Photo by Graham Moomaw. Joe Natale on the bass, Carl Cornwell on tenor sax, and Bob Butta on piano. Lou Natale (not pictured) plays the drums for the band.

Published on: Wednesday, July 01, 2009

By Graham Moomaw

You won’t usually find a mall food court at the top of anyone’s list of places they would go for a stirring cultural experience.

Typically, hungry shoppers set their bags down just long enough to grab a bite of fast food, surrounded by a hubbub that’s great for people-watching but not so great for ambience.

The scene wasn’t so typical last Thursday at The Mall at Prince Georges in Hyattsville, when the food court transformed into a music hall for the second performance of a five-week series of summer concerts.

Jazz band Project Natale performed for two hours, causing heads to turn and toes to tap as music fans gathered around the stage at the food court’s center. Toddlers danced, people drummed on tables, and mall-goers stuck around a bit longer than usual to take in the free concert.

The Summer Concert Series, which began on June 18, will run for another three weeks from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday evenings in the mall’s food court. The upcoming acts are Duende Quartet, Marcus Mitchell Project and Neo Jazz Movement, performing on July 2, July 9 and July 16 respectively.

The concerts are a collaboration between the mall and the Prince George’s Arts Council, a non-profit organization that offers concerts and art exhibitions, coordinates arts education and activities for young people and provides grants and resources to local artists.

“We try to bring the arts to people. One of the ways we do that is to go to public venues,” said Lionell Thomas, the organization’s executive director.

Victoria Clark, the mall’s marketing director, said she would like to host similar events in the future and that other local bands had already contacted her wanting to get involved. “It’s another way to reach out to the community, to provide entertainment and provide a forum for talent,” said Clark.

For mall patrons both young and old, the concerts were a welcome addition.

One table of three jazz veterans stood out from the more casual onlookers by whooping it up and applauding loudly whenever the performers pulled off a particularly skillful musical flourish. Joe Gamble, Ed Sockwell and William Younger all thought that having concerts at the mall was an excellent idea and said they would love to see more.

“We love music. We go all around,” said Younger. “They got to bring it back next year,” said Gamble. They suggested the idea of making the concerts a regular, year-round occurrence. “People like music in the wintertime too,” said Younger.

Carl Cornwell, who plays tenor sax in Project Natale, thought the mall concerts were a great way to get music out to people, especially the younger crowd that malls tend to attract. “They thought they didn’t like jazz, but when they see it live, they love it,” said Cornwell.

One younger audience member didn’t need any convincing. Jessica Brooks, a jazz major at Howard University, went to the mall just to shop but was pleasantly surprised to find a musical performance as well. As a jazz vocalist and pianist, she saw nothing strange about having a jazz concert in a mall: “Jazz is music reflecting life. You see life in the mall, so it fits.”

When You Go

Mall at Prince Georges Free Summer Jazz Concert Series

3500 East West Highway, (Route 410), Hyattsville

Phone: 301-559-8844

Thursday, July 2: Duende Quartet

Listen to Latin Jazz in the style of renowned musicians Mongo Santamaria, Cal Tjader and Willie Bobo with a nod to the Blue Note sound of the ‘60s. With piano as the lead instrument in a unique small group setting, the Duende Quartet captures the vibe of the jazz combo while using the rhythms of the Cuban conjunto.

Thursday, July 9: Marcus Mitchell Project

Marcus Mitchell, a rising smooth jazz saxophone artist, is also the CEO and President of 24th Music and has worked with Mike Philips, Kim Waters and Destiny’s Child.

Thursday, July 16 :Neo Jazz Movement

Clifton B. Brockington of Neo Jazz Movement has recorded with numerous gospel artists and performed in more than 30 cities in the United States, Japan, London and St. Croix playing jazz, R&B and gospel music.