Faculty project brings jazz acts to Ithaca

Jazz Spaces Ithaca, a new project initiated by faculty members of the Minority, Indigenous and Third World Studies Research Group (MITWS) in the College of Arts and Sciences, will bring prominent jazz musicians from major metropolitan centers to Ithaca during the 2012-13 academic year.

The live jazz events, the first Thursday of each month at the Carriage House Café, are intended to revitalize public spaces and build community. Jazz Spaces Ithaca will organize workshops and other events for local youths ages 12-15 and their families, in collaboration with community-based educational organizations and overseen by the Village at Ithaca.

The first Jazz Spaces Ithaca event is Sept. 6 at 7.30 p.m., featuring alto saxophonist Vincent Herring from New York City. He is joined by pianist John White and bassist Peter Chwazik of the Ithaca College music faculty and drummer Tom Killian. Tickets are $12; $8 for students with a valid ID.

Paul Merrill, the Gussman Director of Cornell Jazz Ensembles, has helped shape the project's vision of live jazz as a social resource that the community needs to nurture and use, says Satya Mohanty, professor of English and a founding member of the project. The project focuses on jazz because it is a uniquely democratic medium, with its emphasis on improvisation and the self-expression of each band member.

"The core idea," Mohanty says, "is to enrich three vibrant public places -- the Carriage House, Opus Ithaca and the Southside Community Center -- as interconnected social spaces where music and informal conversation lead to the deepening of relationships among different generations and geographical/socio-cultural sections of the greater Ithaca community."

Upcoming events in the series will feature the Steve Brown Quartet on Oct. 4; pianist Tomoko Ohno on Nov. 1, with Chwazik and Killian; and saxophonist Mark Turner with pianist John Stetch on Dec. 6.

Jazz Spaces Ithaca is co-sponsored by the Department of English, the Department of Music, Cornell Jazz Ensembles, MITWS, Hans Bethe House, the Carriage House Café and the Village at Ithaca.

More information: http://jazzspacesithaca.arts.cornell.edu. Tickets: jazzspacesithaca@cornell.edu.

Media Contact

Syl Kacapyr