over the course of his career, but he made history when he won his first, in 1958, as the first African American man to receive a Grammy. A few of his songs were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as well, including “April in Paris” and “Everyday I Have the Blues.”
The Lighthouse Big Band will be performing music from several era’s of the Basie band from the 30’s through the 70’s and beyond. Come join us for swingin’ dance music and classic tunes from the music of Count Basie.
Come join us in the Fountain City Jazz and Dance Club for another entertaining evening of big band jazz!
Time: 7 PM – 9 PM
Bar Opens: 6 PM
Price/Tickets: Free Admission
Location: Fountain City Jazz and Dance Club
A WAMI nominee for Best Big Band, the band plays a variety
of genres in the big band style. The Lighthouse Big Band performs music including traditional big bands/dance bands of the 30’s and 40’s, the music of Count Basie and Duke Ellington, Latin Jazz, contemporary big bands like Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, as well as big band versions of rock/fusion music.
The LBB has long been the house band for the Fond du Lac Jazz Festival, and has appeared in concert and dance venues throughout the state backing such jazz stalwarts as Tom “Bones” Malone, David “Fathead” Newman, Kevin Mahogany, Eugene Rousseau, Tony Scodwell, Scott Whitfield and Ginger Bergman, Janet Planet, and the acclaimed jazz trumpeter Valery Ponomarev.
“The Lighthouse Big Band is honored to be a part of the area arts community, presenting listening opportunities, promoting learning opportunities and preserving this great art form,” says Brad Curran of Curran Music Studios and leader of the Lighthouse Big Band.
Band Information HERE
“West Coast Jazz 1952-53; The Chet Baker/Gerry Mulligan Quartet”
A musical presentation of that pivotal band’s “Cool” music along with a PowerPoint of what life was like in 1952-53, including ads, world news, and events of the day,
presented by Brad Curran and the Jazz Quintet DIG:
“. . an interesting combination of musical colors.”
“. . . the Jazz Quintet DIG is a kind of chamber jazz, quite effective with this ensemble!”
” . . . highly reminiscent of the West Coast Jazz sound of the 1950’s…”
THE GROUP . . .
The Jazz Quintet DIG (JQDig) specializes in the music of the Cool era in jazz, in particular the type of jazz that sprang from the West Coast in the early 1950’s. The 50’s were an extraordinary time in American history: the Beat generation, baby boomers, backyard bomb shelters, early TV, medical and scientific breakthroughs; mostly a forward-looking, hopeful time. JQDig attempts to recreate not only the music of that era, but some of the ambiance as well. JQDig is a musical collective that was born in late 1994. Playing a combination of cool jazz, standards, ballads, latin and hard bop (with some original tunes occasionally thrown in), these five creative musicians produce a sound quite unlike anything else you’ve heard before. The Jazz Quintet DIG consists of Brad Curran on flugelhorn and trumpet, Eric Koppa on saxophones, Mark Martin on piano, Andy Mertens on acoustic bass, and Mike Underwood on drums. The group plays with a drive and intensity that keeps audiences’ toes tapping without being overpowering. From the sounds of Chet Baker, to Benny Golson, to the Modern Jazz Quartet, to Miles Davis, JQDIG presents a varied program of classic jazz that delights listeners wherever they perform.
This evening’s performance will be a chronology of the Chet Baker – Gerry Mulligan Quartet, perhaps the quintessential “West Coast Cool” sound, a band whose lifespan was less than two years. The band existed from 1952 to late 1953, but left an enduring legacy to the jazz world. The band will piece this music together with a Powerpoint presentation of what life was like in 1952-53 by way of ads, world news, significant events, and other fun tidbits. It promises to be an entertaining evening of great music and memories.
Time: 7 PM – 9 PM
Bar Opens: 6 PM
Price/Tickets: Free Admission
Location: Fountain City Jazz and Dance Club
Jazz Appreciation Month continues as we welcome back the FdL High School Jazz I ensemble, under the direction of Jake Opperman, as our opener at the earlier start time of 6:15. They will perform a half hour set until 6:45, followed by the Lighthouse Big Band starting at the usual 7:00pm hour.
If asked to name a jazz composer, lots of people might be able to name Miles Davis or Duke Ellington, but there are many more famous jazz composers who deserve recognition and admiration for their contribution to this amazing art form. Tonight’s performance will feature compositions and arrangements by the late, great Sammy Nestico, as arranged for big band. Anyone who has played in a jazz band in middle school, or high school, or college, etc. has played music by Sammy. The Lighthouse Big Band has a special connection with Sammy and are honored to present this tribute to a jazz master! Come join us in the Fountain City Jazz and Dance Club for an inspiring evening of big band jazz!
