The Blues touch everyone – whether through the emotion and intensity of this true American music form or by the despair and isolation of depression. On Saturday evening, November 7, the Mental Health Association of Essex County will inaugurate Mental Health America’s "Jammin’ Away the Blues" with a one-night concert featuring legendary soul vocalist Bettye LaVette at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC).

Opening with the Michael Packer Blues Band, LaVette’s performance for the Montclair-based Mental Health Association of Essex County (MHAEC) is one of only ten "Jammin’ Away the Blues" concerts scheduled for 2009, the centennial anniversary of Mental Health America. Other cities selected for the Blues signature events are Chicago, Columbus (OH), Lincoln (NB), Oklahoma City, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Rockville (MD), San Diego and Tampa. 

MHAEC Executive Director Robert Davison said, "We are enormously proud to have been selected by Mental Health America to represent its centennial celebration. ‘Jammin’ Away the Blues’ is designed not only to raise the awareness level of the importance of mental health, but also to continue in our efforts to raise the funds necessary for mental health advocacy, public education and research."

Davison continued, "The combination of Bettye LaVette’s great talent and reputation in the soul and blues communities, along with Michael Packer’s inspiration and his band’s status with fans worldwide, will communicate a powerful message of what the Blues are – in all senses of the word."

Called "one of the greatest soul singers in American music history," Betty LaVette was most recently on the national stage at President Barack Obama’s January 2009 inauguration, when she performed Sam Cooke’s A Change is Gonna Come with Jon Bon Jovi. A Michigan native with roots in Detroit, LaVette has been recording since 1962, and is recognized by soul, jazz and blues aficionados as one of the great contemporary song interpreters. LaVette was honored by the Living Blues Critic Pick as Best Female Blues Artist in 2004, and that same year won the W.C. Handy Award for Comeback Blues Album of the Year for her CD, A Woman Like Me.

The Michael Packer Blues Band performs extensively, and its most recent CD, Riker’s Island Blues, will represent the Jersey Shore Jazz and Blues Foundation for the 2010 International Blues Challenge in the Best Self-Produced Competition in Memphis.

Premium tickets to the MHAEC "Jammin’ Away the Blues" concert, at $100, include special orchestra seating in SOPAC’s intimate main stage theater and a private post-performance reception with Bettye LaVette and members of the Michael Packer Blues Band. All tickets, including Premium, orchestra ($42) and mezzanine ($32) seats, are available through the SOPAC website, www.sopacnow.org, or by calling 973-313-ARTS(2787).

"Jammin’ Away the Blues" is co-sponsored by The Blues Foundation and The Jersey Shore Jazz and Blues Foundation. Located at 33 South Fullerton Avenue in Montclair, the Mental Health Association of Essex County operates Prospect House, a rehabilitation center for individuals with mental illness; Integrated Case Management Services (ICMS) for those re-entering the community from state or county hospitals; Supported Employment Services (SES), a job training and placement program for mentally ill adults capable of maintaining employment; and the Low Cost Center for Psychotherapy (CLCP), which provides affordable psychiatric services for low income individuals and families. Through its Family Resource Center (FRC), the agency also conducts a wide-variety of family support services as well as prevention/intervention and ‘mental wellness’ programs. In addition, the agency provides housing opportunities for individuals with mental illnesses returning to the community through its Supported Living Services (SLS) and a variety of jail diversion and law enforcement training programs through its Collaborative Justice Services (CJS) program. Recently, the agency also launched its Unified Care Management (UCM) program to provide individual and family services to older teens in crisis.

For more information about the MHAEC and its "Jammin Away the Blues" presentation, call 973-509-9777, x 104 or e-mail sryan@mhaessex.org