© 2024 KUAF
NPR Affiliate since 1985
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
KUAF is hiring a general manager! This position will include overall management, leadership, and planning, as well as fundraising, content development and delivery, and technical system development. Click here to apply and to learn more!

KUAF Arts Beat: For Jazz, Jam Sessions are the Classroom and There's One Right Here in the Ozarks

Our hills are flooded with roots and folk music. And now, thanks to the Jake Hertzog Trio, jazz jams are becoming a regular thing in downtown Fayetteville. 

Each month, Jake Hertzogand his bandmates- drummer Chris Teal and bassist Garrett Jones- hold the University of Arkansas Jazz Jam Session at Stage Eighteen. Hertzog hopes that establishing a night for jazz will help elevate local, upcoming musicians and also give the wider community the chance to engage with this type of music in a live setting. 

Hertzog preps musicians, clipboard in hand, before the jam session.

"I heard sombody say that the jam session was the original jazz education,"Hertzog muses as he corrals horn players and helps plug in a keyboard before his own jam. 

For the unfamiliar, instrumental jazz can often be intimidating, Teal explains. This night gives musicians a chance to be advocates for jazz, while introducing others to the history and structure of the music. 

The next U of A Jazz Jam Session is Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. 

Daniel Caruth is KUAF's Morning Edition host and reporter for Ozarks at Large.
Related Content