WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S.

By Sara Hoover When Chris Parker and Kelley Hurt met at the University of Memphis in the music program, they became best friends but nothing more. At first. "I was too young for her," said Parker, 35. "I used to call him 'the kid,' " said Hurt, 42.

By JON W. POSES It hasn't been a good few days for jazz's health. On July 25, saxophonist icon Johnny Griffin, 80, passed away, as did the gifted, versatile guitarist Hiram Bullock, who was only 52.

By Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press Apr. 9--Few musicians have embodied the soul of the Detroit jazz scene as powerfully in recent decades as Donald Walden, a tenor saxophonist and teacher who played with a searingly lyrical sound and rippled muscularity.

By Alicia P.Q. Wittmeyer, Daily Press, Newport News, Va. Aug. 26--It's just after 9 a.m. on the first day of classes at Liberty University and professor John Kinchen is reviewing his absence policies for his Worship Studies 103 class: "You guys are all freshmen. ... It's just like high school.