By Michael Swanger

Like trips to the beach, grilling outdoors and watching baseball games, the Metro Arts Alliance of Greater Des Moines’ Jazz in July series is a telltale sign of summer fun in the Capital City. So much so that metro residents have been able to set their calendars by it for the past 25 years.

But in addition to being one of Des Moines’ most recognized community events — one that gives the metro some unique, local flavor — it has proven to be one of the most successful live music series in town and a lifeline for jazz musicians and fans.

This year, 15,000 Des Moines area residents are expected to flock to a number of concert sites including parks, high schools, churches, business lawns and city streets to see 22 concerts featuring 28 bands perform free jazz concerts that range in style from Dixieland and Big Band, to bebop and fusion, to Latin and blues. New York, Chicago and Los Angeles might have richer jazz heritages, but none of them — or any other city in the United States — has a month-long series of jazz concerts like Des Moines, says Tracy Levine, executive director for Metro Arts.

“It’s Des Moines at its best,” she says. “People love the concept of a series that moves around and they appreciate the level of talent here. And this year’s schedule couldn’t be any better as we celebrate our 25th anniversary.”

Local jazz saxophone legend Julius Brooks, 79, moved to Des Moines from Los Angeles in 1980 after touring with artists like James Brown, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Louis Jordan and The Ink Spots. He started playing Jazz in July during its infancy in the early ’80s and says he has enjoyed watching it grow.

“There are more participants now than ever and that’s good for the scene,” he says.

Fostering interest in jazz music, soliciting corporate support for the arts and helping artists find work are some of the services offered by Metro Arts, which creates partnerships between artistic, business and cultural communities, Levine says. Founded in 1969 after city leaders recommended forming a community council to review human service needs and resources, the non-profit organization was renamed in 1992 and serves as an umbrella agency for art, theater, music and dance.

In addition to Jazz in July, Metro Arts hosts the Two Rivers Expo that annually attracts about 4,500 people downtown. It also reaches about 8,000 children each year through arts education programs; employs more than 500 artists; and provides 200 artist referrals each year. Levine estimates her group served more than 67,000 people in 2006.

“Our job is to promote the arts in Des Moines,” she says. “It’s something we do day in and day out. People look to us to fill that niche in the community.”

Promoting Des Moines’ cultural scene is getting easier, Levine says.

“Des Moines is blossoming,” she says. “There is more pride and professionalism in the local art scene than before.”

Cultivating a vibrant art scene that supports local artists can also enhance a community’s quality of life, some say. Former Des Moines mayor Preston Daniels, a longtime jazz fan and part-time DJ for the newly revived KFMG radio station, says Jazz in July has had an immeasurable impact on Des Moines.

“It has made a difference,” he says. “More people appreciate the music. It gets them out of the house. It gives the community some ambiance,” adding it had political ramifications, too. “I always knew that when running for office you had to be there.”

Levine says Metro Arts strives to improve the series each year and that its 25th season is its best yet. In addition to an increased number of new site applications Metro Arts received and rewarded, she says host sites and their volunteers are beefing up concerts by adding food, art, clothing vendors and performances by youth choirs, dance troupes and storytellers.

“It’s important to recognize the work they’ve done to help draw a wider fan base to the shows so more people can experience the arts,” Levine says.

Jazz in July costs about $30,000 to produce; half of which is paid for by grants and the other half by corporate sponsors like this year’s benefactor, the Mid-America Group. Proceeds from this year’s “Salsa in the Garden,” a fundraiser hosted by Mid-America Group President Teresa Wahlert and her husband, will benefit Jazz in July. Tickets are $75 and include a Cuban-themed picnic at Wahlert’s Waukee home and music by the steel drum group, Ensemble D’ Tropicale.

Many host sites also use Jazz in July to showcase their communities. Sunday’s 2 p.m. performance by the Party Gras Classic Jazz Band at the Union Park Baptist Church, 821 Arthur Ave., for example, is more than a concert — it’s a neighborhood celebration.

“What they’re doing is fabulous,” Levine says. “They’re using Jazz in July to rekindle the neighborhood. There have not been a lot of community events there and they’re bringing in a lot of vendors to attract people. Each site to a large degree is doing that. It’s more than a concert, it’s an event.”

