For me, jazz has always been associated with late nights in
smoky bars, but on a warm sunny day this summer, in a beautiful rooftop garden
with lush flowers and greenery in the foreground, skyscrapers and traffic in
the background, I changed my mind. Under
a canopy of chainmail, surrounded by patients, visitors and staff at the
Princess Margaret Hospital, a group of musicians blew, strummed and sang their hearts
out for all of us.
Jazz for the Soul is the brainchild of long time jazz fan Sharon
Wright. who has been successful in finding and engaging an incredible range of
musicians - duos, trios, quartets, sometimes just instrumentalists, sometimes a
vocalist. Many people who participate have been touched in some way by cancer
themselves and are generous with their time and talent. My first time there I
met a bass player who had once accompanied Anita O’Day… how cool is that?
Princess Margaret Hospital is a diagnostic and treatment
centre for people with cancer in downtown Toronto. Jazz for the Soul is part of Healing Beyond
the Body, a Cancer and the Arts Program in the Psychosocial Oncology Department
and Palliative Care Department where Sharon works as EA to chief Gary Rodin.
We’re all moved by music, by our mother’s heartbeat, her
lullabies, military, wedding and funeral marches and everything in between.
Music touches our emotions, memory, intellect and mood like nothing else can.
It can give pleasure, reduce pain and release sorrow - no wonder music has been
in the air at PMH since Music in the Atrium began a decade ago. The experience was
extended this year to include Jazz for the Soul, held every Friday at noon during
the summer months in the Max Tannenbaum Garden on the 16th floor.
Hospital staff have begun to notice that some out patients
are scheduling their appointments in combination with the jazz sessions. Family members and friends who accompany or
visit patients appreciate the opportunity to engage in something normal,
helping to turn what can be a tense situation into something to share…some pleasure, a distraction, maybe
a chance to release sorrow.
Music crosses boundaries of age, language, background, class
and physical and mental state. Watch for
Jazz and the Soul next summer, or for more info, contact Info@Jazz for the
Soul.com.
And, yup that’s me, wearing green and slumped beside Sharon.
