I’m sitting in one of about 50 folding chairs facing a foot-high stage that’s held together by duct tape. The seats aren’t even close to half full, and it’s BYOB.

The New Fracture Quartet is set to perform soon at Elastic, an art gallery/performance space above a Chinese restaurant in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. But nobody, on the stage or in the seats, is in any rush.

Without greeting or warning, the din of light conversation explodes into a frenzy of chaotic noise from the stage. A trumpet player is screaming through her horn, and the bass player is frantically heaving his bow across the instrument’s strings.

The drummer’s sticks are a blur, and the guitar player is recklessly running both of his hands up and down the length of his instrument. His name is Dave Miller. He’s an NIU graduate, and this is his job.

Miller began college as an accounting major at U of I at Urbana-Champaign, but soon realized that music, not accountancy, was his destiny. He transferred to NIU to study with renowned guitar virtuoso Fareed Haque. Apart from playing in school ensembles, he attended Chicago jam sessions “religiously” and learned important lessons from professor Haque.

“He taught me how to get up on stage and just bring it, and not hold back, not be shy,” Miller said.

A 2005 graduate now living in Chicago, Miller is “bringing it” in a startling variety of musical settings, from the straight-ahead Justin Dillard Trio to the quirky free jazz group Zing! to his own project, a fantastic indie/rock/jazz outfit called Algernon.

Wedding gigs and private teaching are sprinkled in with all the creative music.

“It’s the gigs you want to do the most that pay the least,” Miller admits, but his current musical activities are enough to make ends meet.

For Greg Ward, class of 2004, the decision to study jazz at NIU was only natural. In high school he attended NIU’s annual jazz combo day where he met some of the faculty.

“It just felt right,” Ward said. Now one of the most in-demand saxophonists in the Windy City, Ward’s lessons from NIU help all of his gigs feel right.

“I don’t feel like [NIU] is trying to make you a star,” Ward said. “They’re giving you tools to do whatever you want.”

The NIU jazz program turns out eight to 12 graduates per year. While some go to graduate school and others try their luck in daunting cities like New York or Los Angeles, most head for Chicago. NIU’s jazz progeny have left their marks on the Chicago jazz scene for decades now, and the recent crop of graduates is carrying on the tradition superbly.

Those tools serve him amazingly well today. Ward is on stage almost every night playing a disarming array of styles: jazz, hip-hop, Latin, avant-guard and more. He’s also been flexing his composition muscles.

Recently, commissions included the Peoria Ballet Company and the International Contemporary Ensemble. At one point considering taking a job as a janitor, Ward has been able to pay the bills without ever working a day job. The secret to his success?

“If somebody asks me, ‘Hey, can you do this?’ I just say yes. I feel like I can learn anything,” Ward said.

When it comes to making a living in jazz, nothing is “normal.” While Greg Ward plays salsa for dancing, saxophonist Doug Stone could be performing as a guest artist with a college jazz band. While Dave Miller teaches a private lesson, guitarist Kyle Asche might be tearing through a solo with his organ trio.

There was one thing they all did the same: When asked whether they would still choose NIU if given the opportunity to do it all again, not one thought twice before answering “Yes.”