Celebrated Jazz educator, performing and recording artist Dr. Mitch Butler becomes Director of Jazz Education with the ColaJazz Foundation. The ColaJazz Foundation is proud to announce that Dr. Mitch Butler is our Director of Jazz Education. Dr. Butler received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Music Performance from East Carolina University. Dr. Butler is also … Read more
TAKE THE A TRAIN TO SODA CITY The Koger Center for the Arts and ColaJazz present the 2022 season of Live in the Lobby: Koger Center Jazz! Experience six one-of-a-kind concerts featuring top NYC jazz cats performing alongside our very own local stars. This is a celebrated jazz series bringing New York to South Carolina. … Read more
On Sunday, August 29th, we hosted our first ever Membership Drive launching our brand new ColaJazz Membership initiative. Over 150 people turned up to support jazz and celebrate our Columbia Jazz scene at the 701 Whaley Market! “Jazz is all about participating. We are excited to offer this new program that will extend our outreach, … Read more
The ColaJazz Foundation is proud to announce that Luther J. Battiste III has been elected to serve on its board of directors. Battiste is a founding shareholder of Johnson, Toal & Battiste, P.A., and the National President of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). He received his B.A. from the University of South Carolina and JD … Read more
The ColaJazz Foundation who has brought to Columbia, SC an annual jazz festival, an annual summer jazz camp, Jazz for Young People concerts with the ColaJazz Little Big Band at the Koger Center for the Arts, after-school jazz workshops in partnership with Jazz at Lincoln Center, quarterly and monthly world-class performances and more(!) is proud … Read more
Tommy Embrich is a freelancing percussionist, composer, and educator living in Columbia, SC. He currently holds positions as percussion accompanist for the University of South Carolina Department of Theatre and Dance, and applied drum set lessons instructor for Columbia Arts Academy, aside performing with independent projects throughout the South Carolina region. His debut album Euneirophrenia … Read more
The ColaJazz Foundation is dedicated to bringing people together. We are an organization that celebrates the unique music created by Africans and black Americans who, out of a terrible darkness, gave us one of the brightest cultural lights the world has ever seen, jazz. Jazz continues to be a living statement of democracy in action. … Read more
Ellis Marsalis, jazz pianist, educator, and patriarch of the Marsalis family, has died at the age of 85. His death was announced in tweets from New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and Jazz at Lincoln Center, where his son Wynton is managing and artistic director. He reportedly went into the hospital over the weekend with symptoms … Read more