Art Blakey, one of the most celebrated American jazz drummers, once said that “Jazz washes away the dust of everyday life.” Now, in the North Carolina Triangle—area code 919—another drummer is asking, “What If jazz could improve everyday life itself?”

From Max Roach’s “Freedom Now Suite” to Nina Simone’s “Young, Gifted and Black,” jazz has served as a conduit for social change for decades. Inspired by this powerful legacy during his time in the Jazz Studies program at North Carolina Central University, Raleigh-based musician Taha Arif got to work on his own project: Jazz Builds the 919.

It began in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as a weekly jam session in Durham’s historic Hayti neighborhood. Before the construction of the Durham Freeway in the 1960s displaced many of its residents, the Hayti District was a self-sufficient hub of Black business and culture, including music. The jam attracted an array of artists, from students at nearby NC Central to local jazz legends such as Al Strong and Gregg Gelb. As of April 2024, it’s evolved into a collective of musicians performing a monthly, Sunday-evening session at its new home: the Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center, a Black and volunteer-led community organizing space founded by the Fruit of Labor Singing Ensemble that has provided cultural and educational enrichment programs in Raleigh for nearly twenty-five years. Between the music, the homemade food served, and the colorful, art-covered walls, the space is a feast for the senses. Intimate, shared-table seating encourages conversations and new connections, aligning with Arif’s original vision of community-building through music. While Jazz Builds the 919 aims to draw in new listeners who may be unfamiliar with jazz, the band also strives to honor its roots. “There's a framework of a song,” Arif says, “and we are pushing and pulling on it in as many different ways as we can, while also trying our best to respect the people, the greats, and the efforts they put into this music.” In partnering with Jazz Builds the 919, Fruit of Labor Co-Director Nathanette Mayo is also thinking about the future of jazz. “To see young people really taking up that kind of music that…was born in our communities,” she says, “just to see them playing that is really encouraging to us.”

Arif holds a similarly hopeful outlook. Beyond fundraising for local organizations and bringing people together in the Triangle, he sees the potential in music to change the world. “This younger generation, we all want to see the world become a better place,” he observes. “We just don't know what that path looks like.” Maybe the path begins with a small table, a hot meal, and a group of strangers, now friends. #ComeHearNC