Jazz Foundation of America

The Jazz Foundation of America (JFA) is a non-profit organization based in Manhattan, New York founded in 1989. The JFA's programs seek to help jazz and blues musicians in need of emergency funds and connect them with performance opportunities in schools and the community. The organization works to bridge the gap between social and medical resources and the jazz legends whose careers did not ensure this kind of support.

The Jazz Musicians' Emergency Fund and Housing Fund, established with corporate help, specifically helps freelance musicians who don't have standard benefits, a pension plan or health insurance to cover one-time expenses. Often, the musicians grow older and due to life tragedies or health problems, can no longer work steadily and find themselves unable to make ends meet. Musicians can apply to JFA social workers for assistance with rent, housing, mortgage payments, healthcare, and more. The Jazz Foundation of America has also created a volunteer network of other professionals (and caring jazz enthusiasts) throughout the United States who endeavor to provide free legal, dental, and other health services when needed.

The JFA's Jazz in the Schools program extends through eight states and operates as both a tool for educational outreach and as an employment service. Jazz in the Schools offers free hour-long performances by recognized musicians, incorporating lessons about instrumentation and jazz music history. In return, the musicians are paid fair wages by the JFA. The Varis/Jazz in Schools program employs over 120 musicians throughout New York City and hundreds throughout the south, reaching dozens of public schools and hospital schools each month and touching the daily lives of hundreds of school children.

The organization began with founder Herb Storfer and friends Ann Ruckert, Phoebe Jacobs and Billy Taylor in 1989. Storfer housed the Foundation in his Manhattan Loft, and funds to support it were raised through tickets to jam sessions in the loft. Shortly after incorporation in 1990, the newly titled Jazz Foundation of America held a fundraising event at Town Hall, raising over sixty thousand dollars to establish the Jazz Emergency Fund. Shortly after, two established jazz musicians, Jamil Nassar and Jimmy Owens, became the organization's outreach network, connecting musicians in need of rent money or medical payments to the organization's founder. The committee of founders began to network with other service organizations who shared similar objectives—the Actor's Fund and MusiCares provided part-time social workers for the JFA's substance abuse programs.

From 1997 to 2000, a new executive director, Susan Cipollone, worked up one or two assessments a day and helped about 35 musicians in a year. The JFA offered substance abuse programs and began their Monday night jam sessions as a way of recruiting musicians in need.

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