Sweet music

Music has been a part of Jacqueline B. and Willie E. Atkinson’s life since the beginning, when Jacqueline heard Willie sing for the first time in two high school performances.

The two met when they were seated next to each other as seniors at J.W. Ligon High School, a school for black students in Raleigh before desegregation, when their teacher organized the class alphabetically by last name. But it was when he sang “Born Free” at a school baccalaureate service that she realized she wanted to help him become the artist she thought he could be.

“When I heard him sing, it was all over for me,” she said. “Because I thought, ‘oh wow, he sounds along the same lines of Nat King Cole,’ and I thought that was really wonderful.”

The two have been married since 1942, and music has been a big part of their lives and is the glue that holds them together.

They are sharing their love and knowledge of music by co-teaching a music appreciation class at Craven Community College’s Lifetime Learning Center called “A Survey of Jazz Swing Era History 1935-1967: A Musical Journey to ‘Pass It On.’”

Willie, who brings his experience as a jazz vocalist to the class, said they use early recordings, movies and photographs to entertain the students as well as teach them.

Jacqueline is the historian of the two, and focuses on the pioneers, innovators and masters of swing music.

They have taught music appreciation classes at the college starting in the fall of 2007 when they taught jazz. From the fall of 2008 to spring of 2009 they taught a class on the blues, and now they’re at the swing era.

“I think today, we have a lot of so much electronics and so much of the technology, that we really lose our getting together,” Willie said, commenting on the importance of the swing era music. “But I think swing, you reach out, you grab somebody, you hold them close while you swing them around, you have a good time.”

As an offshoot of the class, they organized a scholarship benefit dinner-dance called “Swing into Spring.” Willie will be performing with the Transitional Jazz Quartet to raise money for scholarships for the college’s foundation.

“We saw an opportunity to bring the music to the community for an excellent cause,” Jacqueline said.

And as for how they got into music, Willie said it wasn’t until he retired from his work in industrial engineering at the Cherry Point air station that he has focused on music first and foremost.

He worked 32 years total in the Air Force as an electrician and as a civilian engineer through the U.S. Navy.

“It was time to do what I really loved and that was to do as much jazz as I could,” Willie said, when he retired.

His musical education started at a young age when he was growing up in Johnston County. His first lessons in music came from his grandmother, who taught him at age six to stand up straight “so the sound will come out,” he said. He sang in church, and was exposed to the music his grandfather listened to on the radio.

Jacqueline, who spent her early childhood in Harnett County but moved to New Jersey when her mother died and was just a “hop skip and a jump” from New York City, was the one who exposed Willie to jazz.

“Before I had heard quite a bit on the radio, but she was raised up in a household, they would listen to a little bit of everything,” he said.

Willie said he formed several music groups that he sang with when the couple were living in Okinawa, and in the San Francisco Bay area of California.

“The jazz scene was just out of this world,” he said, explaining that he could travel to perform in San Francisco, Sacramento or to Oakland to perform with other musicians after work.

Jacqueline said a turning point in their lives came when they decided to enter the production business with their company WEJA Enterprises Artistic Productions, which they had started in 1982 to manage Willie’s career as a vocalist.

“We looked at it as a business rather than just performing,” Willie said.

When they moved to the New Bern-area, the couple said they immersed themselves into the local jazz scene, which they said is developing. The two are also founding members of the Cape Fear Jazz Society in Wilmington.

Music has been “a glue that holds us together,” Willie said, and he believes it’s about making people feel good inside and out.

“When you look at swing music, if you look at some of the clips, you never see people frowning,” he said. “They’re always happy. It comes back to that theme of dancing, just letting yourself go.”

Laura Oleniacz can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at loleniacz@freedomenc.com.

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If you’re going?

♦ What: Swing into Spring, a student scholarship dinner-dance featuring Willie E. Atkinson and the Transitional Jazz Quartet performing music of the swing era

♦ When: Saturday from 6 to 11 p.m.

♦ Where: The Flame Restaurant and Banquet Centre at 2303 Neuse Blvd.

♦ Why: Proceeds will benefit student scholarships through the Craven Community College Foundation

♦ How much: Tickets are $50 or $380 for a table of eight

♦ To purchase tickets, call the foundation at 252-638-7351. To learn more about the event, go to www.cravencc.eduhttp://www.cravencc.edu/> or call Jennifer Baer at 252-633-2618.