By David Whitely

For Jazz enthusiasts looking for a place to listen to or perform great music, University of  The Streets at 130 E. 7^th Street, Manhattan, New York, is where you want to be.

Since its creation in 1969 by Muhammad Salahuddeen, University of the Streets, a non-profit organization aiming to “address the educational, vocational, and cultural needs of the community,” have been continuing this effort through weekly jazz jam sessions held at 8:30 p.m. Friday nights.

The Jam Sessions, hosted by internationally known jazz sensation Okaru Lovelace, are open to jazz patrons and performers. For five dollars, audience members can hear the different styles of jazz music such as ragtime, bebop and scat to name a few and singers and musicians can perform for the same price.  Not just singers and musicians perform here during the Friday night jam sessions, but dancers, and spoken word artist also.

I was recently invited to and attended one of the Friday jam sessions, and had the opportunity to experience some of whatNew York City’s jazz circuit has to offer.  The set up of the event was a small, intimate setting, inviting the audience to experience the music and vibe of jazz culture on a personal level. 

With a full house of close to 30 people, the amount of patrons and performs was large enough to make the room appear to be crowded, yet small enough to maintain its intimate feel.  Performers have been involved with Jazz as an amateur and professional for many years.  The room was a mixture of middle aged and younger people (teens and twenty something’s), showcasing the mass appeal of jazz music and culture to reach beyond usual confining things such as age.  The space had the tools usually seen in a jazz club: cello, piano, drums, lively performers, patrons with the look of anticipation on their faces, and of the course the talent.

 

Ms. Lovelace opened the evening with a few words for the crowd outlining the format of the event before the first performer June, took to the microphone.  With a very soothing and lovely voice, June demonstrated her love for Jazz through her singing.  Her passion for the culture and craft became apparent as soon as the Japanese born singer opened her mouth.  Along with the passion for the music being shown in her singing, it was also clear in her body language; June’s body language was captivating in not the usual intense form of performance, but by sheer enjoyment and love of performing Jazz. 

The next performer performed two songs, the first an up-tempo song, followed by a slow, crooning ballad.  This performer was different to that of June due to a much louder, thunderous voice, particularly on the up-tempo song.  Singing original songs, she gave the sheet music to the musicians and took command after telling them to follow along.  Sitting there listening her brought about visions of being in Harlem’s legendary Cotton Club during the 1940’s.  The audience moved from tapping their feet along to the tunes, to almost breaking into a dance number.  It was a very energetic performance to say the least. 

The next artist, another regular, Jim West took to the mic stand and brought about a swinging style with his rendition of the famous style of Scat.  Despite being overpowered by the sound of the band at times, Mr. West still kept it cool and funky with his laid back style.  What was really great about this performance is that the band broke into a solo and really started to jam.  The Cello player let loose on base, and the piano man followed suit on the keys.  The crowd was nodding their heads in a motion to the band to play with more ferocity because they were so into it. 

Overall, it was a solid event put together by Universityof  The Streets, and hosted by Okaru Lovelace. For more information on the Jam Session, visit www.universityofthestreets.org/about. For more information about Okaru Lovelace, visit her MySpace page at myspace.com/okarulovelace