Jazz Great Organizes Relief Effort

America's artistic community is stepping forward to help raise money for people suffering as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

Jazz great Wynton Marsalis, artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, is putting together a benefit concert.

Marsalis says it is heartbreaking to see the destruction and hopelessness in his hometown.

"It's too much to describe — not just for me, but for New Orleaners all over the world. I think I've gotten over 400-something calls in the last two days," he says.

The calls come from friends who have been in New Orleans and describe a desperate situation; other calls are from friends around the world offering to help in any way they can.

Marsalis says his parents are fine, but no one there is really OK.

"I know so many people in the city and we are all so connected in New Orleans," he says. "But we know we have a certain kind of spirit because we are blues people.

"What we see going on now with the mayor having to call on the federal government and things not getting there with a certain type of quickness ... It's frustrating in lieu of the history — the way that the people we have seen on the TV are treated."

Despite the devastation, Marsalis says he is not fearful that the city's rich cultural history will be lost.

"We are like the soul of the country," he says. "We are the melting pot and that's why we created jazz. Jazz is the object identification of democracy."

U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert's (R-Ill.) said the city shouldn't be rebuilt.

"They are always people who have things to say," Marsalis says. "They can say what they want, but this represents a challenge. If we can get to the 2005 intelligence with the social conscience of this time, we will make our city much better."

Marsalis will be participating in a number of programs benefiting hurricane relief, including a BET telethon scheduled for Friday, Sept. 9.

"Americans have been generous so far," he says. "What they need is money and support."