By MIKE ARNOLD
Clarion News

Jamey Aebersold developed a passion for music during his teens, about the same time he developed a hatred for cigarette smoke and its affects.  As a jazz musician for more than 40 years, Aebersold has played in hundreds of smoky clubs and lounges, and as years passed, he watched many of his contemporaries succumb to smoking-related illnesses.

Twelve years ago, Aebersold, 65, of New Albany, began speaking to groups about the dangers of smoking. Over the last four years, he has led about 40 programs a year, mainly for children, incorporating music with education about the health problems caused by smoking and smokeless tobacco.  Last month, Aebersold and three other musicians who comprise his band and accompany him at his shows made appearances at Crawford County's five elementary schools and are scheduled to take the stage at a host of other schools throughout the region this year. The performances are supported by the Arts Council of Southern Indiana, which pays the musicians and assists with scheduling.

Since 1967, Aebersold has operated a jazz book sales company from his home and develops interactive jazz tapes and DVDs to go along with instructional books he writes. He also conducts jazz and music clinics in Louisville and Southern Indiana and has taught and performed music around the world.  Aebersold said he recalls avoiding smoke from an early age, and has continued to do so throughout his life.  "I've been against smoking ever since I was a kid," he said.

He became an anti-smoking advocate in the mid-1990s after he was asked by the American Cancer Society to speak to school children about the dangers of tobacco. He took along his beloved saxophone and played some tunes for the students he addressed that day, and his efforts have snowballed from there, he said.

Aebersold, with the help of his entourage, comprised of drummer Jonathan Higgins, bassist Tyrone Wheeler and keyboardist Steve Crews, now performs "Jammin' with Jamey," an hour-long interactive program, usually conducted in school gymnasiums. The presentation includes posters, pamphlets, a slide show and even displays of healthy lungs, as well as those riddled with cancer caused from smoking.

Aebersold said he hopes students find the events interesting and fun, but that they also come away with an understanding of what smoking can do. He believes elementary school-aged children are particularly vulnerable to tobacco advertising and that many live in homes where parents smoke or chew tobacco. Many children of tobacco users grow up not seeing the adverse health effects, he said.  "Their perception is that everyone smokes," Aebersold said. "We come along and tell them that's not the case."

According to data Aebersold presented to his audience Jan. 11 at Leavenworth Elementary School, 21 percent of national adults smoke, while 27 percent of Hoosier adults light up. Aebersold likes to stress to students that despite what they may see at home, the vast majority of people do not use tobacco.  "They have to be constantly reminded that most people don't smoke," he said.

An avid basketball player who still hits the court two to three times a week and has hit 50 consecutive free throws, Aebersold took several warm-up shots in the Wyandottes' gym before his show at LES. He also showed images on an overhead projector of famous jazz musicians, including Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, noting that many died young and were smokers.  "A lot of these guys didn't take care of themselves," Aebersold told the crowd. "We want you to treat yourself very good."

Throughout the program, Aebersold and his band broke into various musical interludes, from familiar pieces such as a jazzed-up rendition of the theme from "Sesame Street" to classic jazz numbers with a great deal of improvisation. The enthralled Leavenworth student body enjoyed clapping to the beat throughout the performance.

Cigarette packages from several familiar manufacturers and tins of smokeless tobacco were displayed so students would be aware of what thet looked like so they can avoid them. This was accompanied by a large jar of tar, which Aebersold said was the amount of tar a person ingests from smoking large numbers of cigarettes. Higgins, Wheeler and Crews made their way through the audience to display cross sections of diseased lungs.

As his time came to a close, Aebersold distributed an anti-smoking pledge sheet, which he asked students to pass along to their parents to convince them that their home environment needs to be smoke-free.  "We would like for all of you to grow up in a home or ride in cars and trucks with no cigarette smoke," he told the youngsters.

Aebersold said he eventually stopped playing in clubs that allow smoking.  Also, he now offers a free 44-page stop-smoking booklet on his company's Website (www.jazzbooks.com) for those who may be trying to kick the habit.

He said the Arts Council has been extremely supportive of his efforts and has allowed him freedom to expand their calendar of dates at area schools.  "They said fine, go anywhere we want to go," he said.  Crawford County was one place they went, making stops at Leavenworth, Marengo and Milltown earlier last month and performing shows at English and Patoka last Tuesday.  "Those kids were great," he said of his time in the county's schools.  Rita Ward, a member of the Crawford County Anti-Tobacco Coalition, attended the performance at Leavenworth and said she became interested in bringing Aebersold to Crawford County after reading an article about him in The (Louisville) Courier-Journal last fall. She said the coalition thought children might be more receptive to Aebersold's musical message, as opposed to other more traditional anti-smoking programs.  "We thought this was a little more subtle," she added. "We thought we'd bring a little culture to the county, too."

Crawford County has a high smoking rate, Ward said, and the coalition has been working for several years to provide education about the dangers of smoking. Members are currently lobbying Crawford County Community School Corporation to make its campuses smoke-free, just as many in neighboring counties have done. The coalition was formed with Crawford County¹s share of tobacco settlement money, which, Ward said, have been used to fund smoking education and cessation programs for youth and adults throughout the county, sometimes in conjunction with the American Cancer Society.  "I got involved with it through the American Cancer Society," Ward said of her coordination efforts.