Photo Credit: Anna Helhoski
When the jazz saxophonist and Greenwich resident Bennie Wallace was growing up in Chattanooga, T.N., he received a gift from music teacher Chet Hedgecock. And these days, he's doing all he can to pass that gift along to young students in Fairfield County as the founder of Backcountry Jazz.
With his music-loving dog Maya by his side, Wallace sat in the living room of the backcountry home he shares with his wife, Jeanette, and recalled the time Hedgecock ”piled a bunch of us into a station wagon and drove us 100 miles to see Count Basie play.
It was a life-changing experience, and that life-changing experience is what I want to try to give kids in Bridgeport, Norwalk, Greenwich and all over the area.”
Founded in 2006, the non profit Backcountry Jazz aims to stimulate communities educationally and socially while building future audiences for that unique American artform, jazz.
“People ask us what we do in a nutshell: We play concerts in Greenwich to raise money to teach music in Bridgeport and work with kids,” said Wallace. “It’s important for kids to get into music … it teaches them to think in an abstract form.”
Friday morning Wallace was setting out to award outstanding students with new instruments at the Student Opportunities for Arts Reinforcement (SOARS) public school summer music camp in Bridgeport. The camp was established through Backcountry Jazz’s partnership with Bridgeport teacher Tanya Kelly and Kids Empowered By Your Support, or KEYS. There is no charge for kids to attend the camp.
Wallace felt a sense of urgency when he learned that students who play music typically rent, so when the school year ends, the music does also. “This is probably the most concentrated musical growing experience they have throughout the year,” said Wallace. “These are great kids, but [they] can be in danger out there on the streets. [The camp is] a safe haven, a nurturing environment, and I’m just so proud of it.”
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