Eau Claire Jazz Festival

The Eau Claire Jazz Festival is a regional music festival, dedicated to educating, entertaining and promoting jazz.

Since 1967, the Eau Claire Jazz Festival has maintained a standard of excellence in jazz education and performance. This educational and cultural jazz festival has earned its distinction as one of the oldest and largest events by providing local, national and international artists the opportunity to showcase their creative work and by highlighting the enduring elements and important directions in this distinctly American music. Furthermore, the Eau Claire Jazz Festival is the largest student run festival in the United States. With a board made of community members to oversee, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire students perform all duties needed in order to support the festival making it one of a kind.

History:

The University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire’s School of Music offers an outstanding undergraduate education for aspiring musicians and also serves as a primary cultural resource for western Wisconsin. The Jazz Studies Area, under the direction of Robert Baca, has been internationally recognized. Jazz I ensemble has received the Down Beat Magazine "Best College Big Band" Award five out of the last eight years and has had two CD recordings nominated for a Grammy Award.

Artistic Director Robert Baca’s dream has been to see this festival reach into the broader community and to become a destination for jazz lovers. To move closer to making that dream a reality, in 2009 the UW-Eau Claire Jazz Festival was renamed the Eau Claire Jazz Festival. This collaboratively sponsored festival is a community partnership involving the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, area musicians, artists, businesses, schools and community organizations.