Charles Funn & The Funn Band Celebrates The Music of Black Jazz Composers Pioneering composers like Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Eubie Blake, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Louis Armstrong and Mary Lou Williams created enduring standards and helped define the genre of jazz. They fundamentally shaped American music, blending innovation with tradition to break social barriers. Essential figures include Billy Strayhorn, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Sonny Rollins, driving Bebop, Swing, and Modern jazz. Today were celebrate and honor these luminaries. Charles Funn, a graduate of Morgan Stage College is a retired band instructor (44 years) with the BCPSS. In addition to being a music instructor, he was and is a practicing professional musician having played behind and with Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Sammy Davis Jr., Gladys Knight, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Dells, Clark terry, Dizzy Gillespie, The Morgan State university Concert & Jazz Bands and The Howard University Jazz Ensemble.