The Plummer Jazz Quintet will bring jazz and rhythm to Dunn Meadow on Friday as the musical act for this week’s “Swing in September” jazz festival.
The Friday festival, which kicks off at 6:30 p.m. and is presented by IU’s Jazz Studies Department and WFIU, is an annual series with events every Friday in September. The festival is free to the public to attend and aims to provide the public with an opportunity to connect through local music.
“Part of our mission work is to bring music to the people of south-central Indiana,” Mary Alice Ducette, director of engagement for WFIU/WTIU, said. “We’re looking at some beautiful weather for this week. We highly encourage everybody to come out.”
Ducette said the ensembles chosen to perform at Swing in September primarily consist of students from the Jacobs’ School of Music. Tom Walsh, a saxophonist and chair of IU’s Jazz Studies Department, works with a small committee each year to select and curate the festival’s four musical acts. Each ensemble is then invited to perform during a different week in September.
The Plummer Jazz Quintet, formed in 2012 in honor of saxophonist Paul Plummer, consists of five musicians exclusively chosen by jazz studies faculty members. Jazz professor Greg Ward, then coaches and mentors the group.
Walsh said the quintet composes original music and rehearses for around four hours per week.
“It’s a very intensive experience,” he said. “The group is focused on composing their own original music, and then also developing their skills in playing together as an ensemble.”
Friday’s performance will feature Plummer Jazz Quintet ensemble members from the 2024-25 school year. Sophomore Liam Campbell-Carpenter is currently filling in for the group’s previous pianist Dan Ventura, who graduated and moved away from Bloomington; the other four members, alto saxophonist Willie Bays, bassist Michael Santos, drummer Tate Sherman, and vocalist and trumpet player Nadia Reist played in last year’s group.
“I really enjoyed hearing them perform, and I wanted them to have another opportunity to perform publicly,” Walsh said. “And even though they are not the current Plummer Jazz group, we thought that it was a valuable thing.”
Tate Sherman, a senior majoring in jazz studies, was the drummer in last year’s ensemble, and will perform with the group again Friday. The group has not performed together since the 2025 spring semester.
Sherman said the ensemble will perform original music composed last school year.
“I think we’ve developed a very specific, cohesive sound as a unit,” he said, “so I’m excited to just be a part of that again.”
Sherman has played in various other school-affiliated ensembles throughout his college career. He said that the quintet feels unique to his other experiences because the group composes their own original pieces.
“I really loved all the music that we wrote for each other,” he said. “It was a really great experience to get to just have a lot of time to rehearse and workshop music that we were writing for this small group of people throughout last year.”
The Friday performance is an ideal event for families, even those with young children, to attend together, Ducette said.
“It’s a very family-friendly atmosphere. You know, just because its jazz doesn’t mean you can’t bring kids,” Ducette said. “Just come, enjoy the atmosphere, enjoy the nice weather, enjoy the free music.”
The festival will likely last about an hour and 15 minutes. Free parking will be available in the Poplars Parking Garage.
