The Jazz Orchestra Legacy Foundation

Jazz has been deemed an “American Treasure” by the United States Congress. Jazz is truly a unique American art form. The Jazz Orchestra, also referred to as the Big Band, has been central to the development of Jazz, From the early bands of Buddy Bolden and Louis Armstrong, through the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s in which Big Band music was the popular music of the time, to the progressive and innovative bands of the 1950s and 1960s, most people have been introduced to jazz through the jazz orchestra. The purpose and goal of the Jazz Orchestra Legacy Foundation is to keep this art form alive through active performance and to pass it along to future generations of performers and fans.