Lavender & Green Carnation Exhibition
Jan
18
to Mar 15
Art

Lavender & Green Carnation Exhibition

  • Google Calendar ICS

Opening Reception — Saturday, January 18, 2025, from 4–6 PM

Lavender & Green Carnation delves into the rich history and enduring significance of symbols that have quietly connected and empowered the LGBTQ+ community, especially during periods of societal or political repression. By exploring these queer symbols and the symbolism used in an artist's story telling, Lavender & Green Carnation not only honors their historical significance but also prompts us to consider how we can draw on these lessons of resilience and solidarity in today's shifting political climate.

View Event →
Sea Heart/Beach Garbage
Jan
18
to Mar 15
Art

Sea Heart/Beach Garbage

  • Google Calendar ICS

Opening Reception — Saturday, January 18, 2025, from 4–6 PM

Sea Heart / Beach Garbage is a collection of doodle collages made during winter when colors are rare and visible life even rarer. Milwaukee Artist Victoria Robison is inspired by plants visited under microscopes, beachcombing, and hoarding tendencies as well as a desire to color in lines of her own creation. Together these pieces constitute an adult coloring book written by lonely amoebas reaching for signs of spring.

View Event →
Stier/Sundstrom Double Quartet (Madison, WI) + Cool Beauty + Annie Grizzle
Aug
31
7:00 PM19:00
Performance

Stier/Sundstrom Double Quartet (Madison, WI) + Cool Beauty + Annie Grizzle

Stier/Sundstrom Double Quartet (Madison, WI) + Cool Beauty + Annie Grizzle

At the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts - 926 East Center Street

Stier/Sundstrom Quartet (Madison, WI) will present two mirrored quartets improvising on themes from the jazz tradition, featuring musicians from Milwaukee, Chicago, and Madison. 

Local support from Cool Beauty (free improv/experimental) and Annie Grizzle (surreal, collage-suffused

View Event →
Mid Career and Established Solo Exhibition
Aug
27
to Sep 18
Art

Mid Career and Established Solo Exhibition

  • Google Calendar ICS

Deadline for applications is Sunday, Sept. 15th, 202411:59pm. Jurying and notifications of artists will take place by early November, 2024. Exhibition dates will be in Spring 2025.

Dates for the solo exhibition: March 22 - May 17th, 2025 The link for application is: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSftHGROapUZl_pNciKLsekvBRZeo00WkEilmr7j3v-lOjyzkQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

View Event →
Annual Members Show
Aug
24
to Oct 12
Art

Annual Members Show

  • Google Calendar ICS

Group show featuring artworks created by Jazz Gallery Members. Opening Reception: Saturday, August 24th, 3-5pm. Closing Reception/Event Saturday, October 12th, 3-5pm.


Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts (JGCA)  is a non-profit organization serving Southeastern Wisconsin with a wide range of visual and performing arts programming, created by a diverse community of visual and performing artists. At JGCA we provide opportunities to create, present, and experience the arts.

View Event →
Wavefiler + Blake Zweig + Vectors of Resonant Prescients + Cassini Echoes
Aug
23
7:00 PM19:00
Performance

Wavefiler + Blake Zweig + Vectors of Resonant Prescients + Cassini Echoes

Friday, August 23, 7 - 10PM

At the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts - 926 East Center Street

This is a mixed genre show varying from Ambient Electronic to Indie Rock with acoustic guitar and tape loops mixed in between.

The show will feature such artists as Cassini Echoes, Vectors of Resonant Prescients, Blake Zweig, Wavefiler + DJ / Tape Loops Between Sets: Tron Jovi!

Date: August 23
Time: 7:00pm
Cover: $5-10 sliding scale (please note we do not sell tickets in advance, doors only. both cards and cash are accepted)

View Event →
Kenan Serenbetz + DPCD + Shawn Alan Hurd + Kati Katchever
Aug
17
8:00 PM20:00
Performance

Kenan Serenbetz + DPCD + Shawn Alan Hurd + Kati Katchever

Saturday, August 17, 8PM

At the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts - 926 East Center Street

Kenan Serenbetz creates music that explores and extols the web of relationships that we share with all the beings of the earth. Whether crafting intricate textures of winds and strings, composing dense contrapuntal vocal harmonies, or singing with choruses of birds and insects out in the field, Kenan utilizes his own distinctive command of sound and concept to convey the need for right relationship with the natural world.
Genres: folk, experimental.


