North Carolina Central University and Art of Cool Partner to Launch Jazz Festival

Art of Cool and North Carolina Central University’sjazz studies program are partnering in April 2014 to bring a world-class jazz festival to downtown Durham. The jazz presentations scheduled for the 24th Annual NCCU Jazz Festival will be presented during April 25-26, 2014 as part of the Art of Cool Music Festival. This is a departure from the last few years of the NCCU festival which is usually held solely on the campus of NCCU at B.N. Duke Auditorium.

This community-building partnership will raise awareness of the NCCU jazz studies program during the festival as student and faculty big bands and combos will perform at various festival venues as well as the headliners scheduled for the NCCU jazz festival will now be added to the AOC festival lineup.

Under the leadership of Dr. Ira Wiggins, NCCU initiated the NCCU Jazz Festival in 1990 to expose the campus and the Durham community to America’s first indigenous art form, jazz. This mission is now extended beyond the campus as the partnership is formed.

"The North Carolina Central University Jazz Studies Program is delighted to partner with the Art of The Cool Project as a part of the 1st Annual Art of The Cool Jazz Festival in conjunction with the 24th Annual NCCU Jazz Festival," says Dr. Ira Wiggins, Associate Professor, Director of Jazz Studies. Currently, AOC is running a Kickstarter campaign to raise additional funds for the 2014 festival.

The goal of the Kickstarter campaign is to raise at least $25,000 at our weekly events through August 5th. Kickstarter perk levels range from $5 as the minimum with a free music download to $1000 for a VIP experience and box seats at The Carolina Theatre during the 2014 festival. The 2014 Art of Cool Festival is sponsored by American Tobacco.

Dedicated to increasing the visibility of the local vibrant, varied and surprisingly under-appreciated jazz and live music scene, Art of Cool is a unique collaboration between the jazz and art communities to bring both creative mediums to supporters in an intimate concert setting. The live jazz performances showcase and stimulate the forward-focused creative thought that is occurring on the local jazz scene. AOC has additional goals of solidifying the Triangle as a metropolitan area with a world-class defined jazz culture by bringing a Jazz Festival to Durham, as well as recognizing the need to keep jazz as part of America’s fabric by cultivating the genre in future generations. With its second year in existence, expect many exciting things to come from Art of Cool.

Art of Cool is a creative philanthropic project spearheaded by Cicely Mitchell and trumpeter and educator, Albert Strong IV of Al Strong Music Productions.

Learn more about great events in Durham with the Durham Event Calendar.

Benny Golson, Carl Allen Quartet to Perform at NCCU Jazz Festival in April

The 23rd Annual North Carolina Central University Jazz Festival will feature performances by saxophonist Benny Golson and the Carl Allen Quartet. The schedule for the festival, running from April 15–20, was announced today by Dr. Ira Wiggins, director of NCCU’s Jazz Studies Program. The festival will also include performances by the NCCU Jazz Ensembles, Vocal Jazz Ensemble, the NCCU Jazz Faculty group, student combos and the UNC–Chapel Hill faculty jazz group.

Benny Golson, a legendary tenor saxophonist, composer and arranger, has performed all over the world in a career that began in the 1940s when he was a teenager in Philadelphia. Now 84 years old, he was inducted into the International Academy of Jazz Hall of Fame in 2009. He has played alongside Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Earl Bostic, Art Blakey and other noted musicians. He is the composer of such jazz standards as “Killer Joe,” “I Remember Clifford,” “Along Came Betty,” “Stablemates,” “Whisper Not,” “Blues March,” “Five Spot After Dark” and  “Are you Real?” Over the years, he has recorded more than 30 albums.

Carl Allen is a Milwaukee-born, New York-based drummer, sideman, bandleader and educator. Starting in the early 1980s when he was still in college, he joined trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, served as his musical director for eight years, and recorded several albums with him. He has also played with Benny Golson, Jennifer Holliday, J.J. Johnson, Rickie Lee Jones, Sammy Davis Jr., Branford Marsalis, Lena Horne, Ruth Brown, Herbie Hancock, and many others. In addition to maintaining a busy performing and recording schedule, he is currently the artistic director of jazz studies at the Juilliard School in New York City. In the Carl Allen Quartet, formed just in the past year, he is joined by Tim Green on alto and soprano saxophone, Xavier David on piano and Yasushi Nakamura on bass.

Here is the schedule for the Festival:
April 15 — NCCU Jazz Combos II, III and IV and Big Band II, 7 p.m. in B.N. Duke Auditorium. Free admission, no ticket required.

April 16 — NCCU Vocal Jazz Summit, featuring NCCU Vocal Jazz Combo and Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and additional performances by high school students, 7:30 p.m. in B.N. Duke Auditorium. Free admission, no ticket required.

April 17 — NCCU Faculty Jazz Group and UNC–Chapel Hill Faculty Jazz Group, 8 p.m., B.N. Duke Auditorium. Free admission, no ticket required.

