Jazz

What began as a confluence of musical tastes has become a jazz-funk explosion for the Hagerstown band Junk. Now the band is hoping to take it to the next level. With a demo complete, the band is working on its debut album, said founding member Scott Reed, bassist and the band's unofficial frontman. They hope the debut album will land them higher-profile gigs and allow bandmates to quit their day jobs. Junk performs Sunday at Firestone's Restaurant & Bar in Frederick, Md. Junk's sound started off as a hip-hop-jazz hybrid, with a live DJ, though minus the rappers.

Poet Charles Carey and pianist Art Page were on hand for a jazz and poetry session at Contemporary School of the Arts and Gallery. The next session will be Sunday at the gallery. The event is held the second Sunday of every month from 2 to 4 p.m. The gallery is at  4 W. Franklin St. in Hagerstown. For more information, call 301-791-6191, send an email to ronlytle3@netzero.net or go to csagi.org .

Jazz singer Rene Marie said she wants her music to be "like a verb. " During a telephone interview from her Virginia home, Rene Marie, 56, said her music has changed extensively since she began performing professionally in the late 1990s. Her music, she said, "is more aggressive now than it used to be. As I get bolder, I get bolder," she said. And this new style of music is what attendees will see on Sunday, Aug. 26, at Renfrew Institute's Jazz Festival. The 21st annual event is from 2 to 4 p.m. on the lawn behind the Renfrew Museum near Waynesboro.

On April 8, a poetry and jazz event was held at Contemporary School of the Arts and Gallery Inc. in Hagerstown. Art Page led the session. The monthly events are held the second Sunday of every month at the gallery, 4 W. Franklin St. in Hagerstown. For more information, call 301-791-6191, send an email to ronlytle3@netzero.net or go to www.csagi.org .

Jazz a 'vacation' for hundreds at Renfrew

Leader of the band tells students to listen

HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. -Music lovers will be treated to a free concert Saturday evening featuring two men who are members of famous jazz families. Pianist Hank Jones and saxophonist Jimmy Heath will be honored and will perform at the fifth annual Don Redman Heritage Awards & Concert at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Both Heath and Jones were members of families with brothers in jazz, says Todd Bolton, supervisory park ranger and organizer for the concert. Neither Heath's nor Jones' parents were professional musicians, but their homes were filled with live and recorded music, they say. Heath's mother sang in the Baptist church's choir, and his father played clarinet in a marching band for fun. Jones' mother played piano, and his father played guitar.

julieg@herald-mail.com HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. - Frank Wess was playing tenor sax with the Count Basie Orchestra when Basie learned Wess also played the flute, an opportunity Basie and Wess seized upon in future concerts. At the time - it was the '50s - flutes and jazz were a rare combination. "It was at one time, but it's not now. There's flute players all over now," said Wess, 83, in a recent phone interview from his home in New York City. Wess and Vince Prudente will perform, backed by the Howard Burns Quartet, at the fourth annual Don Redman Heritage Awards & Concert on Saturday, June 25, at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.

The musicians performing in Renfrew Institute's 21st annual Jazz Festival might have been hitting the right notes, but the weather wasn't. Storm clouds rolled in before the free event's 2 p.m. start time Sunday, so organizers moved everything from Renfrew Park to Waynesboro Area Middle School. The school's auditorium quickly filled with people. “It's always a little less (turnout) than when we have it in the park,” said Melodie Anderson-Smith, executive director of Renfrew Institute.

Louis Armstrong once said, “Musicians don't retire; they stop when there's no more music in them.” Jazz legends and old friends Ben Tucker and Lou Donaldson still have the music in them. That's why the octogenarians are still touring and playing the music they love. On Saturday, both Tucker and Donaldson will perform at the Don Redman Heritage Award and Concert at the Mather Training Center in Harpers Ferry, W.Va. They will also each receive the Don Redman Heritage Award for their contributions “in jazz education and music as well as the individual musicianship, humanity and dignity that illuminate the spirit of Don Redman.” The award was named after jazz arranger Don Redman, a West Virginia native, who studied at the historically black Storer College in Harpers Ferry.

On Saturday at The Maryland Theatre, the stage will be filled with dancers wearing ballet slippers, pointe shoes, tap shoes, character shoes, jazz shoes, hip-hop sneakers and going barefoot.  Ballet and All That Jazz, under the artistic direction of Ranelle Flurie, will present two shows at 2 and 7 p.m.  The matinee show consists of Little BITs (Ballerinas In Training), the school's youngest dancers with the preschoolers dancing as magical fairies.  The elementary ages will become childhood princesses.

About 175 young musicians took part Saturday in the 2013 Swingin' in the Park Jazz Festival, an event organized by Washington County Public Schools to showcase the county's jazz bands in middle and high schools. Nine county schools took part this year in the event, which has been held since 1998. Rob Hovermale, Washington County Public Schools' supervisor of visual and performing arts, said the event was noncompetitive, and enables participants to experiment and improvise. Gary Rupert, the event organizer, said the event was a good opportunity for young musicians to listen to other talented musicians.

