Jazz Year

Matt Wilson 40th Anniversary Rootabaga Extravaganza!

April 14-18, 2020

The Knox-Rootabaga Jazz Festival, a five-day event that partners Knox College, the Galesburg community, and local artists and musicians, has been a part of the Knox's Department of Music for 40 years. The festival boasts performances by the Knox Jazz Ensemble, faculty, alumni, and guest artists. The festival focuses on collaborations between guest artists and students, and performances in various venues around the community: local bars, schools, and libraries.

The 2020 Knox-Rootabaga Jazz Festival features the Matt Wilson with special guests, the Knox Alumni Big Band, the Galesburg High School Jazz Band, Faculty and Friends Combo, and the Knox Jazz Ensemble.

Jerome Mirza Jazz Residency

Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom
November 2-6, 2020

The Jerome Mirza Jazz Residency is designed to benefit Knox students, jazz practitioners, and audiences of jazz lovers from the Galesburg and surrounding communities by bringing world-renowned jazz artists to campus for a week of intensive and collaborative jazz activities, culminating in a free public concert. The Jerome Mirza Foundation supports programs in education and the arts and was created by a bequest from Jerome Mirza, an attorney who served as president of the Illinois State Bar Association and Illinois Trial Lawyers Association. Mirza was a passionate jazz aficionado, and Knox College is pleased to have this opportunity to honor his memory by sharing the love of jazz with the campus and Galesburg communities. Mirza's daughter, Candace Mirza of Wilmette, Illinois, is a 1981 Knox graduate.

Knox Winter Jazz Series

Jeremy Cunningham's "The Weather up There"
January 9, 2021

The Knox Winter Jazz series showcases global artists with diverse cultural perspectives. Artists perform at a free concert and engage in one-on-one experiential programming with Knox students and the Galesburg community. Students treasure the opportunity to see performers up-close-and-personal, with fewer barriers between 'performer' and 'audience' allowing for a more holistic appreciation of the artistic process.

This year features the powerful project "The Weather up There" by Jeremy Cunningham.  It’s a work that assails gun violence and its heartbreaking ripple effects while searching for “a way to turn the tide” of profound personal loss through adaptations of original poems.