Chichester’s 24-hour jazz concert raises money for America’s inner-city children

A NON-STOP 24-hour jazz concert has been played by musicians from Chichester in aid of US schoolchildren living in a deprived area of Los Angeles.

The day and night performance, hosted at the University of Chichester, helped raise money for Nevin Avenue Elementary, where more than 85 per cent of the children qualify for free meals, and students start with some of the lowest test scores in America. More than 50 University students and staff joined musicians from Chichester’s community orchestra for the concert, which was live-streamed online for the world to watch.

Professor Laura Ritchie (on cello, below left) and Head of Jazz Nick Reynolds, from the University’s department of Music, organised the event to coincide with International Jazz Day and as part of an ongoing collaboration with the school to raise aspirations. “Nevin Avenue have some wonderfully-gifted students but is situated in a tough area of Los Angeles, and they don’t have a lot of opportunities” said Professor Ritchie, who herself had played for more than four hours and, like Nick, was present for the full 24-hour duration of the event.

“The concert was a great success and we’re still accepting donations – we hope to raise money to develop a multimedia green room at the school to give students a chance to integrate music into learning in ways they’ve never before experienced.”

Music across the 24-hour showcase was entirely improvised by the performers, but was based around the key riff of Herbie Hancock’s famed Chameleon composition, which is one of the most widely-recognised jazz standards. Performers played in hour-long relays on various instruments, from guitarist to saxophonists, and vocalists.

Drummer Will Moore, a first-year music student at the University, started at 8am and played on-and-off for more than six hours. He said: “This is a fantastic open event, and it was great to jam with other musicians of all levels, whether students, lecturers, or people from our community.

“We improvised over the top of Herbie Hancock but every 30 minutes one of us would do their own solo, which we all played around. It’s all for a good cause and hopefully we’ll raise lots of money.”

The charity concert was the first of its kind to be recorded live online using the University’s lecture-capture software, Panopto. Nick and Laura used the department’s high-quality broadcast cameras and microphones to capture the innovative performance and aired it on the University’s ChiPlayer viewer on the internet for viewers worldwide.

Chichester resident David Dorning (above right) plays saxophone with the University’s community orchestra, which is also led by Prof Laura Ritchie. He said: “It’s great that Chichester has come together to do a good thing. It’s not often that we get the chance to play alongside the students, which itself was really rewarding, and it was interesting to see their interpretations of jazz.”