The sounds of jazz with a New Orleans beat bathed the grass and splash pad at Catfish Row Sunday as the National Park Centennial Band performed a three-hour set of jazz classics for about 40 residents who gathered along the park’s southern end to soak up the music.

“We’re loving it,” said Logan Peay over the band’s performance of the Duke Ellington classic, “Take the A Train.” She was enjoying the performance with her husband, Jim Peay and Lucy and Tim DeRossette. “Now that the sun’s dropping, it’s nice out here. I’m just disappointed more people didn’t take the time to come out here.”

The band’s performance was brought to the city by the Vicksburg National Military Park along with the Vicksburg Main Street Program and the city of Vicksburg.

“They performed a concert at Shiloh (National Military Park) Saturday, and were performing in Natchez Monday,” said Vicksburg National Military Park Superintendent Bill Justice. “They had an open date and were looking for a place to play today.

“It took us a while to find a venue for them because of all the activities going on in town, but what a better place than Catfish Row, which is in the lower (Mississippi) Delta, to have a concert of music that is strictly American, like jazz.”

The band is composed of park rangers from the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park and New Orleans musicians, Justice said.

“The great thing about the National Park Service is that it does more than just preserve nature or historic battlefields like Vicksburg,” he said, “It also preserves the culture and experience of America.”

“This is all right, but the sun is brutal,” said Paul Ingram, as he held a purple-and-gold umbrella for shade.

Keke Barfield and Charley Roberts were on Mulberry Street watching the concert from under shade of several trees.

“This is worth dealing with a little sun, but as it sets, it’ll get cooler,” Barfield said.

“Hot music in the city,” Roberts added.

Jazz National Historical Park ranger Jim Beebe said the park has three rangers and all are musicians.

“That’s one of the qualifications to be a ranger at the park, you have to be a musician,” he said. “It’s part of the test.”

He said the band performs concerts in New Orleans at the Old U.S. Mint, which the park service shares with the Louisiana State Museum. The concerts, he said, include discussions about the music and the composers. The rangers also conduct walking tours covering different jazz venues.

He said the band can vary in size depending on the venue. The group for Sunday’s performance consisted of Beebe on the keyboard, a bass player, drummer and saxophone, and a singer, his daughter, Jazmarie Beebe.

The group was joined by a surprise performer at one point in the concert when 12-year-old Christina Brown joined for a duet of “You Are My Sunshine” with Jazmarie.

“I was very surprised,” Christina said after her performance. “I went and talked with them, they asked me if I knew any songs, and if I knew ‘You Are My Sunshine,’ and I told them yes. All of a sudden they asked me to sing.”

Her father, Joe Brown, who caught the performance on his smartphone, said he was surprised she performed, but added, “She likes to do things like that.” He said Christina and her sister had performed with the Vicksburg Little Theater, and she likes to sing, “but not a lot.”

“This came all of a sudden,” he said.