Photos: Nursery Road Elementary celebrates Black History Month with jazz

To commemorate Black History Month, Mark Rapp, internationally renowned trumpeter and the founder and executive director of the local nonprofit ColaJazz, brought his combo to Nursery Road Elementary School near Irmo on Feb. 23. 

He and his fellow musicians, which included stalwart saxophonist Wes “Warmdaddy” Anderson, showcased various shades of jazz for the students who packed into the school’s auditorium, getting them up and shouting with call and response and inspiring them to dance gleefully during their closing number. 

Rapp told the children that jazz is an American form of music originally created by African-Americans, calling it a musical gumbo that can reflect a variety of moods — cool, sad, frustrated, calm, etc. He used the way jazz works as a metaphor for how people should respect and be kind to one another, regardless of the color of their skin, explaining that when jazz really swings it’s because all the different instruments are working together.