By Ava Schwab | Reporter

The windows at Pinewood Coffee Bar fogged up as a jazz quartet worked through a standard. A saxophone line slipped past the glass, thin and defiant against the thick night air. Outside, chairs pressed too close together, coffee cups sweat on table-tops and a string of golden glowing bulbs acted as the lone source of light. Some leaned in to listen; others only talked louder.

What Pinewood heard last Thursday, the city is beginning to hear elsewhere. As the Baylor Jazz Ensemble opened its season with its first performance last Tuesday, and For Keeps Coffee prepares for another jazz night, they join in the same song, one of impulse, choice and collaboration.

Baylor’s director of jazz studies, Alex Parker, said the university plays its part in this game, keeping the music alive on campus and in the community. And the growth of jazz has only multiplied. In his 25 years at Baylor, he watched it grow from a single jazz ensemble and a class that met every other year.

“Now, we have around six jazz-associated classes, two full big bands, as many as five combos and a jazz string quartet,” Parker said.

That growth, he said, reflects the journey jazz has taken in American music as a whole, with jazz as the soul of music.

“It’s such a big part of American culture because of the fact that it is the root of many of our different musics that we listen to today,” Parker said.

Jazz is an invisible string, threaded throughout the influences of rock and roll and its origins as blues and hip-hop’s roots in sampling jazz rhythms, he said.

To Parker, jazz is not just a piece of the past but a conversational piece of art.

“The communication that’s happening between all the different players is strong,” Parker said. “All that stuff is really great for any kind of music ensemble, not just in the jazz world.”

Parker said jazz is the essence of communication, an art form that surpasses the bandwidth of a three-minute song, a wonder he has witnessed in real time as he watches and guides students learning improvisation, collaboration and creativity from being involved in jazz.

“Jazz is the only true American art form that was born and bred here,” Parker said. “It bleeds from the Black American music tradition. So there’s the history component of it as well.”

Jazz lovers in the Waco community have followed suit, as cafes bustle to host nights where attendees can be immersed in the music. Cameron Philgreen, owner of For Keeps Coffee, said his love for jazz began on a night out with his wife at The Green Lady Lounge in Kansas City. Whether it was the dim lighting, the musical environment, or the memories associated with their favorite place, Philgreen knew he had to bring that atmosphere back with him.

For Keeps has hosted several calm, jazz-accompanied date nights inspired by the lounge. Some of the guests take part in listening contentedly to the music, while the rest adjust to it as background, he said. Some crowds take it a step further.

“One time, there were a bunch of people dancing at the very end of the night,” Philgreen said.

Parker said that many students have their own gigs off campus, and Philgreen agreed that jazz’s flexibility is what makes it foundational.

“It’s just one of those atmospheres you crave once you experience it once,” Philgreen said.