For five years, the VCUarts Department of Music has held a jazz concert with an unlikely partner: the Greater Richmond Bar Foundation.
The annual concert is part of Jazz4Justice, a program that pairs university jazz programs with local legal entities for a joint benefit concert. This year’s event, to be held on Feb. 8, will feature the VCU Jazz Orchestra I and Jazz Orchestra II ensembles, past Jazz4Justice scholarship recipients, and the Vox Concordia choral ensemble. Attendees are also invited to bring their instruments for a jam session following the concert.
All told, the night will showcase the talents of more than 60 student performers and hundreds of community enthusiasts.
The first Jazz4Justice concert was held in 2002, when attorney Edward L. Weiner brought together the Fairfax Bar Association and Jim Carroll, the founder of the jazz studies program at George Mason University. Since then, the program has grown to include seven universities and legal partners in Virginia, and has raised more than $400,000.
“Jazz improvisation is about freedom, the ability and right to express yourself on equal footing with those around you while hearing and commenting on their viewpoints as well,” says Antonio Garcia, director of Jazz Studies at VCUarts. “Legal representation affords people the same: equal footing to put your voice forward among others and dialogue on any topic.”
A guest conductor is an annual highlight at the concert, with past guests including Anne Holton, then-Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia; Mark Herring, Virginia’s attorney general; Andrew Freiden, a meteorologist for NBC12; and Michael Herring, Richmond commonwealth’s attorney.
This year, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney will pick up the baton as guest conductor.
“I know that Mayor Stoney and the band and audience will have a blast,” Garcia says. “One year we also had a special collaboration between our jazz students and Justice John Charles Thomas, formerly of the Virginia Supreme Court, who is a most articulate poet. Their spontaneous performance of jazz poetry together was phenomenal.”
Still the concert isn’t just a celebration of collaboration. It’s a fundraiser for both jazz scholarships and pro bono legal counsel for people—particularly veterans—in the Richmond community. Last year the concert netted $19,325, with more than $11,500 going to the GRBF, and $7,730 supporting VCU jazz scholarships.
At a Jazz Orchestra concert later that year, Garcia presented partial scholarships to George Maddox, Jimmy Trussell, Bryan Connolly, DeSean Gault and Michael Bradley.
“Paying for my education has always been a burden for my family and me, and there have been times that my attendance at the university was questionable because of that,” says Gault, a drummer. “Receiving awards from the school like this really does help the situation tremendously, and I’m forever grateful for the department having faith in my abilities. I’m also starting to see the fruits of my hard work and dedication towards my craft. All the hours spent practicing, performing, writing, and enduring have not gone unnoticed by the department, and I greatly appreciate them for that.”
The 2019 Jazz4Justice concert will be held on Friday, Feb. 8, at 8 p.m., at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts.
Photos: VCU Jazz Orchestra I. Jazz4Justice scholarship winners George Maddox, Jimmy Trussell, Bryan Connolly, DeSean Gault, and Michael Bradley celebrate the $,7730 check from the Greater Richmond Bar Foundation with VCUarts Director of Jazz Studies Antonio Garcia. Both by John DiJulio.
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