Whether or not those added attractions will bolster attendance at Jazz in July remains to be seen. In recent years, the average attendance has hovered around the 15,000 mark, says Levine, who became Metro Arts’ executive director 15 years ago. She says the number of competing outdoor music series like Nitefall on the River and Function in the Junction in West Des Moines have affected attendance. But she also takes pride in knowing that Jazz in July has helped spur the success of those and other outdoor concert events, including JuneJam, a new Christian music series that debuted last month and whose organizers credited Jazz in July for providing them with a business model.

“It’s kind of a good news-bad news situation,” she says. “Almost every night of the week there is a series, but we take pride in knowing we have helped give birth to a lot of them. That’s our role — to be a connector.”

Levine says Metro Arts has also considered hosting a weekend-long jazz festival. “I just want to answer the need, if that’s the need,” she says.

Talk to a jazz fan, musician or industry insider and they’ll tell you the need for more jazz shows, particularly in nightclubs, is obvious. They say Des Moines has a rich jazz heritage, a loyal fan base and a number of local high schools and area colleges that produce talented jazz musicians and knowledgeable fans and that they are being underserved, save for a handful of clubs that occasionally host live jazz.

“It’s not like it used to be just 20 years ago,” says Brooks, a Florida native who taught himself to play tenor sax by listening to records by Coleman Hawkins and Charlie Parker. The veteran jazzman retired from his day job in 1999, and once held a steady stream of gigs at night with the late Irene Myles and other local jazz luminaries during the ’80s at now defunct clubs like Julio’s, Guido’s and Mel’s Bar & Grill. This summer, he’ll find steady work playing five nights a week at Adventureland.

“The jazz scene has dwindled. There are fewer and fewer places for jazz musicians to play,” he says, adding that Jazz in July has become even more important to jazz musicians as a result. He is scheduled to play with the Keith Nash Septet July 11 at the Four Mile Community Center. “We do have quite a few jazz fans here. I wish we had more. But Jazz in July has helped a lot in that respect. It gives the guys a chance to play.”

Mel Harper, who owned jazz and blues clubs in Greater Des Moines from 1956 to 2000, including the legendary 790 Vets Club formerly located on Center Street in Des Moines and Mel’s Bar & Grill in West Des Moines, agrees. “We don’t have clubs like we should,” he says. “Fans can’t get it when they want it and the young guys are having a hard time getting off the ground.”

With any rule, however, there are exceptions. Jazz singer Roxi Copland, 24, a Seattle native who moved to Des Moines after graduating from Grinnell College in 2005 with degrees in music and law, credits Jazz in July for giving her band a chance to play July 17 at the Science Center of Iowa. Her jazz-rock-funk quartet has also found a home at The Continental in the East Village.

“I’m thrilled about getting to play the series,” she says. “It’s great that there’s a fest on the lookout for new talent.”

Phyllis Leaverton, who leads the Des Moines Community Jazz Center, says Jazz in July has played an instrumental role in providing young musicians with an opportunity to hear live jazz music and the chance to perform because they aren’t old enough to play in clubs.

“Tracy has been very good about letting the students play and it really helps with the exposure for young musicians,” she says.

The 78-year-old Harper says Jazz in July is also a haven for hardcore fans because it’s one of the few places a music lover can go to hear the music. But he also understands the things it does to attract new fans to the genre, including adding vendors.

“You have to do new things to keep it alive,” he says. “People today want to socialize when they go to concerts. It’s not like the old days when you could hear a pin drop in my club when the band hit the stage.”

Though jazz music is indigenous to America, it is often mislabeled and misunderstood and isn’t as widely popular as other forms of music like rock and hip-hop. Levine says jazz can be intimidating to some, but it can be enjoyed by all, as evidenced by the ongoing success of Jazz in July and its educational components.

“It’s easier to listen to than most people think,” she says. “You can listen to it at many levels.”

Daniels concurs, adding those who dismiss jazz due to its lack of radio and television airplay are missing out on some of Des Moines’ finest musical talent.

“We’re pretty fortunate to have people like Susie Miget, Sam Salomone, Paul Micich and some of the older Iowa Jazz Hall of Fame players that have been recognized,” he says. “There are some young players who are amazing, too, like [guitarist] Seth Hedquist. Des Moines has many high-quality jazz musicians.”

Jazz musicians aren’t the only ones who get to showcase their skills at Jazz in July as the series is open to broad interpretations of jazz. Levine says purists might not consider some of the acts to be jazz, but that they have something to offer jazz fans and are connected to the genre in some way.

