Musicians from the North Carolina Jazz Festival All-Star band (from left) Hod O'Brien (piano), Herman Burney (bass), Tom Fischer (clarinet), John Cocuzzi (vibes), Joe Ascione (drums), Ed Polcer (cornet), Stephanie Nakasian (vocals), John Allred (trombone, hidden behind Nakasian) and Duke Heitger (trumpet), perform for 7th grade music students at Roland-Grise Middle School Friday Feb. 5, 2010.       

STAFF PHOTO BY Paul Stephen/Wilmington StarNews

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            We call our traditional jazz party a “Festival.  To be more visually “festive”, we found the need to decorate and “jazz up” our welcoming Patron Lobby area at the Wilmington Riverside Hotel. Two objectives arose from this idea.  First, the visual artistic benefit we’d receive and even more important, the interest and input from the youth in our city and Cape Fear Area.

   On recommendation of a local jazz fan and our webmaster, Jay Curley, we called on the students of the New Hanover High School Art Department lead by instructor, Sara Jones for their ideas and artistic creativity.  They were excited to be a part of a tradition celebrating its 30^th year in Wilmington and immediately went to work on two very large pieces to represent the spirit of jazz.  Ms. Jones suggested that we approach the N.H.C School Board to discuss ways the N.C.J.F. could involve “art and music” students from all area schools.  The principal mission of the N.C.J.F is to promote, present and preserve jazz. It’s becoming a more dynamic issue as our Patrons “age” and we all do, to keep this truly American Musical Art flourishing for decades to come.

          The North Carolina Jazz Festival is extremely enthusiastic when it comes to promoting “Our Music-Traditional Jazz” to the Youth in our area.  We’ll work even more aggressively through the years to tie visual art and music together directly involving our area students.