The Ann Arbor area is flush with great jazz concerts right now. High-profile artists hosted by UMS and Blue LLama; excellent shows at intimate venues such as Kerrytown Concert House and Ziggy's; third-space concert venues across Washtenaw County, such as Mothfire Brewing, the Elks Lodge, and Rancho Tranquilico, hosting gigs and jam sessions; plus the excellent student bands at U-M and EMU—plus whatever famous guest musicians sometimes join them—performing regularly, as well as annual events such as Edgefest and A2 Jazz Fest.

All this jazz wasn't the case 50 years ago, according to Michael Grofsorean in the September 10, 1976, issue of the Ann Arbor Sun:

"Since the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festivals were stopped, there have been very few major jazz artists appearing in Ann Arbor," Grofsoran, a first-year medical student, explains. "A bunch of us decided that there was a need for an alternative to rock shows, so we got together and went to Suzanne Young, the campus staff person responsible for booking and coordinating major concerts at U. of M."

The group, which formed in 1975, dubbed itself Eclipse Jazz.

Lee Berry, Eclipse co-founder, said in the same article: “In Detroit in the 1950s, there would be as many as 15 jam sessions going on in one night. People not only spent their money in established places, but they made it a part of their evening to support the community artists by patronizing them also before turning in. We want to re-create that same atmosphere in Ann Arbor."

Eclipse kicked off with a McCoy Tyner concert at the Power Center on November 2, 1975. (Tyner came back to celebrate Eclipse's 10th anniversary, too.) The rest of Eclipse's first year of programming included shows by Les McCann, Keith Jarrett, Weather Report, David Liebman, and Cecil Taylor. Over the next 20 years—with its final shows in 1993 and a one-off Mark Whitfield concert at The Ark in 1995—Eclipse presented more than 150 concerts featuring a who's who of mainstream and avant-garde legends, such as Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Anthony Braxton, Charles Mingus, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Archie Shepp, and Mary Lou Williams. Eclipse also booked blues (Taj Mahal), modern classical (Philip Glass), and gospel (New Testament Singers) artists from time to time, and it sponsored jazz-related talks, film screenings, and workshops.

Grofsorean, who joined Eclipse in its second year, is still in Ann Arbor and involved with concert bookings through his Musica Extraordinaria company. Berry credits Grofsorean with helping the organization grow. Those two, along with numerous other members of the volunteer group across many years, gathered at the Ann Arbor District Library on April 18, 2016, to discuss the legacy of Eclipse Jazz:

 
While there are no official Eclipse Jazz at 50 events planned, WCBN's Jason Adam Voss started a weekly radio show this fall that bases its playlists, as closely as possible, on the artists who played Eclipse concerts, in the same order in which the gigs were played. You can listen every Monday, 3-4 pm, or catch the show archives on Voss' Mixcloud.

Like any arts organization, Eclipse Jazz had its ups and downs with finances, but the students who loved the music kept it going through monetary hardships and concert cancellations. This labor of love—along with WEMU broadcasting the music for 60 years and the University of Michigan becoming a world-class destination for jazz studies—helped make the Ann Arbor area a strong region for the genre to thrive like it does now.

Below is a collection of links to various articles covering Eclipse Jazz and its concerts:

Articles on Eclipse Jazz:
➥ "World-class Student Concert Series Eclipse Means Jazz In Ann Arbor" [Ann Arbor Sun, September 10, 1976]
➥ "It's Jazz For Fun And An Infrequent Profit" [Ann Arbor News, February 13, 1977]
➥ "Eclipse brings on fusion, tradition and all that jazz" [The Michigan Daily, April 2, 1978] 
➥ "Jazz Festival: out to out-Newport Newport!" [Ann Arbor News, September 3, 1978]
➥ "A2 jazz losing money" [The Michigan Daily, January 21, 1979] 
➥ "What happened to jazz in A2?" [The Michigan Daily, February 4, 1979] 
➥ "Eclipse Jazz moves from UAC to MEO" [The Michigan Daily August 10, 1979] 
➥ "Ann Arbor's jazz calendar product of student-run Eclipse" [The Michigan Daily, September 4, 1980]
➥ "Eclipse Jazz cancels fall festival" [The Michigan Daily, March 28, 1981] 
➥ "Eclipse coordinator keeps his eye on jazz" [Ann Arbor News, September 10, 1981]
➥ "Student-run Eclipse continues to bring jazz to Ann Arbor" [The Michigan Daily, September 10, 1981] 
➥ "Promoters struggle for entertainment dollars" [The Michigan Daily, September 24, 1981]
➥ "Eclipse provides all that jazz" [The Michigan Daily, September 9, 1982] 
➥ "Eclipse Jazz enters 'middle age'" [Ann Arbor News, December 3, 1983]
➥ "Eclipse focuses city on jazz" [The Michigan Daily, September 6, 1984] 
➥ "Past, Present, Future: Eclipse Jazz 10th Anniversary Celebration" [The Michigan Daily, September 27, 1985] 
➥ "Jeff Brown: Hip, hoppin' Eclipse Jazz co-coordinator talks about America's classical music [The Michigan Daily, October 14, 1988] 
➥ "Student manages Eclipse jazz program" [The Michigan Daily, March 23, 1988]

