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According to Jazz Hall of Fame Executive Director Leah Tucker, a lot of jazz musicians have called
Birmingham
home.
"Nat King Cole and Dina Washington,
Fez
Whatley, Lionel Hampton.. whew.! It's so many people it's hard just to name them all"... "And we have some musicians that want to claim Alabama like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, so we've got a really big jazz connection here in
Alabama
. This is kind of like the second home of jazz," said Dr. Leah Tucker.
Sunday,
Birmingham
based Doug Out and the Pinchhitters took the stage at the Carver Theater for Performance Art. Band front man Doug Ford invited a special guest violinist, his daughter Meghan.
"Birmingham is just such a diverse city in the first place it's so just culturally diverse and everything, there's so much opportunity to just express yourself however you want. And actually I'm classically trained so for me it's just terrifying to get on stage and improvise," said Meghan Ford.
But Doug Ford said improvisation is the name of this game. "Jazz is a spur of the moment now, creating a melody on the fly. And that's at the heart of jazz," said Doug Ford.
After they finished their set the group granted anyone with a burning desire the chance to shine on stage. "We're going to come up and play some chord changes and these other musicians are going to come up and just jam on it," said Doug Ford.
"Well the Jazz Jam Fest is what it's called and the first hour is our scheduled performer, and then the second hour any musician out there we've had three year old drummers to eighty year old singers can come and jam with the band," said Dr. Leah Tucker.
Dr. Tucker said the events will be held every fourth Sunday, at 4 p.m., at the Carver Theater on
4th Avenue north
.
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