NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The sound of jazz filled the air at Fisk University.
"It's relaxing," said Dyanne Tyson. "Very relaxing." She and her friends made the trip from Birmingham for the Fisk Food and Jazz Music Festival. "We brought chairs, we brought fans, we brought misters and water," she said.
As for Mama 'D', it was the food that brought her to the event. Her business Unique Funnel Cake House was one of 30 vendors at the festival. "It just jazz up the people. It jazz up the people, it makes them happy, excited."
The event was free and put on with help from volunteers both at Fisk and TSU.
The festival returned after a three-year hiatus because of COVID.
"The last one we did was in 2019 and the community kept hitting me up, you know they'd call me or see somewhere and they'd be like 'we like what ya'll do over there at Fisk'," said General Manager of WFSK radio, Sharon Kay.
But this year's event was especially important - it marks the 50th anniversary of Fisk's WFSK Jazzy 88, the first Black FM-owned and operated radio station in Nashville.
"This music fest is what our format of our radio station is," said Kay. "We're not doing bluegrass, we're not doing blues, we're not doing R&B, we're not doing hip-hop. We're doing what we do on the air."
Kay called the event a labor of love. "We have an award winning smooth jazz artist," she said, holding back tears. "He has been in the business for 30 years and when he told me he would come I was shocked."
Whatever the reason that people came, Kay wanted them to leave with something else. "To me that's what life is about," she said. "It's very stressful out here in life and for us to bring them some hours of happiness - I'm good with that."
