A crossover quartet is being presented tonight in Ainsworth with the Red Cedar Chamber Music members performing jazz. A string quartet will be taking on jazz. Miera Kim with Red Cedar Chamber Music shares that it’s a fresh take on jazz, as there won’t be drums or brass in the concert, “So I think the first most noticeable thing that makes this not quite like jazz as you expect, is there’s no drummer. So we’re playing as a double-bassist, electric guitar, violin, and cello. And quite honestly, I’m amazed at how well both Dan [Padley] and Blake [Shaw] wrote for this combination even though that’s not in their wheelhouse and they haven’t had a lot of experience with it. Blake did say that the hardest thing was what sorts of articulations to notate for the strings, because it is different than a horn and what he’s used to hearing depending on how he wrote it.”

Local historian Mike Zahs explains the meal will be all Iowa fare and that Iowa has played an important role in entertainment, “We are the entertainment capital of the United States, at least we think that. But I’ve traveled all over the country with the movie and such, and I think it’s really true that we are. The thing is that we keep it a secret because we just kind of like not everybody come here. At the [Ainsworth] opera house we have people who will drive up from Texas, or Chicago, or Omaha just for a program. And we had some people from Boston a couple years ago that came to a Red Cedar concert and they said, ‘You know, we could not have seen that any place on the east coast.’ And we’re just lucky in Iowa.”

Reservations can be made at 319-653-6250 and tickets are $25 with the meal at 6 p.m. and music at 7 p.m.