DPCD is the work of Illinois musician Alec Watson. Taking its name after a four-letter secret code given to him by his great-grandfather, DPCD’s music is intimate and soft spoken, with Watson's meditative singing illuminated by fragile webs of guitar, piano, and celeste.
Genres: folk

Local support from Shawn Alan Hurd and Kati Katchever.

Date: August 17 (after Center Street Daze festival)
Time: 8:00pm
Cover: $10 (please note we do not sell tickets in advance, doors only. both cards and cash are accepted)

View Event →
STRATA: a mini-fest
Aug
13
6:00 PM18:00
Performance

STRATA: a mini-fest

Tuesday, August 13, 6PM

At the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts - 926 East Center Street

STRATA is a mini-fest presenting experimental and improvised music from France, NYC, and Milwaukee.

Hans Young Binter is an American pianist and composer based in New York City, working within the city's vibrant creative music scene in addition to collaborations across musical styles and artistic disciplines. His work is rooted in the practice of improvisation, and centers itself upon core elements of music making such as conversation and ritual. New album "ChimesThe Bell 3x" available on bandcamp and streaming services.

Andy Armstrong is a musician and sound artist from Charleston, Illinois currently living in Rennes, France. He usually makes long electronic improvisations for performance, tape and radio, sometimes made under the name Cream White.


Local support from Cathedral Becomes Tomb, Hiking Journal, and Cornelius Sludge.


Date: Tuesday 8/13
Time: 6:00pm
Cover fee: $10 (please note we do not sell tickets in advance, doors only. both cards and cash are accepted)

View Event →
Kenji Lee's Fortune Teller Trio
Aug
8
7:00 PM19:00
Performance

Kenji Lee's Fortune Teller Trio

Thursday, August 8, 2024

At the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts - 926 East Center Street

Those who practice Kyūdō, a traditional form of Japanese archery, view it as a vehicle for moral and spiritual growth. Their primary objective is not to hit the target; rather, they seek to embody the virtues of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty (Shin Zen Bi) through intense concentration on movement and form. While technical precision facilitates aesthetic sensibility, it is inner spiritual beauty that lends depth to their performance. Thus, technique and spirit are intertwined in harmonious unity.

This marriage between technique and spirit is central to the musical practice of Detroit-based saxophonist Kenji Lee. His Fortune Teller Trio, comprised of himself on tenor sax, Andy Peck on bass, and Jonathan Barahal Taylor on drums, leverages its technical virtuosity to explore the profound depths of human emotion. In their debut album, Kyūdō, the Fortune Teller Trio seeks to embody the tenets of this Japanese practice through improvisation, painting sweeping sonic landscapes against a canvas of stillness.

Date: August 8
Time: 8:00pm
Cover: $10 (please note we do not sell tickets in advance, doors only. both cards and cash are accepted)

View Event →
Mike Baggetta (mssv) & Peter DiStefano (Porno for Pyros) PunkJazz Tour
Aug
3
7:00 PM19:00
Performance

Mike Baggetta (mssv) & Peter DiStefano (Porno for Pyros) PunkJazz Tour

Saturday, August 3, 2024

At the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts - 926 East Center Street

Setting forth as a guitar duo unlike any other, this very first Punk Jazz tour across the U.S. finds Peter DiStefano (of Porno for Pyros) and Mike Baggetta (of mssv) exploring no-boundaries improvised music, informed by their lives and songs, with just 2 electric guitars, electronics and maybe some vocals. Think Albert Ayler meets Stooges meets Jimi Hendrix and you might be getting close…

A founding member of the alternative rock band Porno For Pyros in 1992 with Perry Farrell, Stephen Perkins and Martyn LeNoble, guitarist Peter Distefano has been heard all over the world for decades with their first album reaching no. 3 on the Billboard Top 200. In addition to his work with Pyros, Peter has featured in various projects with Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots, Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, and the band Hellride with Mike Watt. He is also known for his extensive recent work as a composer and musician for many soundtracks in film, television and gaming.

Iconoclastic guitarist Mike Baggetta is most recently known for leading his post-genre power trio mssv (with the legendary rhythm team of drummer Stephen Hodges and bassist Mike Watt) through multiple U.S. tours and album releases over the past 5 years, after releasing 2 additional albums of original music alongside Watt and drummer Jim Keltner. Baggetta’s music has always been adventurous in spirit and style, creating his identifiably undefinable sound with his guitar, voice and various musical gadgets. He has also appeared on stage and on recordings with Nels Cline, J Mascis, Petra Haden and David Torn.