Come join us in the Fountain City Jazz and Dance Club for another entertaining evening of big band jazz!
Time: 7 PM – 9 PM
Bar Opens: 6 PM
Price/Tickets: Free Admission
Location: Fountain City Jazz and Dance Club
A WAMI nominee for Best Big Band, the band plays a variety
of genres in the big band style. The Lighthouse Big Band performs music including traditional big bands/dance bands of the 30’s and 40’s, the music of Count Basie and Duke Ellington, Latin Jazz, contemporary big bands like Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, as well as big band versions of rock/fusion music.
The LBB has long been the house band for the Fond du Lac Jazz Festival, and has appeared in concert and dance venues throughout the state backing such jazz stalwarts as Tom “Bones” Malone, David “Fathead” Newman, Kevin Mahogany, Eugene Rousseau, Tony Scodwell, Scott Whitfield and Ginger Bergman, Janet Planet, and the acclaimed jazz trumpeter Valery Ponomarev.
“The Lighthouse Big Band is honored to be a part of the area arts community, presenting listening opportunities, promoting learning opportunities and preserving this great art form,” says Brad Curran of Curran Music Studios and leader of the Lighthouse Big Band.
Band Information HERE
The Fond du Lac Jazz Festival is the culmination of the Jazz Appreciation Month events presented at THELMA in partnership with The Fond du Lac Jazz Festival and Education Foundation, Inc. and the Lighthouse Big Band. The festival, which began in 1983, is among the longest running jazz festivals in the state of Wisconsin.
This year’s festival presents the music of Fond du Lac native Mario Friedel, from the Stellar Records release “Under the Venus Moon.” In fact, the entire recording will be performed live by the original artists, internationally acclaimed jazz vocalist and local legend Janet Planet and saxophonist Tom Washatka, accompanied by the Lighthouse Big Band, resident ensemble at THELMA.
Jazz fest weekend begins at 6:30 pm Friday evening with a meet-and-greet and clinic event with the headliners (Janet Planet, Tom Washatka, and Mario Friedel) along with Students’ Jam!, an exciting new program that brings jazz and improvisation opportunities to students of all ages. The headliners will spend some time working with the Students’ Jam! group, and Mario Friedel is composing a song especially for this event, to be learned on Friday and presented by Students’ Jam! at Saturday’s concert. The headliners and all performers will be available to meet with audience members during the course of the evening. This will be a FREE event, with a donation being requested to help support Students’ Jam! into the future.
Date: Friday, February 28
Time: 6:30 PM
Bar Opens: 6 PM
Location: Great Hall
Price/Tickets: Free Admission
Donations to the THELMA, FDL Jazz Festival, and Lighthouse Big Band Jazz Education Fund are gladly accepted.
The Fond du Lac Jazz Festival is the culmination of the Jazz Appreciation Month events presented at THELMA in partnership with The Fond du Lac Jazz Festival and Education Foundation, Inc. and the Lighthouse Big Band. The festival, which began in 1983, is among the longest running jazz festivals in the state of Wisconsin. 
This year’s festival presents the music of Fond du Lac native Mario Friedel, from the Stellar Records release “Under the Venus Moon.” In fact, the entire recording will be performed live by the original artists, internationally acclaimed jazz vocalist and local legend Janet Planet and saxophonist Tom Washatka, accompanied by the Lighthouse Big Band, resident ensemble at THELMA.
Saturday’s Fond du Lac Jazz Festival kicks off at 6:00pm with a performance by the Students’ Jam! group, accompanied by members of the Jazz Orgy. This will include the new composition by Mario Friedel, who will join the group on guitar and vocal on his tune.
Following a brief break to reset the stage and refresh your beverages, the Lighthouse Big Band will start at 7:00pm with a set of big band favorites that will delight the audience. After another brief intermission for both band and audience to refresh, the band will be joined by the headliners to perform “Under The Venus Moon.”
The music that makes up “Under The Venus Moon” was conceived almost thirty years ago. First meeting as musicians in a band, composer Mario Friedel, vocalist Janet Planet, and arranger Tom Washatka quickly realized their compatibility with the performance of jazz music. Years later, after retiring from his teaching career, Friedel put a recording in motion to create “Under the Venus Moon,” in collaboration with Planet, Washatka, and other artists. It’s printed in the album cover that “A Venus Moon evokes a high level of emotional connection to things of beauty and artistic expression,” – and this is the exact cathartic reaction that derives from the music of Mario Friedel. The whole work consists of seven songs which are both dynamic yet strung together like they were meant to exist as one. This will be a performance to remember!
