Beyond the notes: ColaJazz

It started with a compilation CD. Then it turned into a few gigs around town. Now it’s an award-winning non-profit organization.

ColaJazz has affected the Midlands for more than a decade since it was founded by Mark Rapp in 2014.

Rapp was born in Florence, South Carolina. But it wasn’t until he came back after years of school and travel that he discovered Columbia’s jazz.

“There were a lot of great musicians,” Rapp said. “It was sort of an undiscovered and unknown scene.”

Rapp’s career as a jazz trumpeter has taken him from New Orleans and New York to European stages. When he returned to Columbia and started working with local artists, it caught the eye of the city.

“I just started doing things that were community-facing,” Rapp said. “Like creating gigs, not just for me, but for other cats, to showcase them.”

Over the years, ColaJazz has expanded its mission from not only helping the musicians get gigs, but also helping educate audiences – to make jazz accessible to everyone.

“We’ve been doing a ton of outreach in the schools – which is my main passion – teaching them vital life lessons through this music of jazz and putting on concert events, which is always fun.”

For Rapp, multiple things make jazz something valuable to teach younger minds. He says it brings an exciting and entertaining experience for viewers.

“You see us on stage looking at each other and smiling,” he said. “It’s almost like watching a sports game.”

Another valuable lesson that he likes to teach students comes from the instrumentation of a jazz ensemble.

“They all look different, sound different, act different, and that’s just like all of us,” he said. “This difference is cool, this difference is what makes this band sound so good, this difference is what makes your life so much more enriched and interesting.”

In addition to outreach in schools, ColaJazz provides opportunities for artists to play in the community. One of the free weekly fall series is “Jazzkeller,” which takes place at Bierkeller Brewing Co. with a different ensemble performing from 6- 8:30 p.m. every Wednesday.

The Dick Goodwin Group on Oct. 1 played in a quintet as part of Jazzkeller. Kristi Hood, the band’s singer, said it was the first time the group had all played together.

“A lot of musicians affiliated with ColaJazz play with each other in various groups and times,” Hood said. “We get to play with a lot of different people and do old songs new again, which makes it so much fun.”

Steve Briody is the jazz guitar professor at the University of South Carolina and also the guitarist in the Dick Goodwin Group. He moved to South Carolina and immediately got involved with ColaJazz after a career as a guitarist and college professor in New York.

“I’m really blessed to have met people like Mark, to help get me involved,” Briody said. “Everywhere you look, Mark is doing something remarkable, either with the groups he plays with or with the students and all they do. It’s very impressive.”

If jazz music comes from the diversity of the artists and cultures behind the notes, that’s what ColaJazz is built on.

“Jazz teaches us how we can have all of this difference and still find common ground to get along with and play well together,” Rapp said. “We have our different points of view, but at the end of the day, we’re going to find a way to make this music sound good.”

ColaJazz offers something for even the young, including all-age summer camps. Rapp said 11-year-olds were playing on stage with 80-year-olds.

“To see that in real time, this kid playing with this elder, with all ages in between, is so cool,” he said. “It brought tears to our eyes.”

Closing out 2025, ColaJazz is putting on themed events around the holidays. ColaJazz’s biggest event of the year is its annual May jazz festival. The formerly Main Street fixture will be at the newly renovated Finlay Park from May 15 to May 16. The “Open Arts Jazz & Roots Fest” also will have a golf tournament on the Monday following the festival.

“We have great support from the city and county, and I’m super excited about that,” Rapp said.

The goal of ColaJazz is bigger than the music itself, Rapp said. And he has seen the results of that in the feedback received from the education outreach programs.

“One teacher wrote in saying, ‘I’ve had a student who has been depressed for months and after your presentation, they came up to me and said this is the first time they’ve felt hope,’” he said. “That doesn’t have anything to do with the music, but the fact that what we did gave this kid some hope. I’m all in.”

Video by Asia Spigner