Concert previews of Enclipse Jazz events:
➥ "Jazz series to 'Eclipse' Ann Arbor" [The Michigan Daily, September 9, 1977]
➥ "Jazz fest to honor the music of Mingus" [The Michigan Daily, September 28, 1979] 
➥ "Old meets new at jazz festival" [The Michigan Daily, September 25, 1980]
➥ "Eclipse Jazz opens an exciting fall lineup with Michael Brecker" [The Michigan Daily, September 25, 1987]
➥ "Java and Jazz to expose Detroit talent" [The Michigan Daily, November 13, 1987]  

Concert reviews of Enclipse Jazz events:
➥ McCoy Tyner: "Tyner Jazz Fine at Power Center" [Ann Arbor News, November 3, 1975]
➥ Cecil Taylor: "Cecil Taylor Unit at Power Center, Ann Arbor, April 15" [Ann Arbor Sun, May 6, 1976]
➥ Dizzy Gillespie: "He Can Keep You Dizzy" [Ann Arbor News, January 15, 1977]
➥ Jean-Luc Ponty:"Ponty's 'jazz-rock fusion' a sham" [The Michigan Daily, September 20, 1977] 
➥ Don Moye and Chico Freeman: "Jazzmen perform tight free-form duets" [The Michigan Daily, December 4, 1977]
➥ Oliver Lake and Julius Hemphill: "Sax duo spur jazz fans" [The Michigan Theater, February 19, 1978] 
➥ Ella Fitzgerald: "Too Nervous To Dance, She Sang!" [Ann Arbor News, April 7, 1978]
➥ Joseph Jarmin, Wadada Leo Smith, Eve Jorjorian: "Jazz playground fun" [The Michigan Daily, April 16, 1978] 
➥ Stan Getz, Max Roach, Mary Lou Williams: "Scads of Jazz!" [Ann Arbor News, September 22, 1978]
➥ Marylou Williams, Stan Getz, Max Roach, Archie Shepp: "Four acts kick off Hill jazz festival" [The Michigan Daily, September 22, 1978]  
➥ Johnny Griffin and Dexter Gordon: "Jazz rampage rocks the Hill" [Ann Arbor News, September 23, 1978]
➥ Ann Arbor Jazz Festivall 1978: "Ellington's spirit lives at jazz fest finale" [The Michigan Daily, September 27, 1978] 
➥ Roscoe Mitchell: "Roscoe just right at R.C. jam" [The Michigan Daily, January 21, 1979] 
➥ Mingus Jazz Festival: "A weekend of jazz" [The Michigan Daily, October 4, 1979] 
➥ Philip Glass: "Glass' music for waterfalls" [The Michigan Daily, November 9, 1980] 
➥ "Ann Arbor Jazz Festival: Day one: Is nice enough?" [The Michigan Daily, September 28. 1980] 
➥ Pat Metheny: "Crowd laps up the new music of Metheny" [The Michigan Daily, April 14, 1981] 
➥ Ted Curson: "Curson's horn strong, lyrical at Eclipse jam" [The Michigan Daily, November 14, 1981] 
➥ Johnny Griffin: "Amazing saxophone music from Johnny Griffin" [The Michigan Daily, October 13, 1982] 
➥ Art Ensemble of Chicago: "Art Ensemble delivers" [The Michigan Daily, November 21, 1982] 
➥ David Murray: "Master Murray energizes 'U' Club" [The Michigan Daily, September 9, 1984] 
➥ Abbey Lincoln: "Abbey Lincoln thrills at the Ballroom" [The Michigan Daily, October 2, 1984] 
➥ Aboriginal Percussion Choir and Gil Scott-Heron: "Choir and Scott-Hero stir soul" [The Michigan Daily, March 20, 1985]  
➥ Jack DeJohnette: "DeJohnette and Co. are just plain fun" [The Michigan Theater, April 19, 1985] 
➥ The Dirty Dozen Brass Band: "The Dirty Dozen: A ton of bricks" [The Michigan Daily, September 24, 1985] 
➥ Wayne Shorter: "Shorter comes up short" [The Michigan Daily, November 20, 1985] 
➥ The Heath Brothers: "U-Club was Heath's bar" [The Michigan Daily, December 6, 1983] 
➥ Out of the Blue: "OTB out of this world" [The Michigan Daily, February 4, 1986] 
➥ Illuminations '93 concert: "Earth Week starts on a high note" [The Michigan Daily, April 12, 1993] 

Other Eclipse Jazz links:
➥ facebook.com/eclipsejazz
➥ All pages tagged "Eclipse Jazz" in AADL's Archives, which includes many concert photos.
➥ Wikipedia entry
➥ Eclipse Jazz mentions in The Michigan Daily.

Christopher Porter is a library technician and the editor of Pulp.