About us
Our mission
For the Love of Jazz is a non-profit corporation, founded in Reno in May 1974 by a small group of jazz musicians and enthusiasts. Our goals are local and educational. We work to provide and promote:
- chances to learn to play jazz
- chances to learn about jazz and its history
- live performances by accomplished jazz artists
- ensemble playing for young musicians
- one-to-one instruction from local, regional and national artists
- scholarships and financial support for students who want to become jazz musicians
- a sense of community for everybody who cares about this music
- forums for anybody who wants to learn about it
We also work to advertise and spread the word about live jazz, to support the clubs, restaurants and concert halls that stage it, to find ways of teaching jazz and its history in Nevada schools, and to work alongside other organizations doing the same.
History and vision
Music has transformative power. Jazz, with its complex cultural history, its fluidity and improvisation, and its integration of vastly different customs and traditions, has a particular power to provoke cultural development. Through live performance and through the relationship between player and audience, it enriches, educates, and enlightens.
When people discuss the history of jazz, they speak of its African roots, of New Orleans and of Harlem. But Nevada's own golden age became world-famous through a music scene built on jazz. Conversations about Nevada jazz turn to Reno, Carson City, the north and south shores of Lake Tahoe, and the Las Vegas Strip, and to the musicians who played them: Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Harry Belafonte, Lena Horne, and many more.
In Nevada through the 1950s and 1960s, when racial tension in America ran very high, black and white musicians performed together in traveling bands, backup bands, lounge bands, big bands, and orchestras. People came from everywhere to hear them. They came to gamble and to see the glittering shows, but the music was the integrating force. Audiences packed the houses for entertainment, and there were lessons to be learned as well. Through music, positive social change educated not only American culture but world culture.
By the early 1970s, the casino entertainment industry had perfected its strategy. What made money and brand recognition was the big band, the big orchestra, the long-running crowd-pleasing ballroom show. The formula produced many configurations over the years, and steady work for local musicians, technicians and performers. The peak of that tradition in Reno was probably 1978, with the opening of the MGM Grand, its stage billed as the largest in the world, and the opening of Hello Hollywood Hello.
But those big shows created a musical vacuum, particularly for individual musicians and small groups who wanted to compose, play, and improvise their own music together. In response, in May 1974, a small group of jazz musicians and enthusiasts came together to find, develop, and promote alternative venues for playing jazz. That was the beginning of For the Love of Jazz.
Jazz continues to evolve, and we believe Nevada still has an important place in its history. As a community of musicians and listeners, our purpose is to encourage appreciation of this music and strengthen understanding of where it sits in Nevada's music history and in American culture.
Board Member Information
Meet the dedicated leaders shaping our organization — explore the list of current and past Board members and Consultants who keep the music thriving.