Jazz and poetry merged together at the Coffeehouse Showcase held in Building 8 on Sept.28. The Student Leadership Association presented the event and featured live jazz provided by the band CC&G and poetry from the M.E.L.O. Student Club.
Approximately 75 people were in attendance at the three-hour showcase. CC&G played for an hour before M.E.L.O. advisor, professor Furaha Henry-Jones introduced M.E.L.O. president Durand Capers and vice president Shon Houston. Capers and Houston said they passed out flyers around campus and used social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to promote the event.
“My expectations for this event were very high,” Capers said. “(The turn out) was cool because people came out and showed their love and support.”
Houston was impressed with the students who performed some of their pieces.
“Everybody came out and represented their own art,” Houston said. “There were so many styles displayed.”
Henry-Jones and Sinclair professor Adrienne Cassel performed as well.
The event featured an open mic, where audience members were allowed to go on stage and perform their work alongside CC&G.
“We just figured that it would be a beautiful idea to incorporate both music and words and it not be some kind of rap event,” Houston said. “Music really goes with poetry.”