Jazz at the Duck off semester hiatus, returns tonight

GREENCASTLE -- After a semester on hiatus, DePauw Jazz at the Duck will return to the Inn at DePauw's Fluttering Duck tonight with the Randy Salman Quartet. The series is sponsored by the DePauw School of Music and the Inn at DePauw.

The series will run from 9 to 11 p.m. every Thursday through Dec. 2, excluding Oct. 21 and Nov. 25.

Event organizer Sandy Williams (who will be playing guitar with Salman tonight) said the response to bringing back the event has been overwhelming, with support from several different corners.

"There was a lot of student support for it. They had a petition going last spring, and a lot of people signed it," Williams said. "Dr. (Caroline) Jetton over at the School of Music was very supportive in getting it going, as was Ashley Dora from the Inn at DePauw."

Tonight's show will feature Salman on saxophone, Williams on guitar, Armand Beaudoin on bass and Jeff Magby on drums.

Asked what to expect out of the show, though, Williams said to expect the unexpected.

"To be truthful, it's going to be a surprise, and that's part of the fun of it," Williams said. "I think Randy will have some tunes that he likes to play, and he'll just call them or pull the charts out, and we'll just go for it."

Variety is going to be the order of the semester for the series.

"I'm going to try to bring a different variety of stuff, and I'm going to do these jam sessions, which weren't done in the past. We'll see how those go. Traditionally, in a club, those can be pretty popular," Williams said.

Next week's concert will be a Latin jazz group called Direct Contact. An acoustic gypsy jazz group will play in October.

"I'm hoping to get everything from real funky jazz to traditional jazz. There's a group in a couple weeks called the Traditional Jazz Orchestra that's going to play New Orleans-style music," Williams said. "There's definitely a lot of variety and a lot of things in between."

Two other big selling points of the series are admission is free and that the Duck is open to all ages (excluding the bar area) until 11 p.m. This makes for a fun and free way for all ages to expose themselves to a wide variety of music.

Williams said he's also looking forward to second semester, as this semester has filled so fast, he has a lot more acts in mind.

"I was surprised at how fast this semester filled up. There are a couple of spots that aren't filled in," he said. "I had this list in my mind of people I wanted to bring in, and then it was like, 'Whoa! It's almost filled up.'

"We're going to carry it over into the next semester."

DePauw Jazz at the Duck:

Sept. 2: Randy Salman Quartet

Sept. 9: Direct Contact (Latin Jazz, featuring former Henry Mancini touring bass player Steve Dokken)

Sept. 16: The Sandy Williams Trio

Sept. 23: The Traditional Jazz Orchestra

Sept. 30: Open jazz jam session

Oct. 7: TBA

Oct 14: Bleau Django (music in the style of French gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt)

Oct 28: Open jazz jam session

Nov. 4: Chicago guitar virtuoso Frank Portolese

Nov. 11: The Farrelly/Markiewicz quartet

Nov. 18: TBA

Dec. 2: Trumpeter/composer John Vander Gheynst