"Blue Is More Than a Color" for Dana jazz professor

Night and day, Dave Morgan has music on his mind. Now the YSU professor of Double Bass and Jazz Studies has a $35,000 Knight Arts Challenge grant to help him share that passion with the world.

Morgan’s award-winning jazz project, titled “Blue Is More Than a Color,” was selected for funding from a field of nearly 300 art-related proposals. It is a matching grant, so he must raise an additional $35,000,

He’ll used the funds to spotlight the Akron-area jazz scene by creating a studio recording and video documentary featuring his original jazz compositions, performed by a group of 18 musicians and several soloists. The music will be presented in a series of concerts at the Blu Jazz+ club in Akron, and in a grand performance at the E.J. Thomas Hall, also in Akron.

“The Knight Arts Challenge is allowing artists to realize that they can stay here and do their art,” Morgan said. “They don’t have to leave. It’s kind of a Johnny Appleseed thing, providing seed money. And it’s working. It’s creating local art scenes that are thriving.”

Established by heirs to the Knight newspaper fortune as part of the Knight Foundation, the Challenge funds art projects in the four cities where family members reside: Akron, Miami, Detroit and St. Paul, Minn. It will distribute $8 million for the arts this year.

Morgan plans to use his grant money to pay musicians for rehearsals, performances and clinics for students and other musicians. It will also allow for a professional graphic designer to create the CD cover and promotional materials and a website, blueismorethanacolor.com.

He said the jazz group will include Theron Brown, a YSU instructor of jazz piano and combos, YSU alumni Sam Blakeslee and Chris Coles, and former instructors Jack Schantz and Chris Anderson.

Morgan, a bassist and composer, lives in Poland, Ohio, but frequently performs across the region. He earned master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.

Fundraising efforts for the matching portion of the Challenge Grant are just beginning, Morgan said, and he welcomes ideas and suggestions for that part of the project. Contact him at dave@davemorgan.com.