The annual series Jazz on the Triangle celebrates its Twentieth Season at the Church of the Holy Trinity this year. Concerts will be the April 19, May 17, and June 21, featuring some of Nashville’s finest and most respected talent.
April 19 – Kelli Cox
Our first concert this year features Kelli Cox. Kelli has been on the Nashville Scene since 1995, has taught at the Nashville Jazz Workshop and Belmont University, and is active in performing 
and conducting workshops around the area. You’ll often find her performing with Nashville’s top jazz artists – today she will be fronting the group The Kelli Cox Collaborative which was formed in 2008. Comprised of some of the most versatile and sought after musicians in the Nashville area, they play many different styles of jazz that challenge the band members but always delight the audience as well. They have played many different places including the Franklin Jazz Festival, the Jazz Cave, the Watertown Jazz Festival and many others. They released their debut cd, The Kelli Cox Collaborative, which was nominated for a Grammy award in 2012.
May 17 – Rod McGaha
Our second concert features trumpeter Rod McGaha. In addition to being a gifted jazz trumpet player, the multi-talented Rod McGaha is a composer, vocalist, lyricist, and producer. McGah
a was born and raised in Chicago, where his jazz-loving father would play Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong records constantly, perking up his son’s interest in music. By the fourth grade, McGaha was learning both the guitar and trumpet (but eventually gravitated to the trumpet full-time), as he looked to such modern day funk/dance acts as Parliament Funkadelic, James Brown, and Kool & the Gang for inspiration. Straight out of high school, McGaha began his professional music career, touring with Gene Chandler, before attending Northeastern University in Chicago and then DePaul University on scholarship, during which time McGaha became interested in traditional jazz. He has been a sideman for Kenny Rogers, Bebe and Cece Winans, the O’Jays, Take 6, and Lou Rawls, and racked up such impressive awards as the Maynard Ferguson Award from the Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival, the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award for Outstanding Jazz Trumpeter, the Oak Lawn Jazz Festival All Star Award, and the Outstanding Trumpet Soloist Award from the National Association of Jazz Educators. In addition to playing with others, McGaha has issued a few solo albums on his own. Rod is one of Nashville’s favorite jazz artists, and you are sure to want to hear this concert.
June 21 – Paula James-Chavis
Paula James-Chavis will close our season in grand style with a sort of homecoming. She began singing at age 4 right here at Holy Trinity, and continued to sing at St. Vincent de 
Paul School, and on into Junior High, High School, and College. Her idols are many and varied – Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, and others. She has synthesized her own style and voice while absorbing influences from many of the greats of the vocal field. Paula was for 33 years a triple career woman – raising three children, teaching First Grade for the Metropolitan Nashville School System, and singing and performing on stage and screen. She has performed with Dr. Dorothy Marcic, acclaimed author of “Respect,” has backed up such varied artists as Shirley Caesar, Charlie Daniels, Amy Grant, and Kenny Rogers. Today she brings her talent to The Triangle with the backing of two of our favorite instrumentalists, John Birdsong and Joe Davidian. This will be an extraordinary concert, and a fitting close to our twentieth season.
Come celebrate Father’s Day with us – bring Dad, Granddad, or that person who has helped you be a Dad or been an auxiliary Dad to you. But do come.
Did Paula attend Kansas University?
Unsure