Live Jazz Music at the Mary Lou

By April Dudash, September 9, 2014

John Brown perched on a stool, his fingers flying across the thick strings of his bass. He closed his eyes as the drums, piano and trumpet conversed with each other, taking turns carrying the melody.

Across the room at Duke’s Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, students studied notes on laptops and visitors watched the jazz ensemble, bobbing their heads to the beat.  The tradition of “Jazz @ the Mary Lou” is 10 years old, and Brown, director of the Duke Jazz Program, brings different musicians to the center every Wednesday evening, from professional performers to up-and-coming high school students.

Brown, who first discovered the bass while watching the Duke Ellington Orchestra on TV, said he hopes to bring happiness to people by exposing them to music that they haven’t heard before, from the works of alto saxophonist Paul Desmond to double-bassist Ray Brown to singer Shirley Horn.

“It’s one way that I get to accomplish one of my goals, which is for no one to pass through the walls of Duke University without being touched by jazz in some way,” Brown said. “If I can introduce people to an artist, to a song, to a period, to anything that might change or, dare I say, better them, I’ve done what I hope to do.”

Members of the Duke and Durham community are invited each week to listen to live jazz over light hors d'oeuvres and nonalcoholic drinks from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. during the academic year.

read more: http://today.duke.edu/2014/09/jazzmarylou