Last Friday of each month features jazz in Renaissance Center rotunda

Release Date: 12/29/2007. Expired: 5/30/2008

The last Friday of each month this spring will bring the cool sounds of jazz to the rotunda of The Renaissance Center in Dickson.

Jeff Martin, director of music technology, piano instructor and director of The Renaissance Center’s Community Concert and Jazz Bands, will lead the center’s new Jazz Combo in two-hour performances Jan. 25, Feb. 29, March 28, April 25 and May 30.

Tickets for the 2 p.m. Friday Afternoon Jazz shows are $5.

The Jazz Combo will feature Martin joined by various members of the Community Concert Band and Jazz Band performing classic and new jazz in a variety of styles.

“Jazz is a very encompassing genre of music that takes on many different sounds,” said Martin. “It is truly an American creation that originated at the beginning of the 20^th century in the deep South, mostly as extemporaneous performances by African American musicians. It is best known for solo and ensemble improvisations on basic tunes and chord patterns. In more recent styles, it has taken on more sophisticated harmonic patterns and even evolved into free-form performances.”

New Orleans, Chicago and New York have each staked claims to influencing the evolution of jazz music as well as established sounds unique to musicians of those areas. From the Dixieland sounds that combined raw African, Caribbean and gospel influences to the rhythm and blues influences that came from the northern areas to the Big Band sounds of America’s heartland, jazz is the first indigenous form of music that created noticeable influence in music around the world and can be heard in rock and roll, hip-hop, rockabilly, blues and other forms.

The list of notable musicians that can be found under a general jazz heading would include such legends as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Herbie Hancock, Woody Herman, Billie Holiday, Branford and Wynton Marsalis, Thelonoius Monk, Charlie Parker, Artie Shaw, Fats Waller and many more.

“You just never know whose music you might hear when you join us for Friday Afternoon Jazz at The Renaissance Center,” Martin said. “It’s a great way to end the week and get ready for the weekend by sitting back on a Friday and relaxing with a little jazz.”

For more information on Friday Afternoon Jazz performances at The Renaissance Center beginning in January, call (615) 740-5600 or visit www.rcenter.org.

The Renaissance Center is a fine arts education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Events - Concerts and Recitals page for more about musical performances.

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