Jazz Art Mondays at The Azalea Restaurant

The Azalea Restaurant located at 224 West 51st Street in Manhattan, was teeming with both visual art and the art of music as part of Dr. Bert Morgan and Eric DeWitt's VG Jazz's vision to feature both music and art on Monday evenings. This has manifested itself as the Urban Jazz and Art Series which originally appeared in Harlem at the Tribal Spears Gallery. Hopefully, it will eventually find a home in various clubs throughout the city willing to combine music and art. The series had a successful presentation at Tribal Spears and is due to return and also garnered enough excitement at Azalea to prompt the club manager to agree to further showings. In 2007, there are plans to present the event at "Bed" in Atlanta and at a venue in LA. The goal of the Urban Jazz & Arts Series is to meld the visual with the audio. To bring the flow of art and the rhythm of music together as one while educating the public about both art forms and also to open up avenues by which to introduce talented artists of both genres to the public at large.

As part of the music portion that evening, the Dave Gibson Quintet, were the featured musicians. They were quite impressive as they cut a mighty musical figure during their 7:30 p.m., set. Promoter Eric DeWitt and his wife Deborah Davis-DeWitt saw there was an opportunity to provide first class jazz and inspirational art to an intimate urban setting so combined forces with Dr. Bert Morgan, a professional on the turntables who has provided Master Mixes for New York radio stations, fundraisers, and private celebrity functions. Both talents saw the need to keep jazz alive and indeed saw the need to keep art alive. Their endeavor paid off on Monday night as I witnessed the beautiful artwork of Betty Thornton and Christopher Cumberbatch which was curated by Khuumba Ama and eloquently graced the club walls. The combination of the soothing jazz played by drummer Dave Gibson and his fellow band members, alongside the esthetics of the various artwork, brought solace to the soul. Even thespian/dancer Ben Vereen ventured by to enjoy the evening's artistic ambiance.

"It's really a pleasure to be here tonight. I am normally up at the Lennox Lounge on Monday nights but this is such a special event that I am glad to be a part of it," stated Dave Gibson who toured and worked with the Count Basie Orchestra for six years. "I performed with the Woodie Herman Band for a while and I also worked with Frank Foster and the Frank Foster Non Electric Company. I spent some time with the Diane Schuur Trio and played percussion for Sister Sledge," stated the Philadelphia born composer/percussionist while we discussed his participation in the Urban Jazz & Arts Series. "I have a CD out called "Live at Pumpkins" a club out in Brooklyn, but I came here tonight via invitation from Eric DeWitt of VG Jazz. Eric heard my group and liked what he heard. I knew about the VG Jazz project because it was up at the Tribal Spears Gallery & Café on Frederick Douglas Boulevard. It's kind of nice to play my music in the midst of all this artwork," said Gibson who was interrupted by Betty Thornton, a self taught artist who hopes to expand her art to greeting cards.

Betty Thornton's artwork has been exhibited at Citibank, the JVC Jazz Festival, the Harlem State Building, and the Riverview Gallery. Five of her pieces were purchased for the Law & Order Criminal Intent TV series and is part of the permanent collection at Abyssinian Development Corp. "The work that I have featured here is "The Bride." Loving Images is the name of my business so my work echoes that theme. One piece represents Osun, the Goddess of Love." explained Thornton whose work was imbued with movement, making it a perfect piece for the Jazz and Art Series.

"Art inspired my father, brother, and uncle. We are all artists," remarked Christopher Cumberbatch whose depiction of the female face and form was so vivid and lifelike it was startling. "My brother was a graphic artist as well as illustrator. My father was an illustrator and my uncle painted. They played jazz. My father played the piano and my uncle played the drums. I have been drawing since I was 4-5 years old. It's been a beautiful journey. I studied art at Art and Design High School and Parsons School of Design, but it's really a natural inheritance from my family. I worked in the film industry as a scenic artist and I have a decorative paint company. Via my company, we do decorative painting, make walls look like stone, marble, granite, murals, and I have done children's rooms. I did Steve Harvey's home, LL Cool J, work for Puffy, entertainers, et al" said Cumberbatch who also mentors young people. Mr. Cumberbatch can be reached via www.abovethesurface.biz.

Curator Khuumba Ana was currating a show when approached by the Urban Jazz & Arts Series. "They asked me to join their organization to curate the art portion of the Jazz & Arts Series. I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity and something interesting. Some kind of vision happens in my head when I see art. It's like a rhythm happens for me and I end up putting art together like music notes," said Ana, a member of the Westside Arts Coalition.

"Each Monday, we'll feature a different visual and jazz artist, showing a few art pieces from the previous week. The series will run for 6 weeks," said Dr. Morgan. There is a multi-media portion proposed as well wherein the Urban Jazz & Arts series will eventually be featured on film, thus capturing the intimate club feeling in high definition.

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