Universities help drive Atlanta jazz scene

Cyrille Aimee. 8 p.m. Feb. 20. $26-$51. Ferst Center for the Arts. 49 Ferst Drive N.W., Atlanta. 404-894-9600, arts.gatech.edu/ferstcenter.

Madison Cario sees Atlanta as a growing destination for national and international jazz musicians.

As director of the office of the arts at Georgia Tech, Cario programs jazz artists at the college’s Ferst Center for the Arts. Along with her colleagues at Georgia State University’s Rialto Center for the Arts, Emory University and other institutions throughout the metro area, Cario is helping shape which national jazz acts come to the city.

The work of these programming directors is complemented by the Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, which holds the Atlanta Jazz Festival, and the fertile network of jazz artists performing throughout the city.

Cario said Atlanta historically has been seen as a “cultural stepchild,” especially in the jazz world. One of the main ways she looks to remedy this is through collaboration; she routinely has discussions with other university presenters about what artists are being booked.

The group also maintains a “clash list” to make sure jazz isn’t booked in more than one place on the same night. However, she thinks more can be done.

“How can we build a critical mass that funnels into the (Atlanta Jazz Festival) and then kind of wraps around and fills our venues in September and October?” she said. “We do need to formally start coming together.”

During the next month, Cario will present singer Cyrille Aimee at the Ferst Center, clarinet and saxophone player Anat Cohen will be featured as part of the Emory Jazz Fest, and pianist Ramsey Lewis will play a show at the Rialto.

Gary Motley, Emory's director of jazz studies, works closely with the head of the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts to program national artists who have a high profile in the jazz community and excel in educational settings. While in town for the jazz festival, Cohen will teach a free masterclass, open to the public, at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Schwartz Center. Motley said these residency activities help connect Atlantans to the artist and the music as a whole.

When helping book the Schwartz’s jazz offerings, Motley said he looks to present a mix of legends and up-and-coming artists. Sometimes, as with a concert by bassist Esperanza Spalding in 2009, Motley is lucky enough to catch a quickly rising star.

It’s also important to bring in established masters, he said, “because you want the students to get a sense of the heritage and history of the music.”

For Leslie Gordon, director of the Rialto, creating a national jazz hub starts with treating artists extraordinarily well. When headliners come to Atlanta, she makes sure they will spread the word that the city is a superb place to perform.

“It’s very important for us that the artist has a great experience and takes that back with them,” she said.

Gordon believes in the importance of universities to the jazz scene. Not only are universities helping train the jazz players of tomorrow, she said, but university venues are sometimes the only place in a given city where big-name acts can perform.

“Universities all over the country know that we are very important in keeping the jazz scene alive,” she said.

While Gordon embraces collaboration with her fellow university presenters, she also looks to colleagues at Georgia State for help booking artists. She routinely seeks the input of Gordon Vernick, Georgia State’s coordinator of jazz studies.

“I don’t make these decisions in a vacuum,” she said. “It’s not me just going, ‘Hmm, that sounds cool.’”

As the stature of Atlanta jazz rises nationally, Cario wants to make sure local artists are supported. She’s already planning to include Atlanta-based musicians in some capacity starting next season.

While Atlanta already has a thriving local jazz scene, with a little hard work and collaboration among university presenters, Cario thinks the area could become one of the great places for headlining jazz acts.

“I think we, as Atlantans, can have anything we want here,” she said. “We have great venues, and we have great audiences.”