Since 1992, the Northwest Arkansas Jazz Society (NAJS) has been a community leader in presenting world-class jazz performers in venues across Northwest Arkansas. We're a non-profit membership organization that seeks to present, preserve, promote, and celebrate the great American art form known as jazz through education, concert presentation, and artist promotion.
Our operating funds are secured through membership fees, grants, ticket sales, and merchandise sales. We rely on the generosity of the Northwest Arkansas community and are grateful for the continued support of many. Today, our work of celebrating jazz is stronger than ever. We seek to find innovative ways to engage with new and diverse audiences and keep jazz alive and well.
All proceeds support jazz concerts, education, and advocacy in Northwest Arkansas.
T-Shirts are $25 + $5 shipping.
A shortlist of talent presented over the years includes Pat Metheny, Eliane Elias, The Yellowjackets, Claudia Acuña, Bill Frisell, Kenny Barron, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Lucy Woodward, Ray Anderson, Joey DeFrancesco, Kim Prevost, Kevin Mahogany, James Williams, Frank Vignola, David Sanchez, Bobby Watson, Bob Dorough, Sheila Jordan, Aubrey Logan, Steve Wilson, Conrad Herwig, and Danilo Perez.
...Walton Arts Center, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, The Momentary, Botanical Gardens of the Ozarks, The Railyard, George's Majestic Lounge, Eureka Springs Auditorium, The Thaden School, and the University of Arkansas.
Our ongoing activities include The Summer Jazz Concert Series, Jazz All-Stars Youth Ensemble, Jazz Jam for local musicians, and artist support for performance, recording, and educational projects.
Robert's life in music for over four decades has forged a permanent presence for jazz within the Northwest Arkansas cultural landscape.
In 1979 Robert began producing a jazz radio show on KUAF-FM. Today "Shades of Jazz," Robert's Friday 10 p.m. to midnight broadcast, stands as the station's longest-running program.
In 1992 Robert founded the Northwest Arkansas Jazz Society, a non-profit, community-based membership organization producing a fall-to-spring series featuring major jazz musicians. A year later, Robert joined the steering committee assigned to bring focus and direction to Fayetteville's then-emerging Walton Arts Center. When the multi-venue performing arts center opened its doors that year he was named its "jazz curator" – another position he still holds.
Most recently, with the support of the Walton Family Foundation and Walton Arts Center, Robert has launched the "Jazz Education Initiative". The Initiative cultivates jazz appreciation to sustain the jazz art form through education programs integrating school performance, workshops, artists-in-residency, and public performance opportunities. The flagship of the program is the Jazz All-Stars Youth Ensemble.
In 2010, he received the Arkansas Governor's Arts Award for Community Development, and in 2016, he was the recipient of the Jazz Journalist Association Hero Award. In 2024, Robert was inducted into the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame.
Graham returned to Northwest Arkansas in 2020, retiring after a thirty-five year career in higher education. He had served primarily as a chief alumni officer overseeing public and private university alumni associations, including at Vanderbilt University, the University of Arkansas, and Ohio University.
An active jazz vocalist and trombonist, he has appeared with the Nashville Jazz Workshop, Fayetteville Jazz Collective, Jazz Spoken Here, and Swing Central. Early in his career, he toured and recorded with Grammy-award winning vocal ensemble The Gregg Smith Singers. Graham has performed more than 25 leading roles in musical theater and opera, and was an award-winning whistler featured in the 2005 documentary film "Pucker Up: the Fine Art of Whistling."
Graham grew up near New York City, and went to college and lived for 30 years in Ithaca, NY. He and his wife, Tina, live in Fayetteville. They have two children and two grandkids spread between Springdale, AR and Nashville.
Kay Ellen retired as a CPA specializing in utility accounting with Ozarks Electric in 2020. Prior to Ozarks she practiced with a regional firm, preparing individual and corporate income tax returns, sales and use tax returns and performing audits of non-profits and for profit businesses. She maintained memberships with AICPA, Arkansas Society of CPAs, NW Chapter ASCPA, and the National Society of Accountants for Cooperatives. Kay Ellen was a member of the NWA Jazz Society for many years before joining as the Financial Manager in 2013. Kay Ellen and her husband Tom have three children and six grandchildren.
Anna is an agency veteran with over a decade of design and brand experience. She started her studio, Jacobs&Co, in 2019. In addition to her practice, Anna adjunct teaches at the University of Arkansas’ School of Art.
Jerry Moye enjoyed a 40-year career in the poultry business. An opportunity with Tyson Foods brought he and his family to NW Arkansas in 1993. He retired in 2016, having spent the previous 10 years as Tyson Group VP and President of Cobb-Vantress, Inc. in Siloam Springs. He remains active in the industry through board positions with USPOULTRY Foundation, and Hendrix Genetics, a multi-species genetic company based in Boxmeer, Netherlands.
Jerry has been involved in several community organizations including, Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce, NW AR JDRF Board, Keep Dollars in Benton County, and currently sits on the board for Circle of Life Hospice.
Jerry is originally from northern New Jersey, just across the Hudson from NYC. His wife, Cherie, is also from the east coast just outside of Washington DC. They have two children, and four beautiful granddaughters spread between Rogers, AR and KCMO.
