Set My Spirit Free: Jazz Music’s Soul Connection

Join us Sunday, February 18, 2024 for a special Black History Month concert featuring jazz music, stories and poetry. A professional sextet will perform classic jazz music from Count Basie, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter and others. Dr. Joanne Gabbin, founding director (emeritus) of the Furious Flower Poetry Center, and Dr. Edward Scott, will present poetry and stories that tie into the music with historical context and artistic illumination. Musicians include trumpeter Kenny Rittenhouse (Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and US Army Blues, ret.); Harrisonburg natives Marlon Foster (drums) and Neal Perrine (bass); Lynchburg’s Lew Taylor on piano, saxophonist Greg Moody of Staunton and Harrisonburg trombonist, Robert Mott. 

This 90-minute, non-religious public performance is presented FREE of charge and will be held in the auditorium of Eastern Mennonite School, 801 Parkwood Drive, Harrisonburg (near EMU) beginning at 4 p.m. 

Funding and support for this event provided by Arts Council of the Valley, Eastern Mennonite School and RobertMottDesigns.com