Date: August 3
Time: 7:00pm doors/7:45pm show
Cover: $15 (please note we do not sell tickets in advance, doors only. both cards and cash are accepted)

View Event →
Kyrie Nova & The Defiant + Sister Sleep + Pay Dirt
Jul
27
7:00 PM19:00
Performance

Kyrie Nova & The Defiant + Sister Sleep + Pay Dirt

Saturday, July 27, 2024

At the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts - 926 East Center Street

Kyrie Nova is a multi-instrumentalist at heart. She balances duties as a vocalist, guitarist, drummer and especially a bassist. Genre is not to be trifled with, though her music is generally tinged with a healthy mixture of sarcasm, spite and a dash of rage for good measure. 

Local support from the electronic/no-wave/damaged pop mayhem of Pay Dirt and the experimental/improvised sounds of Headlock

Date: July 27

Time: 7:00pm

Cover: $10 (please note we do not sell tickets in advance, doors only. both cards and cash are accepted)

View Event →
Boy Dirt Car + Vocokesh + Drekka
Jul
20
7:00 PM19:00
Performance

Boy Dirt Car + Vocokesh + Drekka

Saturday, July 20, 2024

At the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts - 926 East Center Street

Legendary experimental/noise/performance art group Boy Dirt Car celebrates its 43rd year of existence, with performances from Vocokesh and Drekka.

Date: July 20

Time: 7:00pm

Cover: $10 (please note we do not sell tickets in advance, doors only. both cards and cash are accepted)

View Event →
Riverwest 24 Exhibition (the gallery will be open for 24 hours during RW24 race)
Jul
20
to Aug 17
Art

Riverwest 24 Exhibition (the gallery will be open for 24 hours during RW24 race)

  • Google Calendar ICS

During RW 24 race the gallery will be a Check Point and our doors will be open for 24 hours! All riders and passers by are encouraged to stop in and see the exhibition with memorabilia and artworks inspired by RW24.

This exhibition is free and open to the public.


Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts (JGCA)  is a non-profit organization serving Southeastern Wisconsin with a wide range of visual and performing arts programming, created by a diverse community of visual and performing artists. At JGCA we provide opportunities to create, present, and experience the arts.

View Event →
Small Wall: Geornica Daniels. Under Observation
Jul
20
to Aug 17
Art

Small Wall: Geornica Daniels. Under Observation

  • Google Calendar ICS

Geornica Daniels is a MIAD BFA alumna and current graduate student pursuing her MFA in sculpture at UW Milwaukee, Peck School of the Arts.

Daniels is an interdisciplinary artist specializing in sculpture and site-specific installation. Originally from Richmond, Virginia, she now resides in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Her recent artistic endeavors delve into the layered histories of found objects and the representation of memory in three dimensions. She explores the visual manifestation of memory and examines how individuals reshape these recollections, either to suppress or assert control over them.

Her piece "Under Observation," crafted from floral foam and beeswax, embodies a fervent effort to preserve and scrutinize her personal narratives and history. It serves as a poignant reflection on the paradoxical nature of memory: the more intensely we observe a memory, the more it undergoes recontextualization.


Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts (JGCA)  is a non-profit organization serving Southeastern Wisconsin with a wide range of visual and performing arts programming, created by a diverse community of visual and performing artists. At JGCA we provide opportunities to create, present, and experience the arts.

View Event →
Randy Johnston with the Jim Holman Trio
Jul
13
7:00 PM19:00
Performance

Randy Johnston with the Jim Holman Trio

Saturday, July 13, 2024

At the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts - 926 East Center Street

Jim Holman is a pianist based in Chicago and Tampa with recordings on the Delmark lable with Richie Cole, Ira Sullivan, and Frank Catalano. Jim's newest album, "First Impressions," features Eric Alexander with Clark Sommers and Tim Davis.

Holman's trio welcomes Randy Johnston, hailing from Detroit and NYC, and performs a selection from Johnston's book-- with the refined taste/elegance of New York and grounded in the Detroit tradition.

Randy has long since been considered one of the world's finest guitar players. He has been a mainstay with Lou Donaldson at the Village Vanguard and frequently tours in Asia and is flying in from Ronnie Scotts in London to play and record with Holman. In addition to his recordings, he can be frequently heard on the Small's Live feed. He has recorded as a sideman and a leader with the likes of Joey Defrancesco, Jack McDuff, and Eric Alexander to name just a few.

Randy and Jim will be performing in Chicago in the fall as part of the 7th Annual Labor Day Jazz Festival.

Date: July 13

Time: 7:00pm

Cover: $15 (please note we do not sell tickets in advance, doors only. both cards and cash are accepted)

View Event →