The COL Jazz band is a project of Center Of Life. Center Of Life is a Community Empowerment organization that serves to strengthen families, create opportunities for micro-enterprise and empower career renters to become homeowners.
The COL Jazz band was established in 2000 by Tim Smith, Executive Director of Center Of Life, along with his two sons: Tim Jr. and Isaiah Smith. In the beginning the band was given a jump-start by two friends who just happened to be musicians. Cornelius Martin and Lewis (Doug) Ransaw believed in the work of COL and supported the group with their time, talent and equipment. Since then the band has brought in several musically inclined students. Through COL the students have an opportunity to do what they do best and earn money doing it. The Jazz band is a part of a larger program called the KRUNK Movement. Kreating Realistic Urban New-school Knowledge: The KRUNK Movement is a music and health initiative designed as a production company. It is student lead and student run. Through the Movement students are engaged as engineers, equipment managers, musicians, dancers, rappers visual artist and writers. The KRUNK Movement production has performed for organization and events all over the city including Pittsburgh Public Schools. The students also perform in events around the country such as Jazz’en on Jefferson: an international Jazz festival held in Detroit Michigan. In 2006 COL Jazz band was privileged to be the opening performance at Jazz’en and in 2007 the KRUNK Movement was privileged to be the first Hip-Hop group to perform at Jazz’en on Jefferson. The students also perform at Youth Conferences where over 6000 high school students gather on the campus of the University of Tennessee. Since 2005 every student that has participated in the KRUNK Movement has received either a full or partial scholarship to a major University. On April 2nd 2011 COL competed at the Monterey Jazz Next Generation Festival along with over 1200 student musicians from around the world. COL took 2nd place overall and received two outstanding performance awards. They were the only group representing the state of Pennsylvania.
COL Jazz band and the KRUNK Movement are official Gateway to the Arts artists and can be booked through GTA at gatewaytothearts.org or by contacting Center Of Life at 412-521-3468 or smithcol@verizon.net.
