Musical interlude: Jazz music to fill the plaza of the arts center

Photo courtesy of the Mesquite Arts Center

By Kenny Green, kgreen@starlocalnews.com, Published: Wednesday, May 22, 2013 2:32 PM CDT

For the past several years, the Mesquite Arts Center has hosted a series of summer jazz concerts on the plaza known as JazzBreaks on the Plaza. The concert series returns to the city on Tuesday, June 4, at the Mesquite Arts Center, 1527 N. Galloway Ave.

"We have done this since 1996 and have always had great audiences," said Mike Templeton, arts center director. "When we established the arts center we had local groups that were doing everything but jazz music. The arts council wanted to try and have a little bit of everything, so we started this. We originally had it in June and October, but the nights were too cool in October so we began only offering it only in June."

Before JazzBreaks, there was no music series at the arts center in June. The series is now held at 7:30 p.m. every Tuesday during the month.

"We thought this would be the best time to invite people to our front porch and see what we offer," Templeton said.

Templeton credits the success of the concert series to the level of musicians the arts council has been able to get to participate.

"The guys that come and play really enjoy this immensely. There is a lot of applause for the performances, especially following solos," Templeton said. "The niche we have found has been very successful so far."

Templeton said the arts council is always on the lookout for new groups to come and perform during the series each year.

Read more: http://www.mesquitenews.com/articles/2013/05/31/mesquite_news/news/1404.txt