Teaching jazz to a new generation at the Patel Conservatory

TAMPA - It is 100 percent pure American, born and raised here - jazz.

At the Patel Conservatory out at the Straz Center , there is a teacher - or a professor of sorts - trying to pass the art of Jazz on to a new generation.

Matt Weihmuller is from Carollwood, and he has been playing jazz now for the last 15 years. From New York to Los Angeles to New Orleans.

One other thing, Matt is blind. But when you think of it, when it comes to jazz, that's probably a plus. Jazz is not reading and repeating music, it all about feeling and expressing music, something Matt says is a challenge to pass on because when you are teaching it to young people you have to walk a fine line between telling students what to do and letting them express themselves.

The four students he is currently working with range in age from 14 to 17 years old and they will be playing a couple of shows with him Sunday over at the Straz center at 11:40, and 12:20.