Café CODA will host a jazz community celebration concert on Wednesday, June 8, at 7 p.m. for two of WORT-FM’s beloved longtime program hosts, Steve Braunginn and Jane Reynolds, as they retire from Strictly Jazz Sounds.
Braunginn and Reynolds are wrapping up decades of commitment to jazz radio (20 and 37 years, respectively) and their long-running Thursday afternoon program at 89.9 FM. Braunginn will broadcast his final Strictly Jazz Sounds show on Thursday, June 2, and Reynolds will follow with her final show on Thursday, June 9.
On June 8 at Café CODA, Madison’s premiere jazz space located at 1224 Williamson Street on Madison’s near east side, many of the finest jazz players will converge to say “thank you” in a session produced by UW Jazz Studies Director Johannes Wallmann.
Confirmed performers for this event include:
⦿ Hanah Jon Taylor, saxophone
⦿ Russ Johnson, trumpet
⦿ Darren Sterud, trombone (2nd set)
⦿ Jane Reynolds, piano
⦿ Johannes Wallmann, piano
⦿ Nick Moran, bass
⦿ Laurie Lang, bass
⦿ Vincent Davis, drums
⦿ Rick Flowers, drums
⦿ Matt Endres, drums
The event will be a farewell gig for Braunginn, the former president/CEO of the Urban League of Greater Madison, a Dane County Board supervisor, a founding member of the Greater Madison Jazz Consortium board, a Madison school district teacher, and a member of many nonprofit, civic, and government-appointed positions. Braunginn and his wife, Jenny, will be moving to Columbus, Ohio, to be close to their granddaughter.
Reynolds was a founding member of the Madison Music Collective in 1985 and a jazz host on WORT for a new program she called Jazz Sounds. Reynolds would go on to create a weekly jazz calendar and began featuring musicians on the air for live interviews. Nearing her 20th anniversary on WORT, Braunginn joined her for what became Strictly Jazz Sounds.
“While it’s sad to say goodbye to the Madison jazz community and to our listeners of Strictly Jazz Sounds on WORT, I am delighted that I could spend these 17-plus years on the air with my dear friend and co-host, Jane Reynolds,” Braunginn said in a statement. “Saluting Madison, all of those in the jazz community, and to Jane – as we customarily say to each other – I love you madly.”
For more information about Café CODA and its upcoming events, click here.