After coming home empty in 2010, the Smithsburg High School band program brought back two first-place trophies, a second-place trophy and an individual award this year from its trip to Disney World. The marching and jazz bands brought home gold trophies for best of show among all performers at Festival Disney, a competition at Disney World open to concert bands, marching bands, jazz ensembles, orchestras, vocal ensembles, show choirs and auxiliary units. The concert band brought home a silver trophy for second place.

After coming home empty in 2010, the Smithsburg High School band program brought back two first-place trophies, a second-place trophy and an individual award this year from its trip to Disney World. The marching and jazz bands brought home gold trophies for best of show among all performers at Festival Disney, a competition at Disney World open to concert bands, marching bands, jazz ensembles, orchestras, vocal ensembles, show choirs and auxiliary units. The concert band brought home a silver trophy for second place.

The Top Five Jazz quartet The Lee Konitz New Quartet will perform. 8 p.m. Thursday, March 28, at Shepherd University's Frank Center, off University Drive, Shepherdstown, W.Va. $22. Call 304-876-5785, email friends@sufom.org or go to www.sufom.org . Gymnastics and circus acts The Gymkana Troupe from the University of Maryland will perform gymnastics and circus tricks. 7 p.m. Friday, March 29, at Hagerstown Community College's Athletic, Recreation and Community Center, Robinwood Drive, east of Hagerstown.

For Mark Andrew Cook, music is more than notes on a page. "With music, it's all about the journey and the learning experience," said Cook, 57, director of music theory and composition at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown.  And for Cook, his journey in music started in elementary school. Back then and his friends would get together and play rock music in a band. But his official music career started in his middle school days as a trumpet player for the school band. His band director was his inspiration to pursue music.

Washington County Public Schools presented the 2013 All County Middle and High School Bands and Jazz Ensemble concert on Saturday at North Hagerstown High School. The following were members of the bands: 2013 All County Middle School Band Flute - Sabrina Arno, Northern; Jill Bender, Clear Spring; Megan Campbell, Springfield; Hannah Coughlin, Springfield; Brett Douglas, Smithsburg; Bethany Helman, Western Heights; Olivia King, Northern; Mackenzie Kirby, Boonsboro; Jade Lee, Smithsburg; Lauren Loewen, E. Russell Hicks; Elizabeth Lulciuc, Clear Spring; Olivia Schmidt, Boonsboro; Kai Walker, Western Heights; Jada Younker, E. Russell Hicks Oboe - Eduardo Elias-Vasquez, Western Heights; Katie Lee, Northern Bassoon - Hayden Lyles, Northern Clarinet - Kaylee Adelsberger, Springfield; Zoie Alexander, Western Heights; Ashley Ardinger, Clear Spring; Connor Buckley, E.Russell Hicks; Rebecca Embly, E. Russell Hicks; Barbara Fitzsimmons, Springfield; Megan Frey, E. Russell Hicks; Diego Garcia-Munoz, Western Heights; Nicole Gest, Springfield; Chloe Hadley, E. Russell Hicks; Sierra Hill, Western Heights; Julie Hutzell, Western Heights; Megan Klosterman, Boonsboro; Hannah Moore, E. Russell Hicks; Dylan Newell, Western Heights; David O'Donoghue, Northern; Quinn Paradise, Boonsboro; Richard Robertson, Clear Spring; Brianna Rowe, Smithsburg; Rebekah Scott, Boonsboro; Maira Tarawallie, Northern; Julia Thomas, Smithsburg; Lisa Weller, Clear...

Ballet and All That Jazz dancers to perform Act II of 'The Nutcracker' Dancers with Ballet and All That Jazz will perform Act II of “The Nutcracker” to those in the community who are not able to come to them.  The following is a list of performances: Monday, Dec. 3, Coffman Nursing Home,  6:45 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4, Valley Mall (J.C. Penney),  7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5,  Western Maryland Hospital Center, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, Broadmore Assisted Living, 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 10, Potomac Center, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11,  Potomac Towers,  7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 12, Homewood Retirement Village (chapel)

Daegan Stine, a junior from Cascade, will perform during Jazz Night at McDaniel College, 2 College Hill, Westminster. The performance, which is free and open to the public, will be Thursday, Dec. 6, at 8 p.m., in Decker Center Forum. Directed by Bo Eckard, a senior lecturer in music, the performance highlights the Thursday Jazz Ensemble, Monday Jazz Ensemble, and the five-piece Jazz Combo. Styles of jazz represented include classic big band, swing, bebop, Latin, funk, jazz-rock and Tin Pan Alley.

Stop by The Gourmet Goat in Hagerstown any Saturday night and the smoky voice of Kerensa Gray will likely be flowing through the room. Gray, a Waynesboro, Pa., resident, always wanted to sing, but her childhood asthma held her back. It was so severe, she said, that several times paramedics had to be called, her breathing stopped. At its worse, she had a seizure and passed out because of lack of oxygen. She poured herself into learning violin instead. Then, when she was 31 and well past the age most people grow out of childhood asthma, hers went away.