OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — After forming a connection in high school, Kurt Shipe and Mike Malone went on to create a jazz band that’s celebrating 10 years of music in the Oshkosh community.
- Mike Malone and Kurt Shipe met as high schoolers at a music event in Oshkosh, then went on to play in the same college band.
- Malone and Shipe started the Water City Jazz Orchestra in Oshkosh in 2015.
- The band plays monthly at Fletch’s and hosts programs with local high school jazz bands.
Kurt Shipe and Mike Malone met almost 20 years ago as high school students. They both played in a jazz band at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
They continued a friendship after attending the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire together.
“I think it’s a shared passion for not only music and performing but for our community,” Malone says.
After graduating, the two moved into neighboring houses in Oshkosh.
“The dynamic between us is balanced very, very well,” Shipe says.
With a similar desire to continue to perform jazz, Shipe and Malone started the Water City Jazz Orchestra in Oshkosh.
“We wanted to have one here in Oshkosh and kind of hopefully influence the community to come out and have a good time,” Shipe says.
Malone says the Fox Cities area has many talented jazz musicians, so it made sense for a band to begin in Oshkosh.
“I'm probably a little biased, but I feel like Oshkosh has probably one of the strongest net of those musicians in this area,” he says. “It was always kind of baffling that we didn’t have a community big band like this.”
The band played at Manila Resto for a few years before making Fletch’s on Main Street in Oshkosh its regular stage.
This year, WCJO celebrates its 10th year anniversary.
“Seeing how we’ve grown and the band has grown over the last 10 years is pretty remarkable,” Shipe says.
Through the band, Shipe helped start the Oshkosh Jazz Festival, which is an annual free event featuring jazz performances.
“We always offer our big band, Water City Jazz Orchestra, to accompany the headliner,” Shipe says. “It really is a powerful thing when you end a whole set with a headliner with 15 people-plus on stage.”
More than jazz performance, the two advocate for music education and host free programs for local high schools. They do training clinics and collaborative concerts with the high school musicians.
“For me, when I was coming up in high school, jazz band was a class I took every day for four years for an hour a day, and it really taught me a love for a genre that I wasn't exposed to,” Malone says. “So, it's important for me that that continues in this area. It's really challenging now for schools to keep classes like that going or to compete with all the sorts of before and after school activities kids are torn between.”
Malone says connecting with high school students shows the young musicians that a future in jazz is possible.
“I didn't even know that there were working professional musicians in a small market like this, so hopefully being able to expose them that music is a viable career path,” Malone says. “Hopefully those will be the people, when they're of age and can join us, are our next loyal supporters, and the next members of the group.”
The band’s performances are an hour and 15 minutes every last Monday of the month from September to April.
“Try to focus on entertaining the whole crowd,” Shipe says. “It's entertainment with music, jokes, my mom makes cookies for it.”
More information on their upcoming shows can be found on their website.
