Mother's Day entertainment at the Corner Pub

Scott Hooker and his wife Janna Nelson, accompanied by Jeff Crompton on the horn; entertained with old-style Jazz for Mother's Day at the Corner Pub in Decatur.

Here's a very short clip [with audio], just to give you a sense:

In April 2005, 7 Stages Theater presented their band, "Standard Deviation," in concert preforming “This Jazz Century”.

Scott was born blind, but didn't let that hold him back. He has a college degree and a full-time customer service job.

Yesterday, the 10th, was Scott's 54th birthday. He was born in '54. [Just coincidentally, that is also the birthday of Mark David Chapman, who shot John Lennon. Chapman is one year younger. Also just coincidentally, Chapman attend High School outside Decatur, and was active in the YMCAs around Decatur. But, that's a subject for another post.]

Scott married Janna Nelson [an ordained minister, teacher, and performer] in 1988. Janna retained her "stage" name. Their son David Nelson-Hooker was born in 1989. Janna also has an  older son. They live off Columbia Drive just south of Decatur.

Scott is an inspiration to everyone who meets him, and an interesting guy with whom to converse. This blogger has especially enjoyed discussing old radio and TV shoes with him. He's also very knowledgeable  about history in general.

Janna has also had to overcome some significant physical disabilities, which come and go in severity.

Scott and Janna's bios are in the continuation.

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Scott Hooker's bio (from 7 Stages)

Scott Hooker was born May 10, 1954, in Ashland, KY, and was educated in the public schools of Charlotte, NC, DeKalb County, Ga, and Dalton, Ga. He earned his B.A. from Berry College in 1976.

He recalls always having some kind of toy musical instrument around the house when he was small, though never for very long. "My parents would get to a certain irritation level and the toy violin or harmonics or trumpet would just kind of not be there anymore."

Hooker began studying piano at age seven This included learning to read Braille music (he has been blind since birth), but his early teachers always encouraged him to play whatever he could hear. He found learning music via Braille very tedious. "You have to read a measure, remember it, play it, read the next measure, remember that one, and then combine it with what you just played."

Although he took formal music lessons through high school, the jazz bug had bitten him by then. Music of the big bands of Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, and Glenn Miller, on reissue albums borrowed form the Dalton Public Library, provided his entr�e into jazz.

Upon graduation from college Hooker moved to Atlanta, where he began playing informally at parties. After brief flirtations with rock-�n�-roll and other styles he devoted himself to jazz. "I don't particularly believe in reincarnation," he says, "but it's almost as if I have heard this kind of music longer than I�ve been around. That�s how deep inside me it is."

During his rock-�n�-roll phase he played the part of Star-Man in the 1979 7Stages production of "The Tooth of Crime" by Sam Shepherd. He also played keyboard in the band that accompanied the songs in that play.

Hooker began working musically with Janna Nelson in 1982. Since then they have performed as a duo with different ensemble accompaniments throughout the Atlanta area. They were married in 1988, and their son David was born in 1989.

In Addition to music, Hooker�s other interests include reading history, collecting old-time radio programs, and surfing the Internet. He makes his living as a customer-service representative for a large American corporation.

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Janna Nelson's bio [also from 7 Stages]:

Janna Nelson was raised in New Mexico, spending her elementary years at various spots on the Navajo Reservation. She is the youngest of six and the daughter of Baptist Missionaries, so she spent much of her early life singing and listening to church music exclusively.

She sees her earliest influence as Mahalia Jackson, finding this emotional and vibrant style of gospel liberating and radiant. She moved to Atlanta in 1977, moving into the Little Five Points are. As part of the Dead Poets Society, which met in the back room of the Little Five Points Pub, she received support and encouragement to perform her original material at the Pub, gradually playing at other Atlanta clubs such as Dante's Down the Hatch and the Harvest Moon Saloon.

After meeting Scott Hooker in 1980, she was drawn to the spirit and complexity of Jazz and has spent the last 25 years performing jazz in various clubs and countless festivals, private functions, swing dances, and concerts. She taught in various independent Atlanta schools and currently serves as the senior minister at the First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta. She has a 26 year-old son, Eli Nelson-Heath, and a 15 year-old son, David Nelson-Hooker. [Those ages are now obsolete. David was born in 1989.]

More on Janna, from the First Existential Congregation of Atlanta:

Rev.Janna Nelson is an ordained existentialist minister. She served as full time minister at First-E from 2003 to 2005. She has a vast knowledge of both existential and feminist principles and the ability to present them in a clear, understandable way. In addition to speaking engagements, Janna continues to perform Jazz music with her husband Scott Hooker and their band, Standard Deviation. They have performed throughout Atlanta and the south. In April 2005, 7 Stages Theater presented Standard Deviation in concert preforming “This Jazz Century”. Janna also teaches at the The International Community School.