Jazz Artists of Charleston (JAC) has announced the launch of “Jazz in the Joint,” a community service program created by JAC board member Steve Simon that will bring jazz music to South Carolina’s jails and prisons.
“My hope is that, through the transformative power of music and outreach programs like this, inmates of prisons and jails throughout the country will have a few hours to forget where they are and to realize that people they’ve never met care about them,” said Simon in a press release.
The first performance by the “Jazz in the Joint” band, featuring band leader-clarinetist Steve Simon, keyboardist Mayor John Tecklenburg, trumpeter Charlton Singleton, bassist Brett Belanger, drummer Markus Helander, saxophonist Chris Williams and vocalist Heather Rice, is scheduled for Oct. 4 at 10 a.m. at Lieber Correctional Institute in Ridgeville, S.C.
“Our immediate goal is to make ‘Jazz in the Joint’ part of an ongoing community educational outreach effort. We also encourage other jazz organizations throughout the United States to embrace the concept of ‘Jazz in the Joint’ of fostering positive change through music,” said executive director at JAC, Mary Beth Natarajan, in the release.
For more information about JAC, visit jazzartistsofcharleston.org.
