Mark Guest, guitarist, has organized a grassroots “Jazz and Blues for Haiti” benefit for Doctors Without Borders on Monday Jan 26 Jan 25 at Curras Nuevo Cuisine in Asheville, NC, a town he says “doesn’t to my knowledge have an immediate Haitian connection.” But Guest wanted to do something for people in crisis worth more than $10 bucks and knows how to leverage his skills; besides, he’s felt nature’s wrath himself, having been driven from Gulf Coast, where he and his wife lived “a beer-and-a-half from New Orleans’ French Quarter” by Hurricane Katrina.
Jazz benefits and fight song for Haiti
The jazz world’s response the Haitian earthquake isn’t overwhelming, but every bit helps. The Groove Collective benefit is tomorrow, Tues, Jan 19, at (le) poisson rouge in Manhattan; a Seattle community jazz fest is at multiple venues Wed., Jan 20, and St. Louis jazz musicians for Haiti gather at Sheldon Concert Hall on Tuesday, Feb 9. Last Sunday (Jan 17) St. James Episcopal Church in Jamaica Plain, Boston, added a “meditative jazz improvisation component” by pianist Ben Schwendener to its regular Night Song presentation of late Renaissance motets and chants, donating proceeds to “the people of Haiti” — and in Asheville, North Carolina guitarist Mark Guest is planning a benefit concert (details TBA). Then there’s Charles Mingus.