Atlantic City Weekly

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Joanna Pascale sings Friday at Stumpo’s.

While serving as education and recreation director for the Somers Point school system, Nick Regine was responsible for providing a variety of events and activities that were shared between the schools and the local community. In 1999 he incorporated his love of jazz into a one-afternoon festival intended to raise funds for a school support group called the Foundation for Education. The jazz festival was assembled on a shoestring budget and consisted largely of local musicians, but managed to carry on from one year to the next and grow incrementally.

Regine subsequently retired from the school system but continued as development officer for the foundation. In doing so, he and other volunteers were able to create a non-profit organization called the Somers Point Jazz Society that worked in conjunction with the foundation. The collaborative effort has spawned a four-day, five-venue festival called the Cape Savings Bank Jazz @ The Point, which takes place March 6-9 and incorporates some of the top names in jazz.

"I knew, more than likely, that this event was not going to continue after I retired from the school, because you have to have a real interest in this kind of music to pursue it with any kind of passion," says Regine. "So we sort of transitioned it and formed a non-profit group, the Somers Point Jazz Society [of which he is president], and partnered the society with the foundation. Last year alone we gave $9,300 to the foundation to benefit the schools."

Along with many accomplished local musicians, this year's version of the festival will include such luminaries as drummer Jimmy Cobb (who played on Miles Davis' classic album, Kind of Blue) with the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band, jazz guitarist Bob DeVos, vocalist Jeanie Bryson, pianist George Mesterhazy, trumpeter George Rabbai, and a nine-piece Latin jazz group called the Rhumba Club.

"We always strive to strike a balance between those national acts and more local acts," says Regine. "From the start, 10 years ago, it was basically just local musicians or musicians from Philadelphia -- not that that makes them any less talented or any less noteworthy, because there have been a lot of excellent jazz musicians who came from this area. But because we have been able to increase the amount of money we raise and expand things, we've been able to bring in people like Jeanie Bryson, [saxophonist] Eric Alexander, and others who are nationally known jazz musicians."

Regine said that corporate sponsorship -- the largest contributions coming from Cape Bank, Shore Memorial Hospital, Cornerstone Commerce Center and visitnj.org -- make an event like Jazz @ The Point possible.

"At what we charge for a ticket [$50 for a four-day, all-event pass], we quite frankly couldn't pay for the talent alone, much less everything else that goes into this. Corporate sponsorship is the key, and we're grateful to all the sponsors."

Last year's Jazz @ The Point festival was dedicated to the memory of the late jazz drummer Art Blakey. This year a special tribute was paid to Johnny Andrews, a jazz pianist who once served as emcee of the famous bygone Club Harlem in Atlantic City, and had a jazz radio program on WOND in Linwood for 19 years, as a kickoff to the festival and the Jazz Society's spring series.

"Sometimes jazz people perform in relative obscurity, so it was heartwarming for me to pay tribute to someone who had such a huge part in my cultivating an interest in jazz," says Regine. "He gave me a sort of oasis where I could listen to the kind of music he played back in the late '60s, early '70s. If it wasn't for Johnny putting the music out there at that point in time, and my not ever hearing it, the Jazz @ The Point Festival, the winter and summer series, and all the things the Somers Point Jazz Society does to promote jazz and raise money for the foundation might not even exist. So Johnny's the one you want to thank."

Festival participant Jimmy Cobb played on Miles Davis' classic 1959 album Kind of Blue.

Cape May Savings Bank Jazz @ The Point Festival

Events take place at four sites in Somers Point from March 6-9. Ticket prices are $50 for a weekend pass (all events); $30 for Friday evening (three events); $35 for Saturday evening (three events); and $20 for Sunday matinee (three events). Thursday's two events are free.

• Thursday, March 6

-The Ed Vezinho/Jim Ward 16-piece big band (Calvary Bible Church, 9th St. and New York Avenue, 7-10pm)

-The Jon Pruitt Trio (Gregory's Restaurant, 900 Shore Rd., 8pm-midnight)

• Friday, March 7

-David Hazeltine Trio (Greate Bay Golf Club, Mays Landing Rd., 8pm and10pm)

-The Jeff Morrison Quintet (Gregory's, 9pm-1am)

-Jazz vocalist Joanne Pascale with Joe Magnarelli (Stumpo's, Maryland and Sunny avenues, 8pm and 10pm)