In celebration of Black History Month, a jazz quartet performed and taught University of Kentucky students about the history of jazz and its roots in African American culture.
The Center for Academic Resources and Enrichment Services (CARES) partnered with the Martin Luther King Center and First-Generation Student Services to put on the Coffee House Jazz and Poetry Night in the Cornerstone facility on Thursday, Feb. 13.
Amia Carter, a freshman psychology major and master of ceremonies for the event, said she hoped people would leave with a fresh understanding of jazz.
“Usually when you think of Black History Month, the genres of music are R&B (and) hip-hop, but there’s a lot of genres that Black History Month centers on, jazz being one of them,” Carter said. “We’re taking a step back from what we usually see and kind of digging deeper for things we may not hear about.”
Ron Jones, the leader and founder of the Ron Jones Quartet, played the alto saxophone for the performance. He said he hoped people coming to the event would want to know more about jazz afterward.
“Just like you learn about the civil rights era, you should learn about jazz,” Jones said. “I want them (visitors) to be interested in understanding this is America’s greatest art form. Right here in America, created by African Americans.”
Jones said he wanted to take the audience through the history of jazz, starting with the blues.
“The blues started back in the days of slavery,” Jones said. “Jazz has evolved many, many times from where it started.”
In between pieces of music, Jones talked about trendsetters in the history of jazz music, people he said were the “jazz gods”.
Jones named the accomplishments of musicians like Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and Thelonious Monk. Pictures of some of the musicians were also displayed next to the band.
Ron Jackson, part of the CARES first-generation department and assistant director for enrichment services, said he chose to tie the event into Black History Month due to the origins of jazz in African American culture.
“We wanted to make sure that we illuminated that (history) for students to understand that if you’re from this culture, this is something that came from your culture,” Jackson said.
Jackson invited some people in the audience to join the band for one song and told them to improvise their own rhythms with small percussion instruments like tambourines and cowbells.
“Jazz is a wonderful genre of music with a rich history that they (visitors) can now embed in the number of other genres of music they listen to,” Jackson said.
Vincent Buchenberger, a sophomore psychology major, said he was excited to see jazz music performed live because he is also a jazz musician.
“I played a lot of classical music throughout high school . . . I started playing jazz and I realized that’s what I really like to do,” Buchenberger said. “I like the freedom of it and the history behind it, it’s nice to connect with my roots a little bit and be able to say exactly what I want to in a solo.”
The poetry readings started during the second part of the event, with recitations during breaks between the music. Buchenberger said he hoped people would see a connection between jazz and poetry.
“There’s rhythm in poetry, kind of the same as there is in jazz,” Buchenberger said. “You can even improvise with poetry with more of a rap style, so hopefully people can make out those parallels between two forms of art.”
