Two decades ago, Professor Keith Brown came up with a big idea that continues to make the holidays a little merrier for needy kids and music lovers: the annual Jazz for Tots performance put on by the university’s jazz program.
Jazz for Tots, a charity event for the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots Campaign, will feature jazz ensembles performing holiday classics. This year’s concert begins at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 2, in the James R. Cox Auditorium in the Alumni Memorial Building. Admission is a new unwrapped toy to donate to the Toys for Tots campaign.
“The concert is always fun,” said Brown. “The students’ arrangements of the songs are very creative.”
Brown, an adjunct associate professor of music and director of the Jazz Big Band and other small jazz combos, first organized the performance twenty-four years ago with the idea of incorporating jazz ensembles in a concert benefiting the Toys for Tots campaign.