Benny Benack III is the first artist to embark on a Midwest Jazz Collective tour. (Photo: bennybenackjazz.com) By Emmett McMenamy The Jazz Age is long gone, but its spirit still lives on in well-known clubs in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Recently, 13 smaller jazz venues across the Midwest, in cluding Noce here in Des Moines, teamed up to form the Midwest Jazz Collective (MJC) to arrange tours for national and regional artists. The New York singer and trumpeter Benny Benack III set out on the first MJC tour last month and will visit Noce on April 5, amid a blitz through Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. He’s played Noce and the Midwest before, but this time he’s bringing his own quartet. “You’re always able to get that little extra 5% magic that you can develop when you’re playing with people you play with all the time,” he said. Known for what he calls “old-school throwback jazz,” Benack was voted the No. 1 Rising Star Male Vocalist by the 2024 DownBeat Magazine annual critics’ poll and the No. 7 male vocalist by the magazine’s annual readers’ poll. He often performs in New York, including an appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” and travels to festivals around the United States and the world. Now, artists of his caliber may have an easier time coming to the Midwest, thanks to the MJC. The collective helps set up concerts as well as educational events at local schools along the tour route. On Benack’s current tour, he’ll visit half a dozen schools and universities, where he’ll coach students and invite them to his concerts. “We’re really passionate about mentoring young musicians and giving them opportunities as well,” he said. Benack is the MJC’s first touring artist, but with any luck, he won’t be the last. Coordinator Kyle Knoke, who runs a monthly concert series in central Wisconsin, said he hopes the collective can line up a Midwest tour every quarter. April is Jazz Appreciation Month To celebrate, the Community Jazz Center is hosting a festival from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 6 at Drake University’s Turner Jazz Center. The lineup includes Tanner Taylor, Willie Shay and the Jackson Churchill Quartet, among others. Guests can enter a drawing for gift cards to various local jazz organizations and hot spots, including: Caspe Terrace, the Cave, Community Jazz Center Hall of Fame, Hoyt Sherman Place, Latin King, Louie’s Wine Dive, Noce, Rogue Planet Records and ZZZ Records. ...read more read less