JAILHOUSE JAZZ GIVES INMATES HOPE, DISCIPLINE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 31, 1993                   TAG: 9301310194
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: E8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: POWHATAN                                LENGTH: Medium
JAILHOUSE JAZZ GIVES INMATES HOPE, DISCIPLINE
Aazim Sulaymaan played jazz before he turned to drugs and crime and ended up with a 96-year prison sentence.
But he's convinced he'll be given a chance to return to the outside world because music has changed his life.
Sulaymaan is leader of the Chosen Few, a jazz band he and his co-defendant - who has been released - started 14 years ago when they arrived at the Powhatan Correctional Center.
"Next to my belief in the Lord, the band is my life," said Sulaymaan, who was convicted of abduction, burglary, breaking and entering and firearms charges. "The band has been like family to me."
Sulaymaan, 45, was a drummer but learned saxophone while in prison.
He goes up for parole annually, and says, "I know I will be back on the street." Through becoming involved with the band, he has been able to reach other inmates through music, and in turn has helped himself.
"We've tried to become a positive contributor to society," he said.
The 14-member Chosen Few gets together twice a week for intense three-hour practice sessions that members say require discipline and dedication. As with bands outside, the musicians had to pass tryouts.
"People might think we're typical murderers, drug dealers or rapists, but you learn to read music, understand music. We learned to be a team," said Everitte Christian, a vocalist who entered prison in 1984 for unlawful wounding. "Irresponsibility brought us here, but you can acquire responsibility."
The group covers contemporary jazz artists such as Grover Washington Jr., and Kenny G. and does original songs written by members.
Although the band is not allowed to perform outside prison grounds, it played at other prisons until funds for that program were cut. The band used to perform at the State Penitentiary in Richmond "to calm emotions before electrocutions," Sulaymaan said. The band currently plays at banquets and other events at the Powhatan prison.
The band is not only a way to pass the time, members and prison officials say, but also a form of therapy and rehabilitation.
"It keeps the inmates calm, it keeps them relaxed," prison recreation director Sam Moore said. "They're able to sit down and listen to something entirely different from what they listen to elsewhere."
Moore said prison officials should give more support to the music program and classify it as treatment rather than just recreation.
"It's also a way some of us might feed our face when we get out," Christian said.
Bass player Bruce Goodwin is serving an 88-year sentence on rape and abduction convictions.
"Getting involved with people concerned with themselves has helped me grow," said Goodwin, who has been at Powhatan since 1985. "I attempt to reflect back on the way I was and these guys have put a lot in my life. My past is an embarrassment."
He said he wants to help the black community if he gets a chance to leave prison. "I want to get out and give the guidance I didn't receive - or didn't accept."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB