Community Pulls Together with Benefit for Bobby Sax, Street Musician, Dec. 18 at DWT
By Byron Belzak
Copyright 2007 MediaBear

Anyone who knows Downtown Asheville knows Bobby Sax, the sax-playing street musician. Recently, Bobby has fallen on tough times. He lost all of his worldly possessions, including his tools for earning a living – his saxophones – in a fire that destroyed his home.

But the big heart of Asheville has opened wide to help Bobby regain his footing. A number of prominent Asheville musicians will join Jazz The Ripper, a young band heralded for its original music, to play a benefit for Bobby Sax at Diana Wortham Theatre (DWT) on Tues., Dec. 18, 2007, 7 to 9 p.m. Everyone is invited to attend.

Joining the band, whose oldest member is only 16 years old, will be popular and prominent Asheville musicians and members of the Western North Carolina Jazz Society (WNC Jazz Society) to help make this benefit a musical and fundraising success.

TICKET INFO
Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. For details, call the DWT box office at 828-257-4530.

The capacity of the DWT auditorium in which the concert will be held is 500, so hurry and get your tickets before they are sold out. It will be an evening that will warm your heart and put you in a proper, soulful, jazzy, holiday season mood. 

WNC Jazz Society is using its clout to notify the press and others in an effort to get the word out about the benefit. However, since this benefit is not a WNC Jazz Society-sponsored concert, the tickets will not be discounted to its members, according to WNC Jazz Society president and founder Bo Farson. 

PARTICIPATING PROS

The popular Asheville musicians and WNC Jazz Society members who will participate in the event, officially called “Pick Up the Pieces: A Benefit for the Bobby Sax/Tony Heath Relief Fund,” include Frank Southcorvo, Steve Davidowski, Jeff Rudolph and Andy John.

JAZZ THE RIPPER
Information about Jazz The Ripper can be found online at www.sonicbids.com/JazzTheRipper. The band hopes to cut a disc in 2008. 

“We are making our music while at the same time, following the lead of the great jazz artists and funk bands before us, such as: Tower of Power, Earth Wind and Fire, Galactic, Herbie Hancock, and James Brown. What sets us aside from many other bands is that the majority of our music is original.”



Jazz The Ripper’s band members are Jordan Arnold, drums and percussion; Joseph Hamilton, tenor and baritone saxaphone; Julian Samal, alto and soprano saxaphone; “Big Will” Newman, keyboard and effects; James Hamilton, bass and guitar.

ABOUT WNC JAZZ SOCIETY 

For information about Western North Carolina Jazz Society and its members who will be playing in the Benefit for Bobby Sax, visit: www.wncjazzsociety.org or contact Bo Farson at bo@wncjazzsociety.org; phone: 828-687-0407.

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