Chicago Women of Jazz: Five Nights at bar centro

There is a reason the phrase "Chicago jazz" carries so much weight, and bar centro is betting that Milwaukee is ready to hear it up close. This fall and into winter, the Riverwest venue presents Chicago Women of Jazz, a five-show series spotlighting the vocalists, instrumentalists, bandleaders and composers who have shaped the sound of the city just south of us.

Since the 1920s, women have been a dynamic force behind the Chicago jazz scene. As bar centro puts it, they have been vocalists, instrumentalists, bandleaders and composers, so why not bring them to Milwaukee? That question is the whole idea behind the series, and the answer runs across five nights at 804 E Center St.

The five nights

Every show is 8pm at bar centro, 804 E Center St. Tickets are $15 (about $17.75 all-in).

• Sat, Sep 26 · Juli Wood
• Sat, Oct 24 · Emily Kuhn
• Sat, Nov 14 · Alyssa Allgood
• Sat, Nov 28 · Isabella Isherwood
• Fri, Dec 4 · Julia Danielle

A local venue and a local platform

Chicago Women of Jazz is presented by bar centro, and tickets are sold through tikit.live. That matters for the people on stage. On tikit, the artists on a bill can be added to their own show as collaborators, with their share of ticket sales paid out to them directly rather than reconciled from a promoter's spreadsheet weeks later. More of the ticket reaches the musicians who earned it, which is a big part of why a five-night run of Chicago players can happen in Milwaukee at all. A local venue and a local platform, working together to put Chicago talent on a Milwaukee stage.

All five shows live on one series page, where you can pick a single night or plan the whole run. Visit https://www.tikit.live/chicago-women-of-jazz/ to get tickets.

bar centro has earned local love, too: OnMilwaukee spotlighted the Riverwest spot as a “hidden gem.”

About tikit

tikit is ticketing for independent creators, built in Milwaukee by Awen on a simple principle: the people who make the night happen should keep more of what it earns. A venue, a promoter, a band or a solo artist can set up a show in minutes, sell tickets under their own name and their own page, and see who is coming.

Runs like this one are where it shines. Set up a whole series at once, add the artists on each bill as collaborators, and give every collaborator their own payout split, so the musicians get paid from their own ticket sales rather than waiting on a settlement. There is no big-platform middle layer deciding what your event is worth, just a local team you can actually talk to.

bar centro sells its shows there. If you put on shows, readings, markets or anything else with a door, so can you. Start at tikit.live.