Lexington Park, MD – Patuxent River Naval Air Museum will partner with The Spirit of Jazz & Democracy (SJD) to present a unique event that connects the art of improvisational jazz and the innovation aviation research and engineering. Enso Kitchen will provide a selection of foods based on environmentally sustainable seasonal and local foods. Cash bar. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the program begins at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $25 for members of the public and $15 for members. For information visit the Pax Museum web site or call 301-863-1900.
The evening includes a panel discussion and concert highlighting the value and role of improvisation and unconventional thinking in the research, development, innovation, and evolution of both sound/music and aerospace technology. Representing R, D, T & E will be former defense analyst and record producer Pierre Sprey, who helped conceptualize designs for the F-16 and the A-10; Matt Scassero, former Navy test pilot and Director of the University of Maryland Unmanned Air Systems Test Site and Jim McCue, instructor at the Navy’s Test Pilot School at NAS Pax. Following the panel discussion, master musicians Paul Murphy (drums) and Larry Willis (piano) will perform a fully improvised concert with guest performances by poet Jere Carroll and drummer Dominic Fragman. Murphy and Willis’ performances of total improvisation have been recognized by Oxford’s Grove Dictionary of American Music as “a new direction in the jazz and art arena.”
In keeping with the evening’s theme of innovation, as visitors gather before the program, they will be able to tour a Tiny House conceived of and constructed by faculty and students at St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM). They will also be able to talk to faculty and students about art projects.