Oberlin Jazz Septet in Richmond

January 25, 2009; 1:00 PM • by Dean Christesen

Seven student musicians from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, including one Richmond native, will be concluding a short tour in Richmond on Wednesday at Papa Ningo. With stops at notable jazz clubs like Chris’s in Philadelphia, Rhythm House Cafe in Pittsburgh, and Cachaça and Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola in New York, performance is only half of the group’s mission. The other half is educating younger musicians at local high schools, like Huguenot High School in Richmond, which they will do in each city they visit.

The Oberlin Jazz Septet is a small jazz ensemble made up of students nominated by the Conservatory’s Jazz Studies faculty, and represents the most outstanding jazz student performers, arrangers, and composers at Oberlin. Saxophonist/flutist David Wise, an alumnus of Godwin High School in Henrico County, along with guitarist Jamey Arent, bassist Kevin Kearney, pianist Andrew Lawrence, drummer Alex Edward Morris, trumpeter Truan Savage, and trombonist Corey Wilcox, make up the septet. The group is directed by Peter Dominguez, Professor of Jazz Studies and Double Bass at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Papa Ningo is located in Shockoe Bottom on Franklin St. at 17th St. Its name doesn’t come up often, if ever, on live music calendars, so these out-of-towners may just introduce a new venue to the scene. Style Weekly said back in 2005 that the restaurant “proves to be a surprising exception to ho-hum fare. The funky, vivid interior, with its corrugated tin roofs over the door and bar and the long multicolored bench against one wall that’s reminiscent of a scrap-made fence, swept me away to the islands of the Caribbean as soon as I walked through the front door.” And their inexpensive buffet of Dominican cuisine seems to get only great reviews.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Sets at 8 & 9:45 p.m.
Oberlin Jazz Septet
Papa Ningo
$5 General Admission
804-775-2440 or http://www.restaurant.com/microsite.asp?rid=318240&rpid=3514
[where: 1705 E. Franklin Street, Richmond, VA 23223]