Security Guard To Be On His Beat At Concert

A security guard who spends most of his time behind the scenes at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center will take the stage tonight at a jazz concert.

Terry Edwards, 62, will appear as a guest musician on percussion with ninth- through 12th-grade students who enrolled in jazz classes at the center's Patel Conservatory.

Music has been a part of most of Edwards' life, from growing up in Louis Armstrong's neighborhood to hanging out with Duke Ellington's band to his own performances in the United States, Canada and Europe with the active and reserves Army band.

He moved to Tampa at a friend's urging after he retired. He served 31 years as a federal police officer and found the performing arts center job to be a good fit. He had the security background and the love of the arts - he gets to meet some of the performers now.

"I love it," he said. "It's something new."

Edwards grew up in Corona in Queens, N.Y., where Armstrong also lived. His mother knew Armstrong's wife, Lucille, and Armstrong would occasionally take 4-year-old Edwards out to the corner store.

Edwards was too young to know he was hanging out with a jazz great. He wouldn't discover Armstrong's music until much later and never heard him play live, Edwards said.

In Tampa, Edwards met musician Fred Johnson and began performing with him and later James Crumbly, a jazz pianist and Middleton High music teacher. Crumbly teaches jazz at the conservatory and invited Johnson and Edwards to perform with the students in their "Jazz Jam."

The conservatory offers adult and youth arts classes throughout the year. At the end of each session in the jazz class, the students perform.

The adults and students met Wednesday for a rehearsal and take the stage at 7 tonight at the TECO Energy Foundation Theater.

"The whole idea is to get people to come out and listen to the concert and think, maybe my kid should be a part of this," Crumbly said.