Jelani Eddington
The ninth annual free patriotic organ concert, sponsored by the Chattanooga Music Club, will be presented at 7 p.m. on June 30, at Chattanooga's Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium at 399 McCallie Avenue.
This special patriotic event will pay tribute to U.S. veterans, active duty military and deceased veterans. The program is open to the public without charge.
Donations are appreciated.
Guest organist Jelani Eddington, a world renowned organist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will entertain on the mighty 81-rank Austin pipe organ and also will provide the background accompaniment to the Laurel & Hardy silent film, "Two Tars." Also included on the program will be Veterans of the Vietnam War, VVA Chapter 203, in a special salute to the military and a patriotic tribute by a 150-voice choir composed of local singers, directed by Michael Devine.
Jelani Eddington, one of the most prominent and sought-after artists on the concert circuit, has performed in major concert venues throughout the United States and abroad. Having grown up in a musical family, he began piano study at age four, studying with his mother and grandmother, both professional musicians and piano instructors. At age eight he was introduced to the sounds of the theatre pipe organ and soon began classical organ lessons. Ultimately he studied theatre organ with John Ferguson.
At the age of 13, Mr. Eddington won the American Theatre Organ Society's Young Theatre Organist Competition, prevailing over competitors ages 13-21 from the U.S., England, Australia and New Zealand and remains the youngest competitor ever to win this coveted title. Featured at numerous national and regional conventions of the American Theatre Organ Society, he has accompanied many silent films and appears regularly at film series. In 2001 he was honored by the ATOS for his extensive career as a concert and recording artist by being named the Theatre Organist of the Year.
Mr. Eddington has produced and marketed over 30 theatre organ albums on some of the most dynamic and best known instruments in the country. He also has distinguished himself as a concert pianist, performing exciting concertos with a number of United States symphony orchestras.
A Magna Cum Laude graduate of Indiana University (1996), Jelani received a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School (1999) and practices law in New York and Wisconsin.