Karl Gehrke

The Fellowship Jazz Center Orchestra (FJCO) brings big band music to back to Sioux Falls. Sioux Falls musicians Dan Heier and Jim Speirs, both of the FJCO, sit down with Jazz Nightly host Karl Gehrke. They talk about the health of the jazz environment in Sioux Falls and the community and creativity big band music brings to performers and listeners alike. The Fellowship Jazz Center Orchestra's inaugural concert was held on April 30 for International Jazz Day.

Sioux Falls-born, Los Angeles-based guitarist Mike Miller is serious about his music, but he doesn’t forget that it’s also supposed to be fun. His new album Trust is filled with playful jazz fusion grooves and original compositions with waggish titles like “Bi-Polar Bear,” “Reindeer Glue” and “All Cows Eat Grass.” It’s Miller’s fourth solo album and his first in several years.

When New York City bassist and composer Ben Allison began writing music for his new album Moments Inside last year, he expected it would reflect the pain, anger and sorrow that was all around. But that’s not what happened. “When I was done, I was surprised to find the music was, at least to my ears, very beautiful and maybe even positive and uplifting,” he says. “It’s much less dark than I thought it might have been. I realized in retrospect I wasn’t just writing music that I was feeling.