YOU ARE INVITED TO VISIT:
A world where all the jazz legends come to perform just as they did in yester year, along with some new and fictitious ones. Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Mary Lou Williams, Sarah Vaughn, Lester Young, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Dinah Washington, The Heath Brothers, Miles Davis, Ruth Brown, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Etta James, Herbie Hancock, Nancy Wilson, Wynton Marsalis, Terence Blanchard and Leadboody just to name a few. They all performed at one time or another at CLUB JAZZMIN, a jazz club located on the southside of Chicago.
Characters:
A 30'ish African American woman whose dream to own a jazz club goes way back to when she would travel with her father, a famed jazz guitarist to various clubs around the world. From 1st grade to her college years she visited various clubs which is why she has a constant cloud of smoke around her head which is inexplainable. She has four bumbling but extremely loyal employees.
Nik - The Waiter
Jazzmin's nephew who would much rather listen to the live jazz than work.
Leroy - The Master of Ceremonies
Jazzmin's uncle who is caught up in the 1970's attire.
Gino - The Bartender
He used to go out with Jazzmin's sister but was dumped so badly that Jazzmin felt compelled to hire him. Not to mention, he is a great bartender. He can make pure juice drinks (which is all she serves) taste like alcohol. She struggles with the fact that he still lives with his parents and brings the drama from home to the club sometimes.
Riff - The Bouncer and Ticket Taker
Last but not least, there's Riff. He's 300 pounds of brawn and an ounce of brain but he has the heart of a child.
Jazzmin loves them all dearly, but they are some major screw-ups.
The Creator:
Darnell Towns - The mind behind CLUB JAZZMIN
Born and raised in Chicago, Ill., Darnell began drawing at the age of three. By age five, he had started creating his own characters and drawing cartoons from television, newspaper comic strips, and comic books. Darnell won his first art contest at age 13. In high school, he pushed his art even farther, working on large-scale group projects to be hung in the school auditorium.
After graduating from Wendell Phillips High School, Darnell attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he graduated with a bachelors degree in filmmaking and animation. While pursuing his education, he worked on many freelance projects outside of school, including numerous booklets for Cook County Hospital. His animated film work won an honorable mention in the School of the Art Institute Traveling Fellowship competition.
He has collaborated with Dr. Robert Boxer, a Skokie physician on a project called BOXER'S SHORTS. Darnell also became a cel painter and animator for children's films at Encyclopedia Britannica. He created cartoon strips, such as POLITOONZ, CARTOON MAN, and CLUB JAZZMIN. With his brothers John and Robert, he created "TOWNS TALES," a children's radio program of tales from around the world. Darnell also taught drawing and characterization and storyboarding at the Illinois Institute of Art for two years.
The Inspiration:
CLUB JAZZMIN was created by Darnell in the summer of 1992. Darnell's appreciation of jazz inspired the idea for the comic strip and to bring back a host of jazz greats that generations to come may not be familiar with. Each musician mentioned in the comic strip, comic book or animated film will have a short biography that accompanies them toward the end of each segment. In addition to being fun, CLUB JAZZMIN also educates. In the CLUB JAZZMIN project, there is no such thing as musicians who have passed on; they never left ... just like their music.
