The Carolina Summer Music Festival has made jazz a priority since its founding in 2008. It made it an even bigger priority when this year's festival began yesterday.
The result was not only an evening concert devoted to a giant of the Great American Songbook, as has been the case in the past -- but also a morning jazz concert for kids and an afternoon screening of a documentary.
I attended the evening concert, titled "Moon River: The Words of Johnny Mercer (1909-1976)," and I also checked out "Jazz 4 Kidz." The concerts were in Gray Auditorium, as was the screening of Johnny Mercer: The Dream's on Me.
Should the festival continue having a jazz day? And should it continue jazz concerts outside of Winston-Salem, not only for adults, as it has been doing, but also at schools? Yes and yes.
I was especially impressed with "Jazz 4 Kidz," in which David Ford, an announcer for radio station WFDD, narrated a child-friendly introduction to key concepts of jazz and to three North Carolina natives who became master jazz musicians.
Everything about "Jazz 4 Kidz" worked splendidly: Ford, backed by several of the musicians who performed in last night's concert, covered an amazingly large amount of material in about 40 minutes. He was energetic, amusing and clearly in love with his material, some of which he scatted or sang.
Vocalist Martha Bassett and the musicians ably enhanced Ford's efforts, inducing wiggling of an endearingly rhythmic nature. How nice, too, that North Carolina's Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and Max Roach were included in the mix. They just might inspire a future generation of jazz greats from around these parts.
Thankfully, Winston-Salem's core of jazz players remains very fine indeed. Last night, they included Bassett, pianist Federico Pivetta, double-bass player Matt Kendrick, saxophonist Wally West, drummer John Wilson, trumpeter Ken Wilmot and violinist Jacqui Carrasco. Each contributed a number of memorable solos, from Wilmot's effect-filled one during "Blues in the Night" to Kendrick's briefly bowed one in "I'm An Old Cowhand" -- which sure sounded like a cow, tickling the collective funny bone.
kkeuffel@wsjournal.com
727-7337
The Carolina Summer Music Festival runs though Aug. 28. For tickets, go to www.carolinasummermusicfestival.org or call 721-7350.
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