Saturday, Sept. 13 was an enormous day for Montclair’s Jazz House Kids. The sixteenth Montclair Jazz Festival held its Downtown Jamboree and Block Party at Lackawanna Station, filling the streets of Montclair with nonstop music, dancing and the vitality of 20,000+ jazz lovers. That similar night, Jazz House Kids Founder Melissa Walker was honored by NCS throughout its particular “Champions for Change” program.
A Champion for Change
Hosted by NCS Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, this system featured eight “champions” (nonprofit leaders, social entrepreneurs, activists, and so on.) whose work addresses challenges together with inequality, well being, surroundings, schooling, neighborhood justice and the tradition. Walker was interviewed by NCS anchor and chief authorized analyst Laura Coates, who visited the Jazz House Summer Workshop on its remaining day and sat down with Walker for an in-depth interview.
Walker has been devoted to making sure college students obtain an arts schooling by founding Jazz House Kids to extend entry to music schooling. The group brings world-class schooling and performances that create avenues of entry, studying, profession improvement and neighborhood constructing.
NCS crews spent two full days in August on the Jazz House Summer Workshop with 150 college students. NCS additionally introduced a movie crew to seize a night of pupil performances at Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Jazz House Kids Artistic Director, nine-time Grammy-winning bassist and composer (and Walker’s husband) Christian McBride hosted the performances.
Walker based Jazz House Kids 23 years ago. Since its inception, the group has labored with greater than 50,000 younger folks ages 8-18. Headquartered in Montclair, the group additionally has a satellite tv for pc location in collaboration with Trinity Church in decrease Manhattan.
Big Night for Jazz and Community
The NCS airdate coincided with Jazz House Kids’ greatest occasion of the 12 months, the Montclair Jazz Festival. Created by Walker and McBride, the occasion is the largest free jazz festival within the area.