April 18 and 19 — Master class workshops, noon, NCCU Jazz Band Room. No ticket is required.
April 19 — Performance featuring Benny Golson with the NCCU Jazz Ensemble; Opening performance by NCCU Vocal Jazz Ensemble, 8 p.m., B.N. Duke Auditorium. Tickets $15.

April 20 — Performance featuring Carl Allen Quartet; Opening performance by the NCCU Jazz Ensemble, 8 p.m., B.N. Duke Auditorium. Tickets $20 (Combo ticket for both nights $30).

Tickets will be available starting March 8 at the NCCU Ticket Office. The phone number is 919-530-5170.

For more great music events in Durham, check out the Durham Event Calendar.

Jazz Pianist and A Cappella Group Headline NCCU Jazz Festival

The 22nd Annual NCCU Jazz Festival will take place in Durham from April 16 – 21 with performances by Grammy winners Take 6, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, the U.S. Air Force big band Airmen of Note, the UNC–Chapel Hill Faculty Jazz Group and Gary Smulyan, and the NCCU Jazz Combos, Vocal Jazz Ensemble and Faculty Jazz Group.

Cyrus Chestnut

The performers have all had rich and full careers which they will bring to bear during their shows at the festival.
Highlights of the festival will include a meet-the-artist session with Take 6 and Cyrus Chestnut on April 19 at the Beyu Caffé at 7 p.m., a free master class workshop on April 19 and 20 at noon in the Jazz Band Room, and a Vocal Jazz Summit at noon in the B.N. Duke Auditorium on April 20.

Under the leadership of Dr. Ira Wiggins, NCCU initiated the Jazz Festival in 1990 to expose the campus and the Durham community to America’s first indigenous art form, jazz. Tickets for the festival are $45 and include admission to all performances. To purchase tickets or for more information visit the festival's website.

See Also: Jazz Legend Was "Sentimental" About Durham

Jazz Legend Was "Sentimental" About Durham

Sometimes, not very often, a story hits a reader. Sometimes that hit is hard like a linebacker, other times it's just a glancing touch that brings memories of a person who elicited that "just so" feeling.


This story is all of the above.

For background and context, Durham was once home to one of the most vibrant Hayti communities in the US, and many famous African-American artists, musicians, performers, and authors made their way to and through Durham as a result. One of those was Duke Ellington - the jazz legend known the world around.

Today the blog North Carolina Miscellany posted a marvelous little bit of information that deserves to be noticed.

Ellington, a recipient of 13 Grammy Awards and the Pulitzer Prize, is less well-known for those accomplishments than for his songs - compositions that endure today as standards copied, emulated and repeated seemingly without showing signs of wear. One of those pieces was composed, on the spot to help a friend out of a delicate situation with two ladies, in Durham. That song is In a Sentimental Mood.

Read the blog post in full while imagining the heyday of Durham in which the song was created. The economy was good, money and work were plentiful, the world was at peace, and the nearest cabinet radio was filling the room with the dulcet tones of America's music - jazz, some of which came from right here in Durham, NC.

Marsalis Honored with The North Carolina Award

Durham resident Branford Marsalis was honored last night with North Carolina's top civilian honor - The North Carolina Award.  The North Carolina Awards ceremony was held at the Museum of History in Raleigh.

Marsalis was honored for his volunteer work and for his accomplishments as a musician.  He is among the world's best known saxaphone players who shot to fame for his work on Sting's Dream of the Blue Turtles album and then went on to be the band leader on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Other recipients were sculptor Vollis Simpson, Charles Hamner Jr. and former U.S. Rep. Martin Lancaster for public service; Dr. Trudy Mackay for science; and Ron Rash for literature.

Marsalis' move to Durham was an effort to live in a genuine and real community - something he's said often.  He teaches at North Carolina Central University and occasionally performs with his students around town without billing - it's not entirely unheard of to be out listening to a live jazz performance and suddenly be watching a world-renowned star join in unannounced. Such instances usually create an instant sensation in local social media channels.  Most recently, such a performance occurred at Whiskey in Downtown Durham.

Shirley Caesar Honored with BET's Living Legend Award

Shirley Caesar, who started her singing career in Durham, is being honored by BET - The Black Entertainment Network with their Living Legend Award.  In her career as a gospel singer, Caesar has won 11 Grammy Awards and released over 30 gospel albums since embarking on a solo career in 1966 and is considered the "First Lady of Gospel."

Currently Caesar splits her time pastoring a church and traveling to speak professionally.  Her BET honor is another accolade in a long line of career and life achievements. Caesar embodies what it means to be a living legend with her grace, poise, class and what has been described as "the voice of an angel." Her career spans over five decades and she has sold of over 2 million records. Some fifty years after she began her recording career, the legendary singer and songwriter continues to stir the souls of millions of faithful fans with classics like “Sweeping Through the City” and “You’re Next In Line For A Miracle.”

Caesar is in good company in Durham's musical history.  Grammy award winning Nneena Freelon is among the world's most famous jazz vocalists, and hip hop artist 9th Wonder also hails from the Bull City.