Riverfest and the 28th Annual Alcorn State University Jazz Festival are not officially affiliated with one another this year as they have been since 2004, but both events are on the same weekend and will share one special guest — courtesy of soul queen Roberta Flack and John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono.

Fifteen inner-city junior high school students from The Roberta Flack School of Music in New York City will make their first trip to the South, accompanied by nine adults, to perform in Vicksburg at both Riverfest and the jazz festival Saturday.

“They’re very excited, and we’re really pleased to be able to provide them with this experience,” said Maya Orr, program director for the school of music, a program of the Hyde Leadership Charter School. “These are kids from the South Bronx who have rarely been outside the city, let alone to the Deep South, and they’re going to have some great experiences they’ll never forget.”

The group will perform instrumental pieces, vocal solos and jazz standards at both events, said Orr.

“This is the farthest away we’ve ever had anyone come for the jazz festival, and I think it’s going to be a very special performance,” said Dr. David Miller, Alcorn professor and jazz festival director for the past 20 years. “And it’s also interesting that there’s a Yoko Ono tie. She cut them a very large check so they could make the trip.”

At the jazz festival, the school of music group will be a highlight among many other talented jazz musicians. Featured alongside young musicians from 43 area high schools and 13 state universities in Mississippi and Louisiana, this year’s jazz festival welcomes headlining performer the Roy Hargrove Quintet. Hargrove, 36 and a trumpeter, has established himself among the premier players in jazz and jazz-infused genres over the past 15 years.

Although it’s billed as a jazz fest, and Miller takes pride in staging performers strictly in the jazz vernacular, he said the festival is for all music lovers.

“I think everyone will really be pleasantly surprised if they come down to the convention center this year,” he said. “It’s a rare event to get this much talent in the city of Vicksburg at one time — both the students and the big name acts.”

The jazz festival is put on annually by the Department of Fine Arts at Alcorn State University.

The Hyde Leadership Charter School serves disadvantaged children in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx and accepts all interested students at no cost. Flack founded the school of music at the charter school to give talented musicians of few means a chance to achieve their aspirations in the field in which she became a star.

Flack was born in Asheville, N.C., and is revered in jazz, soul and folk circles. Best known for singles such as “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Where Is the Love?” and “Feel Like Making Love,” she was awarded a Grammy in 1974 for Record of the Year. At age 71, she continues to perform.

If you goThe 28th Annual Alcorn State University Jazz Festival will be Saturday at Vicksburg Convention Center. Regional university and high school jazz ensembles will perform in the morning and afternoon, along with a special appearance by the Roberta Flack School of Music from New York City. A workshop will be held at 4 p.m., and an evening concert by the Roy Hargrove Quintet will begin at 7. All events are free. For more details, call Dr. David Miller at 601-877-6602.

Click Here to Download the Vicksburg Post Guide to Riverfest 2008