By JOHN LENTZ

Staff Writer

What's got two "A"s, four "Z"s, is warm and gooey and sets toes tapping?

It's a fusion of pizza and the Union Pines jazz band Thursday night at the Mellow Mushroom in Southern Pines.

The band, composed of 20 Union Pines High School band students, will perform two sets of seven songs each from 6 to 8 p.m. A student-led jazz combo will also take the stage to do an original number.

Union Pines Band Director Rob Hill described the upcoming event.

"The band will be performing two sets of about 45 minutes each with a break, about 14 tunes in all, which will include standards such as 'So What?' by Miles Davis, 'Chameleon' by Herbie Hancock and 'Georgia On My Mind,'" he said.

"We did this last year at Mellow Mushroom and it was a big hit. The jazz band is composed of some really talented kids, and I know that listeners will be impressed."

Mellow Mushroom co-owner Mark Dunahay said that last year's event exceeded expectations.

"There is a lot of community support for this very talented band," Dunahay said. "The night they performed last year was on my day off, so I came to the restaurant to hear them but couldn't find a parking place. The restaurant was packed."

Dunahay said that a percentage of the sales from that evening will benefit the school's regular high school band.

"As we did last year, we will donate 10 percent of the proceeds from sales before, during and after the band's performance, from 5 until 9 p.m., to benefit the school band," he said. "I wrote a check to them that evening after what turned out to be a great event."

Hill invites everyone to come listen to the band and eat some good food while supporting a "great cause."

"We invite you to join us to see this really cool talent," Hill said, getting into a jazz groove as he spoke. "We know you'll dig it."

Contact John Lentz at (910) 693-2479 or jlentz@thepilot. com.