Case in point, the Soul Searchers, Des Moines’ premier jump-blues band. Blues and jazz are kissing cousins and anyone who has seen the Searchers perform during the past 15 years or so [including the previous four years at Jazz in July] knows that their swinging shuffles, chord progressions and old-style sound adapts well to jazz audiences. As one of the featured bands playing a Giants of Jazz showcase on July 27 at the Northland General Store in Des Moines, the Searchers will add two saxophone players to their lineup and perform an entire set of music by jump-blues pioneer, singer-guitarist T-Bone Walker.

Bassist Erich Gaukel, who grew up listening to jazz and played in the Dowling High School Jazz Band in 1988, says even though the Searchers don’t fit the traditional jazz mold they bridge the narrow gap between jazz and blues.

“Scott Eggleston [Searchers’ guitarist] says when you listen to those old T-Bone tunes it’s a bunch of jazz guys playing blues,” Gaukel says. “A lot of songs we do have a swing beat to them and jazz turnarounds. I think that’s what makes us different; it’s blues, but you can see the jazz influences.”

Gaukel, who does the bookings for the Searchers, has also seen the impact Jazz in July has had on the band. He says each year they play the series they get leads to other gigs.

“It helps us because we get to play in front of people who have never heard us,” he says. “This year is extra special to get the recognition with the Giants of Jazz. A lot of jazz players like Dizzy [Gillespie] played with T-Bone and they respected him as a player. We’re excited to play his music out of respect to his contributions to jazz.”

Levine says she likes it when musicians who play Jazz in July enjoy the prestige of sharing their name with other players. She also likes it when people of all walks of life and ages come together for a Jazz in July concert.

“I get a kick out of it when there are so many people gathered together because of jazz,” she says. “It’s like magic. Everyone has pulled together and played their part to make it happen. It’s such a good feeling.” CV

Jazz in July schedule

Fans are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets. Admission is free to all shows, except the July 21 “Salsa in the Garden” picnic fundraiser. Visit www.metroarts.org or call 280-3222.

July 6 — Janey Hooper, Susie Miget Project with John Kizilarmut, Greenwood Park, Sylvan Theater, 5:30 p.m.
July 7 — Party Gras Classic Jazz Band, Union Park Baptist Church, 821 Arthur Ave., 2 p.m.
July 8 — Noteworthy featuring Megan Bobo, Salisbury House, 6 p.m.
July 10 — Hot Club of Des Moines, behind the Shops at Roosevelt, 6:30 p.m.
July 11 — Keith Nash Septet, Scott/Four Mile Community Center, 11 a.m.
July 11 — Taz & Cutter (6 p.m.), Saxman Fuzion Mix (7 p.m.), Heartland Presbyterian Church
July 12 — Brownian Motion (6 p.m.), Wayne Page Quartet (7:30 p.m.), Waukee Downtown Triangle
July 13 — Belin Quartet, Downtown Des Moines Public Library, 12:15 p.m.
July 14 — Ashanti Latin Jazz, Roosevelt High School west lawn, 6:30 p.m.
July 15 — Stu Calhoun & Friends, West Des Moines City Hall, 4200 Civic Mills Pkwy., 7 p.m.
July 17 — The Roxi Copland Quartet, Science Center of Iowa, new public art area, 7 p.m.
July 18 — Des Moines Big Band, DMACC West Campus, 6 p.m.
July 20 — Giants of Jazz: Taste of Revival, Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center, 6 p.m.
July 21 — “Salsa in the Garden” annual picnic fundraiser, 6:30-9:30 p.m. $75. Teresa Wahlert’s home, Waukee. Music by Ensemble D’ Tropicale. Cuban diner by Mike LaValle.
July 22 — Scott Smith Quintet, Hoyt Sherman Place, 7 p.m.
July 24 — Sam Salomone, Des Moines Botanical Center, 6 p.m.
July 25 — Kaizer Jazz Quintet, Wesley Acres, 6:30 p.m.
July 27 — Freestyle, Mid-America Group at Regency West, West Des Moines, 11:30 a.m.
July 27 — Giants of Jazz: the Soul Searchers, Northland General Store, 621 Des Moines St., 7 p.m.
July 28 — CJC All-Star Band (4 p.m.), Tropical Steel (6 p.m.), Tony Valdez Large Band (8 p.m.), Railroad Pavilion Park, Historic Valley Junction, West Des Moines

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