When it comes to North Carolina’s music scene, many people think of the burgeoning indie-rock scene that erupted in the ‘90s. Bands like Superchunk, Ben Folds Five and Squirrel Nut Zippers heralded in a new age of North Carolina music, but long before the state received that indie acclaim it was home to iconic jazz musicians like John Coltrane, Nina Simone and Thelonius Monk.
It’s not clear where along the road the Triangle lost its flair for jazz, but projects like The Art of Cool are trying to reignite that spark. The Art of Cool Project is a non-profit group based in Durham that has been providing intimate jazz concerts for the past two years. Now Durham’s jazz scene is bustling, and The Art of Cool has found itself on the verge of something big.
Cicely Mitchell and trumpeter Al Strong, two jazz enthusiasts bound and determined to shine a light upon the untapped resources of North Carolina’s jazz scene, founded the Art of Cool. The two recently started a Kickstarter campaign to help fund a large-scale jazz festival to be held in Durham in April of 2014.
The festival plans to bring in internationally acclaimed artists such as Maceo Parker, a saxophonist from Kinston best known for his work with James Brown and Parliament. Mitchell and Strong believe a big-name festival could help shed the negative stigma some North Carolinians associate with Durham.
“What you see on TV and what they’d like to say about Durham is ‘You’ll get shot’ or ‘Someone will hurt you if you go downtown,’ but I’ve been here for over 10 years and never had an incident.” Mitchell said. “We feel like there’s a need for something like Hopscotch that’s more Durham-centric.”
But Art of Cool didn’t begin around the massive jazz fest, the Art of Cool comes from humble beginnings at Durham’s LabourLove art gallery.
“Al was looking for an intimate venue that he could play at that wasn’t a restaurant, somewhere without the pressure of packing it out. So we got creative and decided to do these pop-up shows at art galleries.” Mitchell said.
From that point forward, the project began to snowball into something glorious. Jazz enthusiasts came to enjoy art, and art enthusiasts who came were introduced to the world of jazz. Art of Cool highlighted the “hip and cool” aspects of Durham, eventually becoming a staple of the city’s Third Friday events.
Shortly thereafter, Mitchell and Strong found demand for events at Raleigh’s First Friday. While the town hasn’t been quite as receptive to the venerable jazz market as Durham has been, the group still continues to provide internationally known artists on a local level.
“I love the people in Raleigh, but it’s an indie town, so it was hard to break through—but there’s still people who have love for us,” Mitchell said.
The latter part of Mitchell’s claim is evident in the caliber of shows that this group continues to put on at venues like The Pour House. Australia’s future soul act Hiatus Keyote will be playing there on Aug. 15, and the group also plans to bring Grammy-winning bassist Derrick Hodge to quaint venues like Durham’s Casbah.
To put it simply, Art of Cool has been reinvigorating North Carolina’s jazz scene by highlighting the stellar outlets and artists that are already set in place.
The group received backing from the Durham Chamber and Downtown Durham Inc. as a part of Start-Up Stampede, a 60-day project to help start-up companies improve their trade. Since the Stampede, Mitchell and Strong have been busy pitching their festival to countless corporations and receiving strong community support.
“A lot of this stuff didn’t just happen,” Mitchell said. “The Kickstarter and all of these things are building blocks we’ve built over the year. We roll it out with the Kickstarter to push people to give and feel comfortable giving.”
“We realize we’re young and people don’t know who we are, but we’re letting people know we’ve got American Tobacco behind us, we’ve got North Carolina Central University partnering with us, we’ve got Maceo booked,” she said. “We want people to know we’re in it for the long haul.”
The Kickstarter project will end on Aug. 5, and the festival has just recently moved past the halfway mark. With only $13,000 of their lofty $25,000 goal raised, the group still remains hopeful.
“We used Kickstarter because we’re trying to make bold statements and trying to be trendsetting” Mitchell said. “We’re not expecting to have our line items filled by grants, we’re not a traditional nonprofit. We just got our first grant not too long ago, so all of our money is literally from the community.”
While Maceo Parker will be headlining the first night of the festival, the group has commissioned an original piece from the highly acclaimed music director Miguel-Atwood Ferguson, which will make for another pillar for the event.
Ferguson will lead an 11-person ensemble in a tribute to North Carolina’s late, great jazz musicians like John Coltrane, Roberta Flack, Nina Simone and Thelonius Monk. It will feature Grammy-caliber soloists while maintaining its North Carolina roots.
“We’re hoping that it’s more than music,” Mitchell said. “It’s about a cool, hip culture that you don’t really get to see on television for Durham.”
The Art of Cool Project is serving as a rallying cry for jazz enthusiast all over the state. While festivals like the upcoming Hopscotch and Mountain Oasis may be receiving tremendous promotion and hype, the state is still home to one of the most rich, diverse and talented jazz scenes that one could wish for.
