A HELPING HORN MUSIC HALL LOOKS TO JOSHUA REDMAN TO EXPAND JAZZ AUDIENCE.(SHOWTIME)

Byline: GREG HAYMES Staff writer

TROY -- Jazz is often referred to as the African-American classical music, but take a look around at the crowd of the next jazz concert that you attend.

It's almost a sure bet that the percentage of African-American musicians onstage far outdistances the percentage of African-Americans in the audience.

That certainly was the case last night at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall for a stellar concert by sax master Sonny Rollins. Ditto for performances in the Jazz at the Hall concert series earlier this year by such renowned jazz men as Joe Henderson, Jimmy Smith and the father-and-son team of Ellis and Branford Marsalis.

Of course, the lack of an African-American audience isn't unique to the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall -- or even the Capital Region -- but the Music Hall is taking a unique approach to the problem.

The hall has applied for a sizable grant from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Arts Partners Program that would finance a three-week residency by saxophonist Joshua Redman calculated to expand the …