An early set at 7 p.m. features an open jam session lead by Dejen Tesfagiorgis on Saxophones with Adam Meckler on Trumpet, Jesse Mueller on Piano, Adam Tucker on Bass, and Jaky Nyberg on Drums and friends. Dejen Tesfagiorgis leads these weekly jam sessions, bring your axe and sit it! www.youtube.com/watch?v=4khzBPcgo24

You may know Butch Thompson from his long run on A Prairie Home Companion. Now discover Butch Thompson as one of the world’s top jazz and ragtime performers, a concert artist who connects easily with his audience as he gives them a personally guided tour of a rich American tradition. With dazzling technique and engaging commentary, Butch establishes a rapport that makes any concert seem intimate. See him at the AQ will be like having him in your living room.  His trio has earned critical and popular acclaim across the U.S. and around the world for its fresh approach to the classic early jazz tradition. A typical concert offers blues, stomps, ragtime, and pop songs of the era, all tied together with Butch's entertaining, informative commentary. From Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag to Duke Ellington's Mood Indigo, from down and dirty blues out of south side Chicago to the roaring stride of 1920s Harlem, this little band puts on a very big show.