By
Phil Leckman
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Zeitgeist showcase explores outer reaches of jazz.
Tucson has a reputation for many things - chimichangas, incredible college basketball and big, weird cacti, just to name a few.
Hot, cutting-edge jazz, however, is not usually part of this equation. Like most smaller cities, opportunities for jazz in Tucson are somewhat limited, said Steve Hahn, director of Zeitgeist, a local organization dedicated to promoting experimental jazz.
"We're plagued by the same thing as a lot of cities our size - there's never been a consistent jazz club scene" Hahn said.
Even when jazz is performed, he added, it is more often of the traditional variety - the old standards that appeal to the widest possible audience.
Zeitgeist, which has been promoting jazz's most adventurous and innovative sounds in Tucson for four years, aims to uncover the parts of the jazz spectrum that lurk beyond the tried-and-true favorites.
"There are groups in town, like the Tucson Jazz Society, which host more mainstream artists," Hahn said. "We're more exploratory, pushing the boundaries of jazz."
Interested audiences can visit these distant musical horizons tomorrow night at Zeitgeist's fourth annual Local Jazz Showcase, starting at 7 at the Mat Bevel Institute, 520 N. Stone Ave.
Many of the artists who will perform at the festival are regulars at Zeitgeist's "Emerging Voices," a monthly series highlighting new local artists, including many UA alumni. Six groups will be featured, each playing a 50-minute set.
"The local series is a forum mostly for younger players who are developing their own language and ideas," Hahn said. "The music they want to explore is not necessarily suitable for a club or lounge setting. A lot of musicians attend our concerts and get inspired to do things that are a little more adventurous, so we provide a forum."
The showcase, a benefit for the Mat Bevel institute, represents "an attempt to represent the whole spectrum of these exploratory voices," said Hahn.
"The purpose of the festival is to celebrate local experimental jazz," he said. "It brings in a whole smorgasbord of local acts."
In addition to Tucson's hottest avant-garde jazz, the Zeitgeist Local Jazz Showcase will feature fine beers from Nimbus brewery and CD giveaways from well-known national jazz acts.
Hahn said he believed that Zeitgeist's reputation among open-minded music fans would make the event a success.
"Our crowds will have 80, 90, 120 people at the most," he said "They're people who are musically curious - we're not appealing to a wide demographic. But by now people know our reputation and will come out and take a chance."
