Get Ready for Cold Weather with Hot Jazz

Every Thursday and some Sunday nights, an incredibly talented ensemble of musicians, spearheaded by UVA professor John D’earth, fills Miller’s Downtown with jazz music. D’earth is the director of jazz performances for UVA and has held the tradition of performing at Miller’s for many years.

Before becoming a director at UVA, D’earth played with some of the best jazz musicians in the 20th and 21st centuries including Bob Moses, a Grammy-nominated drummer, and Emily Remler, who won guitarist of the year in 1985. D’earth honored the two on Sunday night, Sept. 22nd, with a performance of the song “Mozambique” named after Moses and written by Remler. Before beginning the performance, D’earth prefaced the song by saying, “You’re experiencing music like how it was in 1948,” a testament to his experience with some of the best musicians in the world of jazz.

The status of of director of jazz performance shines through in his own performances when in the middle of playing a set he will simultaneously instruct members of the ensemble on how the music should sound and how to make it sound better.

He performs every Thursday starting at 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. and the occasional Sunday after 6 p.m. So if you are interested in jazz, it is this journalist’s opinion that you should visit the Downtown Mall this Thursday at 9:30 p.m. and just follow the jazz music.