We have recently launched an online store with amazing designs. Please join us in supporting music in NYC and beyond while maintaining the height of fashion :)

History The Jazz Discovery Program has been introducing students and their school communities to the wonders of live jazz music for over twenty years. Historically, schools from all 5 boroughs took field trips to our sister club, Jazz Standard jazz club in Gramercy, but its closure during the pandemic forced us to restrategize our approach. As we could no longer invite them to our club we began to perform outreach concerts in schools and community centers across the boroughs. These workshops are designed to be fun, educational, and interactive and our successes are found in the smiles of our dancing students. We believe that cultivating the vibrant and passionate audience of tomorrow is just as important as supporting the talented and driven musicians of today.(watch a video of our JDP in action)Challenge Jazz is a Black American artform adored and practiced by the entire world yet even in New York City, perhaps the world's epicenter of the music, many students have not had the opportunity to experience live jazz. Many schools face difficulties in funding arts enrichment events and especially in the neighborhoods where the music was created originally. Imagine growing up in Harlem, the heart of the Black American Renaissance, and not learning about musical heroes such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. Furthermore, the importance of live music around the world is dwindling because of technological advances in listening devices and the resulting heightened accessibility of music. Our aim is to combat these issues simply by exposing the students to this beautiful culture. Solution JDP engages with schools in all 5 boroughs and organizes special events where students learn about the history of jazz and simply enjoy a live show. Depending on the age of the students, our talented musicians are prepared to offer more basic lessons - like an in depth tutorial on the different instruments and their sounds - or more advanced lessons about harmony and rhythm. Additionally, JDP reaches out to district 75 schools that support students with special needs, cultural centers such as Visions, a midtown residence for the visually impaired and creates special programs such as our music mentoring collaborations with our Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra funded by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, celebrating Women in Jazz during Women’s History Month and honoring Jazz Appreciation Month. We aim to bring live jazz to more schools each year and to serve underprivileged communities that might not otherwise have the opportunity for high quality enrichment activities.FutureJazz Generation recognizes that this intergenerational network is driving the future of jazz, and we are determined to foster its continued growth. Of course, this can’t happen without the next generation of jazz musicians and listeners. Through our youth programs, we provide young musicians with the skills required to grow as collaborators and performers, and to introduce younger audiences to the joys of live jazz.

Jazz Generation: Generating performance and educational opportunities for all generations of musicians and audience members--- The best part of JG is that our precept is simple - to pay musicians more equitably for their work - but our impact is multi-fold; expanding access to high quality music in diverse communities; empowering youth to become leaders and the next generation of musicians and audience members; support and boost local business in mom-and-pop style venues in all five boroughs and beyond; and so much more. Our founder realized multiple needs in New York City and connected the dots. Musicians are undervalued and underemployed. Venues in all five boroughs have slow nights of the week and operate at a loss on those nights. Pianos are being sent to the garbage dumps en masse. We started out by rescuing pianos and asking venues if they would like them free of charge and even offered to tune the pianos regularly. We then teamed up with the venues to pay the musicians more equitably, 50-50%. This gave musicians double what they normally take home, raised the quality of musicians in these spaces, and in turn brought in more audience members. The results in the past 10 years have been astounding. Some venues, having reached a level of success beyond what they expected, no longer ask our charity for money. Their slow nights have turned into busy ones. Local community members in diverse neighborhoods no longer have to travel 'downtown' to pay exorbitant cover charges to hear live music. Young children walking by or joining with their parents for live music are now exposed to jazz, creating an interest leading to the next generation of musicians and, importantly, audience members. Our three programs work in a complementary nature, one feeding into the next. Our Jazz Discovery Program exposes children ages 5-16 to the wonders of jazz and blues. Whether outreach providing bands directly inside the walls of their schools, or a field trip to a jazz club to give the full experience, JDP piques the interest of our youth to jazz and blues music. Our Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra gives a platform to mostly high school aged students to perform weekly in front of an audience, study with jazz masters, and to become leaders. This particular program will celebrate 25 years in 2026. Many of our students have gone on to becoming house hold names in the jazz idiom, (Kojo Roney, Camille Thurman, Emilio Modeste, to name a few). Our KEYED UP! program is the one described above working with mom-and-pop venues, fostering the musicians of today. Thank you very much for the opportunity to write about our program. We have videos, testimonials from musicians and business owners, and so much more on our website (www.jazzgeneration.org). Please visit and donate today!