John Brown perched on a stool, his fingers flying across the thick strings of his bass. He closed his eyes as the drums, piano and trumpet conversed with each other, taking turns carrying the melody.Across the room at Duke’s Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, students studied notes on laptops and visitors watched the jazz ensemble, bobbing their heads to the beat. The tradition of “Jazz @ the Mary Lou” is 10 years old, and Brown, director of the Duke Jazz Program, brings different musicians to the center every Wednesday evening, from professional performers to up-and-coming high school students.Brown, who first discovered the bass while watching the Duke Ellington Orchestra on TV, said he hopes to bring happiness to people by exposing them to music that they haven’t heard before, from the works of alto saxophonist Paul Desmond to double-bassist Ray Brown to singer Shirley Horn. Experience Jazz @ the Mary Lou The next “Jazz @ the Mary Lou” Wednesdays are Sept. 10, 17 and 24. The music begins at 9:30 p.m. and ends at 12:30 a.m. in room 101 of the Flowers Building. Light hors d'oeuvres and nonalcoholic drinks are served, and the live jazz events are open to the public.

“It’s one way that I get to accomplish one of my goals, which is for no one to pass through the walls of Duke University without being touched by jazz in some way,” Brown said. “If I can introduce people to an artist, to a song, to a period, to anything that might change or, dare I say, better them, I’ve done what I hope to do.”

Members of the Duke and Durham community are invited each week to listen to live jazz over light hors d'oeuvres and nonalcoholic drinks from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. during the academic year.

Chandra Guinn, director of the Mary Lou Williams Center, said she likes to view Jazz Wednesdays as a symbol of the late Mary Lou Williams, the jazz pianist, composer and arranger after which the Duke center is named. Williams, who wrote and arranged for such bandleaders as Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, was referred to as “the lady that swings the band,” Guinn said, and sought excellence in both her compositions and performances.

“Having live jazz in the center is what I might imagine she would want, that if she walked through the door, it would make her heart happy,” Guinn said. “Every Wednesday night, it’s another opportunity to get it right.”

Guinn particularly loves when vocalists are invited to join the ensemble. Musicians spend certain Wednesdays playing the repertoire of a particular artist, such as John Coltrane.

“We believe that we have every face of the Duke community represented, and the great thing about it is you can just come and be,” Guinn said. “No one is asking necessarily who you’re there to represent or what constituency are you most closely affiliated with. We have everyone from the head of the faculty council – he loves jazz – to a smattering of undergraduates from all around the campus.”