Rick is instructor in the Music Department at the University of Arkansas and is director of the university Jazz Orchestra and Combos. He received his doctoral degree in Higher Education and MM degree in composition from the University of Arkansas. He has two kids: Alexandra, 17, a Senior at Farmington HS and Derek, 20, a Junior at the University of Arkansas. He enjoys cooking, music, playing games, golfing, woodworking and biking. He is a prolific jazz composer and arranger of jazz for ensembles at various levels, and is an active performer of classical, jazz and pop with numerous ensembles throughout the region.
Margaret Clark is a retired UA Professor and public-school teacher (Pine Bluff). She received a B.A. from Arkansas A.M.& N. (UAPB), plus M.A. & Ed.D. degrees from the University of Arkansas. She received a Fulbright-Hays Scholarship to study at the University of Paris and the University of Besancon.
Margaret was the first African American president of the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association, the AR Division and Fayetteville Branch of the American Association of University Women, Fayetteville Business and Professional Women, the Iota chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, the International Society for Key Women Educators, and the Arkansas-East Bolivia Chapter of Partners of the Americas. She spearheaded the chartering of the Phi Alpha Omega Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and served as its founding president.
Margaret's numerous rewards include a MLK Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019, a UA dormitory was named Margaret Clark Hall. The Washington County Historical Society named her "Citizen of the Year" in 2020, and in 2022 she was inducted into the AR Women's Hall of Fame.
Margaret's love for jazz began as a teenager in NYC where she was able to see many of the greats play live. She now lives in Fayetteville with her beloved dog, Mia.
Writer and past Sr. Director of the Walmart Heritage Group
Alan Dranow fell in love with Northwest Arkansas in 2006, following 3 years with Walmart.com in the San Francisco Bay area. Originally from Oyster Bay, New York, Alan spent 16 years in marketing creative in Silicon Valley and previously 10 years as a live showcase producer and manager in the music industry in New York. A continuously published writer since the age of 13, Alan has written best-selling interactive children’s books and has been a feature writer and editor for a wide variety of publications, including Rolling Stone, Pro Sound News, The Music Paper of NY and others.
At Walmart, Alan played a key role in the development, and rollout of the Walmart brand. He also led the renovation and expansion of The Walmart Museum as its Senior Director from 2009 until his “graduation” in 2025. During his time at the museum, Alan led the production of numerous jazz performances in downtown Bentonville. He is a member of the board of directors of a number of NW Arkansas non-profits. His two children, both Eli and Lana, attend Belmont University in Nashville, where Eli – as an alumnus of the NWA Jazz Society’s Youth Jazz All-Stars - has continued to carve out a solid reputation for jazz piano performance and arrangement while studying audio production and engineering; Lana is a 3L at Belmont’s School of Law.
Andy resides in Bentonville and has earned a PhD in "life on the road" – spending 50+ years in entertainment, musical, theatrical, tourism and hospitality production, and artist and event management. He has numerous gold records and spent 12+ years as the tour manager for REO Speedwagon, the Amazing Rhythm Aces, Muscle Shoals Records and All Stars, and Levon Helm; and over 20+ years as an executive director in performing facility management in Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee in the USA, and Sydney, Australia. He has produced literally thousands of events and multiple television specials including Farm Aid I, Hard Rock Rockfests '99 and 2000, and the Montreux Jazz Festival Tour as well as serving as a consultant to the Sydney 2000 and Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympics. He is currently the CEO of Ozark Production Services, LLC and Mesa Verde, LLC and an active 35+ year member of IAVM. He is an avid supporter of the performing arts, and his many hobbies include hunting and fly fishing, dogs, horses, cycling, motorcycling, golf, food, wine, live music/theater/arts, and literature. He has one child, and two grandchildren.
Darren is a drummer, founding member of the Fayetteville Jazz Collective, recording engineer, and vice-president of Springdale Acoustics, Inc. He has a B.A. in Physics from the University of Arkansas and has been active in the Northwest Arkansas music scene for the past 40 years.
Darren is a drummer, founding member of the Fayetteville Jazz Collective, recording engineer, and vice-president of Springdale Acoustics, Inc. He has a B.A. in Physics from the University of Arkansas and has been active in the Northwest Arkansas music scene for the past 40 years.
Bob landed in Northwest Arkansas from the music town of Athens, Georgia by way of Nashville and Memphis. Music is definitely in his blood! As a young man, Bob played jazz trumpet throughout high school and college. He played trumpet in the Georgia High School All State Jazz band (and has the vinyl album to prove it!). Bob has had a lengthy career in the performing arts, leading operations teams at Tennessee Performing Arts Center and Walton Arts Center. He currently resides in Bella Vista with his wife, Stevie, who is a public mosaic artist.
Originally from Seattle, Barbara is a serial entrepreneur and former New York Times blogger. She moved to Bella Vista from the Pacific Northwest in 2003, and has the distinction of opening the first drive-through espresso business in the state of Arkansas. While she grew up playing classical piano, Barbara enjoyed learning jazz standards from her grandfather, a professional jazz saxophonist in Vancouver, Canada. She is the owner and co-founder of Allan Taylor & Co. business brokerage firm (2007) and Trail Town Realty (2012).
Barbara's two sons are both accomplished jazz musicians and alumni of the NAJS Jazz All-Stars Youth Ensemble. Barbara is passionate about supporting jazz education initiatives at NAJS and throughout NW Arkansas. She is affectionately referred to as "the Jazz Mom."
alphabetical by last name