The University Programs Council (UPC) is hosting a concert featuring the Joel Shotwell Quintet Wed., Oct. 13. The concert will be at Cottonwood Coffee in downtown Brookings.  

The performance will be at 7 p.m. at Cottonwood. It is free and open to all, but the jam session at the end of the concert is for students only.

UPC is a student-run council that has a goal of composing projects and events around campus. They also organize various concerts throughout the year, and they wanted to keep it local with the band and location. 

The council chose this band, “to promote jazz genre more and give people a different genre to listen to,” Jacki DeYoung, the concerts coordinator for UPC, said, “as well as to help out a local business.”  

 JAS Quintet is based out of Sioux Falls, and their music is both jazz-based and improvised. Members include Joel Shotwell on saxophone, Jim Speirs on trumpet, Jeremy Hegg on keyboards, Andrew Reinartz on bass and Daniel Heier on drums.  

Popular performances include playing on the main stage at the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society’s JazzFest, for the Jazz Diversity Project and with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.

These five members have been together since 2012 and have a diverse mix of old and new jazz music. Combined, members of the band are both established musicians and educators throughout the region and come together to form a reputable top ensemble in South Dakota.