Jazz Tunes Rock Cabot House

Students overdosed with a capella jingles and orchestral flourishes now have a new alternative for their tympanic membranes.

"Jazz in the JCR," a performance series launched last fall, offers a place for musicians and afficionados to vent their academic and social frustrations through the syncopated groove of jazz.

Held every other Thursday in the Cabot House Junior Common Room, "Jazz in the JCR" features undergraduate jazz and blues groups free of charge, sometimes drawing a crowd of up to 100 jazz-starved Harvard students.

William S. Parsons '91-'92, who founded the program, said it fills a neglected niche among the College's various musical activities.

"Mostly I was looking around, and I didn't see any opportunities for small jazz groups to play and for jazz listeners to listen," Parsons said.

In October, "Jazz in the JCR" replaced "Cookin'," a Cabot House performance club that closed last year because of financial problems.

In contrast to "Cookin'," which often ran expenses of up to $500 a week, Parsons said, his program hardly costs more than $20 per concert.

"Cookin's big problem was that they wanted to have big party rock groups, light shows, a P.A. system, etc.," Parsons said. "They tried to serve beer all the time, so they had to hire police officers. You end up running up a huge list of expenses."

"We're a whole new ball of wax," Parsons said. "It's not the same kind of hype as before. It's just music--not a party."

Cabot House residents seemed enthusiastic about the program. "There was a concert just last night," said Hiteshkumar Hathi, a Cabot House assistant senior tutor. "There were three people playing jazz, and it was wonderful."

Craig L. Thomas, another Cabot House assistant senior tutor, lauded the aims of the performance club.

"I think it's great," Thomas said. "People listen to lots of pop music, but jazz is hard to come by."