A Night of Jazz concert fundraiser will bring a jazz quintet to Dixon and benefit music scholarships for Sauk Valley youths.

“Live jazz is something we just don’t get to hear out here,” said Molly Jacobs, the founder of Miss Molly’s School of Music in Sterling. “You have to travel to Chicago and pay a lot of money to get into private jazz clubs. I thought it would be fun to bring that to town for one night and give people this elevated, classy night out,” .

The Night of Jazz will take place from 7-9 p.m. Saturday, May 2, at the Post House Ballroom in Dixon. Tickets are advance sales only, $45 general seating and $60 for patron seating. More information on tickets is available by calling (319) 464-2861.

“It’s going to be a night of great jazz music and dancing, with a jazz quintet. We’re going to have a silent auction, cash bar, and hors d’oeuvres with mini charcuterie boards,” Jacobs said.

Miss Molly’s School of Music, located in Sterling, serves 109 students with a variety of music lessons, from piano and guitar to bass, violin and vocal music. Jacobs, whose father is a violinist, started violin lessons at age 3.

Her own experience, starting music early and now teaching music, inspired her to try to get music education to those who may not be able to afford it.

“I was always the kid who was fortunate enough to afford this. My parents always made it a priority. It was never something they couldn’t give us,” Jacobs said.

After teaching music in schools, Jacobs started her own music school in 2022. The majority of her students are young but she and her four music instructors also teach adults. Those adult students also inspired Jacobs to try to find a way to get music lessons to more people.

“I’ve had adults who sign up for lessons who tell me ‘it was my dream to play as a kid but my parents couldn’t afford it,’ or ‘I played for a little bit then my parents couldn’t afford it so I had to stop and now I’m trying to take it up again,’” she said.

Jacobs is hoping that proceeds from the jazz quintet fundraiser will help fund the first round of scholarships.

“This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while. Our slogan is ‘making high quality music education accessible to everybody in the community and making every family feel like they can have this,’” Jacobs said.

Jacobs said she decided on a jazz concert after a jazz trio performance at the music school’s winter recital drew rave reviews - and requests to play again.

“They were asking to book the trio for events and I was shocked at the amount of attention and I thought if people liked them that much at the recital, they will listen to them again and that was the inspiration for the Night of Jazz,” she said.

The quintet is made up of local and Chicago jazz musicians.

“The core of it is a pianist, a drummer and a bassist. Then we are bringing in a trumpet player and a vocalist from Chicago, so some of the musicians are local and a couple are from Chicago,” she said.