Jazz crisis

Staff writer Paul Gerard's arts feature finds local jazz musicians reeling after the discontinuation of gigs at El Sombrero, Bunky's, Pinckney Street Hideaway, Second Story Restaurant, the Cardinal Bar and Ovens of Brittany-Shorewood. "I really don't think it's too much to expect Madison to have a thriving jazz scene," observes guitarist Roger Brotherhood. "We're supposed to be an intelligent, enlightened community." Adds pianist John Thulin: "There are people in Madison who like jazz and who will come out and support it, but it's really hard to get them to do it on a consistent basis. Madison just isn't a big jazz town." Composer and pianist Joan Wildman views the dwindling gig schedule as a "state of emergency," but adds, "There are a lot of good players in this town, and because of that I can't be pessimistic." All three persevere: Thulin is perhaps best known as musical coordinator and pianist for Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know? radio show. Brotherhood performs solo and with his trio and quartet at venues in Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago and Minneapolis, and teaches jazz guitar and improvisation. An emeritus professor at the UW-Madison School of Music, Wildman is among the performers scheduled to perform at this year's Isthmus Jazz Festival, appearing at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 7, on the Memorial Union Terrace.