HIS FATHER-IN-LAW, A JAZZ
HISTORIAN, TEACHES AT
MONTCLAIR PUBLIC LIBRARY
Another happy coinci-
dence: Napierala’s father-in-law,
Peter Bodge, a teacher at Cambridge
College in Massachusetts, is also an
amateur jazz historian who shares
his knowledge at monthly jazz
“listening sessions” at MPL.
“He puts together a playlist
and tells stories off the top of his
head,” says Napierala. “Because he’s
read everything there is to read and
listened to everything there is about
jazz, he has this ongoing conversa-
tion.”
Bodge has done sessions at MPL
on John Coltrane, women in jazz,
and Eric Dolphy. The sessions are
usually on the third Friday of the
month.
He is also a visual artist who
does the graphics for Seed Artists
events.
“He drives down from
Massachusetts to do the sessions,”
says Napierala. “It’s really an
excuse to see his granddaughter.”
AT THE MAY CONCERT, THE
COMMUNITY WILL BUILD
“A MASSIVE PERCUSSION
INSTRUMENT”
Using old cans, jars and bottles,
and chopsticks and corks for mal-
lets, the community will build,
and then play, a huge percussion
instrument outside Glenfield Middle
School on the second day of the
festival.
Afterward, Napierala says, kids
can remove sections to create their
own take-home drum kit.
“It’s a way to connect the school
to the community and to have peo-
ple who live in different parts and
otherwise never meet each other
rub elbows and play together.”
The performance will be video-
taped and then posted on YouTube
so “we can challenge other towns
to outdo us,” Napierala says. “Then
we’ll come back next year and do
something wilder.” ■
MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE MAY 2019
19