Following the Jazz Fest performance will be an Afterglow in the Fountain City Jazz and Dance Club, featuring members of the Jazz Orgy and many sitters-in creating more great jazz into the late hours.
Date: Saturday, February 29
Time: 7 PM – 10 PM
Bar Opens: 6 PM
Location: Great Hall
Price/Tickets:
General Admission $25 for Non-Members | $20 for Members
High-Top Pub Table (Table for 2) $35 for Non-Members | $28 for Members (Per Person)
Bistro Table (Table for 4) $30 for Non-Members | $24 for Members (Per Person)
Tables can be purchased by calling THELMA at 920.920.5410!
Donations to the THELMA, FDL Jazz Festival, and Lighthouse Big Band Jazz Education Fund are gladly accepted.
VALLEY JAZZ INSTITUTE PRESENTS “STUDENTS’ JAM”
A Jazz Jam Session For Students featuring the rhythm section of the WAMI Award winning Jazz Orgy
Jam session: an often impromptu performance by a group especially of jazz musicians that is characterized by improvisation (2022 Merriam-Webster, Incorporated)
Jazz is a music born of spontaneous composition (improvisation) and the exchange of musical ideas in these impromptu sessions. Older musicians would share their ideas with younger players, helping them to learn the music (rarely written in those days,) how to create a solo, to know what is expected at these learning sessions, and to encourage them, not only verbally, but especially through the inspiration of their playing.
Jazz Education is our mission as we seek to provide highly motivated young musicians the unique opportunity to perform in a “real world” situation with professional-caliber jazz musicians
These JAM SESSIONS are geared towards that opportunity of sharing ideas in a real world situation. Area high school players, as well as other local musicians of all ages, are invited to join the members of the award winning Jazz Orgy (all educators as well as players) and noted jazz educator/performer Brad Curran in the Fountain City Jazz and Dance Club for an authentic jazz jam session. The creativity will begin at 6:30pm, to encourage participation by school age musicians. The session will continue until 9:00pm to allow for additional participants. Come out, bring an instrument to “jam” or just listen, support and experience spontaneous composition – jazz education before your eyes.
Time: 6:30 PM – 9 PM
Price/Tickets: Free Admission
Location: Fountain City Jazz and Dance Club
A WAMI nominee for Best Big Band, the band plays a variety
of genres in the big band style. The Lighthouse Big Band performs music including traditional big bands/dance bands of the 30’s and 40’s, the music of Count Basie and Duke Ellington, Latin Jazz, contemporary big bands like Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, as well as big band versions of rock/fusion music.
The LBB has long been the house band for the Fond du Lac Jazz Festival, and has appeared in concert and dance venues throughout the state backing such jazz stalwarts as Tom “Bones” Malone, David “Fathead” Newman, Kevin Mahogany, Eugene Rousseau, Tony Scodwell, Scott Whitfield and Ginger Bergman, Janet Planet, and the acclaimed jazz trumpeter Valery Ponomarev.
“The Lighthouse Big Band is honored to be a part of the area arts community, presenting listening opportunities, promoting learning opportunities and preserving this great art form,” says Brad Curran of Curran Music Studios and leader of the Lighthouse Big Band.
Band Information HERE
Salsa Manzana is a traditional Latin music ensemble based out of Appleton, Wisconsin. Founders, Carlos Mendez and Mark Te Tai have been entertaining crowds since 2012. With Carlos’ authentic Puerto Rican heritage and Mark’s long-standing relationship with the local music community, the two assembled a band of top musicians from Oshkosh to Green Bay.
Since then the group has been rehearsing at Lawrence University (LU). Salsa Manzana maintains ties with LU including a number of faculty, students, and alumni who participate as performers with the group. The group fully supports the Lawrence-based organization, Building Leaders Using Music Education (BLUME) Haiti.
In 2013, LU faculty Jose Encarnacion and his wife Marisol joined the group, adding their Puerto Rican and New York cultures to the mix. As “Musical Director” of the group, Jose brings his professional expertise and personal experience of traditional Latin music forms. Marisol’s background as a professional dance instructor is invaluable. Weaving dance lessons into our events has raised audience participation to an all-time high. In 2021, Jose and Marisol began a sabbatical from LU. Dearly missing them while away, we will strive to honor this music following the guidance Jose gave us for many years.
Bar Opens: 6 PM
Location: Great Hall
Price/Tickets:
General Admission $20 for Non-Members | $16 for Members
High-Top Pub Table (Table for 2) $25 for Non-Members | $20 for Members (Per Person)
Bistro Table (Table for 4) $30 for Non-Members | $24 for Members (Per Person)
Tables can be purchased by calling THELMA at 920.921.5410!