Daily-ist: Monday

Face the Music: An Evening of Jazz Dedicated to Fighting AIDS in Africa

A college student-led nonprofit organization that raises funds to eradicate AIDS in Africa will hold a fundraising benefit concert tonight at Red Cat Jazz Cafe [924 Congress St.] in Downtown Houston.

The University of Texas at Austin branch of FACE AIDS is coordinating the concert featuring five local college student jazz musicians who graduated from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

Face the Music: An Evening of Jazz Dedicated to Fighting AIDS in Africa will take place from 8-10:30 p.m. tonight Red Cat Jazz Café. Admission is $8 at the door.

Kayleigh McCormac, 20, a Westbury resident and a junior at the University of Texas, is chair of the benefit concert.

"As a graduate of the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, I have watched many of my friends go on to make names for themselves in the jazz world, continuing their studies at some of the best music institutions in the country," McCormac said. "This summer we have united in our interest to eradicate a disease that threatens the progress of countless developing regions of the world."

Scheduled to perform are Dustin Kaufman of Maplewood on drums; Danny Kamins of Sunset Terrace on baritone saxophone; Colin Cuming of West University Place on double bass; Zach Clarke of the Heights on piano; and Isaiah Allen of Braeburn Valley on tenor saxophone.

The group will play two sets of 10 jazz songs with a 15-minute intermission.

About The Organization
FACE AIDS was founded in 2005 by Stanford University students after their visit to Africa in the summer of that year. The organization is now represented on 84 college and university campuses around the country. Working with Partners in Health, another AIDS nonprofit that supports a health clinic in Rwanda, the organization hopes to raise $1 million to contribute towards support services for people in Africa affected by the disease.

The University of Texas at Austin branch sent $5,000 to the national organization this year, said volunteer external finance coordinator Teresa Asma, 20, of Linkwood. Each branch is responsible for filing for nonprofit status from the Internal Revenue Service, and the UT-Austin branch is in the process.
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tonight, Aug 13 | 8-10:30pm
Red Cat Jazz Cafe | 924 Congress St.
Admission is $8 at the door.
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Pictured: (top to bottom) double bassist Colin Cuming, tenor saxophonist Isaiah Allen, dummer Dustin Kaufman, Kayleigh McCormac, pianist Zack Clarke, and baritone saxophonist Danny Kamins. Admission is $8 at the door.

image: For the Chronicle George Wong.