December 19, 2025 • 21 mins
In this inspiring episode of Takin’ A Walk, host Buzz Knight sits down with Hans Schuman, the visionary leader behind Jazz Reach, a pioneering music non-profit dedicated to bringing jazz education and community engagement to audiences nationwide.
Hans shares the remarkable story of Jazz Reach’s mission to preserve and promote jazz as an essential American art form while making it accessible to diverse communities. From innovative educational programs to live performances that bridge generations, Jazz Reach is transforming how people experience and connect with jazz music.
The conversation explores Hans’s journey in music philanthropy, the challenges and triumphs of running a non-profit in today’s landscape, and the transformative power of jazz to build community and inspire young musicians. Hans discusses Jazz Reach’s programs, partnerships, and the organization’s vision for keeping jazz vital and relevant for future generations.
Whether you’re a jazz enthusiast, music educator, or passionate about arts advocacy, this episode offers valuable insights into how one organization is making a profound impact through the universal language of music.
Topics covered:
• The founding and mission of Jazz Reach
• Jazz education programs and community outreach initiatives
• The importance of preserving jazz heritage
• Building sustainable music non-profits
• How jazz creates community connections across diverse audiences
Tune in for an enlightening conversation about music, education, and the enduring legacy of jazz.
Support the show: https://takinawalk.com/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Well, I'm buzz night and welcome to the Taking a
Walk podcast. And we love telling stories about the great
work that so many people do in nonprofits that celebrate
music and that apply the greater good theory, like we
like to call it on Taking a Walk. So on
this episode, I'm proud to welcome Hans Schumann. Hello, Hans,
(00:23):
how you doing.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Buzz Good to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm doing tremendous now, Hans. You are the founder of
the national nonprofit Jazz Reach, which is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary,
which is incredible. We're going to talk about the organization
and the work that you do, which is so incredible.
It's across do I have this correct, Hans, across forty
(00:47):
two states.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
We toured nationally and we've, you know, since inception, we've
we've presented our work in partnership with major performing arts presenters,
you know, over forty two states.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
So it's great work celebrating music, taking music out into
the community, and that outreach we're going to talk about
and the beginnings of Jazz Reach.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
We'll talk to Hans Schumann coming up right after this.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
A Walk. Well, Hans, welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
I appreciate you being on.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I appreciate you having me on, and we like to.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Open up the Taking a Walk Podcast with this little
question first, So you're not going to escape this question.
If you could take a walk with somebody living or dead, Hans,
who would you take a walk with?
Speaker 1 (01:36):
And where would you take that walk?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I think I would take a walk, or choose to
take a walk if he's so generously permit with James Baldwin,
the great American author and intellectual, And I can't imagine
a better place to walk than Harlem, which was home
to him for most of his life.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
That would be that would be a story or two
to tell, absolutely and a lot to unpack.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
As they say, right.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Absolutely, no, I mean obviously it was one of the
deepest intellectuals of our of well at least of the
twentieth century, and continues to be studied and celebrated and
for good measure.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
So thank you for sharing that, Hans, and I want
to congratulate you first of all.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
And the amazing work of jazz reach.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Tell me about the beginnings of jazz reach, and this
goes back to the mid nineties, Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
In effect? Yeah, I mean, growing up, I mentioned that
I'm a musician, and I played the drums, and I
began playing in eighth grade and sort of was introduced
to jazz sort of in reverse. I was very much
a product of my generation and so far as the
only exposure to most music was popular music, and you know,
(03:03):
I'm definitely of the MTV generation and so but I
also participated in my high school's jazz ensemble, and so
many of my friends played saxophones and trumpets, and by
the very nature of the fact that they played those
instruments meant that they were a little bit more aware
of jazz and certainly appreciated the music more than I did,
at least at that time. And so you know, we
(03:25):
would we would go to each other's houses after school
and listen to records and make sandwiches and just have
these sort of like little listening parties, and so I
sort of I was sort of lukewarm to it, but
then became sort of introduced to sort of like the
sort of progressive rock or fusion stuff, and then you know,
which would mean you know, Genesis and Russian bands like that,
(03:46):
and then would sort of and sort of gradually was
introduced to you know, the bands like Weather Report and
Chickorea and some of his bands, and then subsequently Miles
Davis and then Miles Davis's history obviously we'd in reverse
to his career, and it was introduced to, you know,
to all the great subsequently, all the great musicians who
(04:08):
who we all celebrate today, and you know, all the
blue note artists and all the you know, sort of
mainstream straight ahead jazz music. So that that sort of
so that process was a sort of a cultivation of
a passion, you know, for this music. And so eventually,
after high school, I went to Berkeley College of Music,
where I was really sort of put in touch with
(04:29):
students my own age peers who were even far more
serious and passion than I was, which was great, and
so it really that was very inspirational to me. But
also I grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and aside from
the University of Arizona, was sort of a cultural desert,
pun intended. But when I got to Boston, all of
(04:51):
a sudden, I had access to to all of my
heroes who were coming into Boston regularly, you know. So
we're talking about like Max Road, Chanelvin Jones and Tony
Williams and Billy Higgins and Al Foster and just the
list goes on, Roy Haynes and all these amazing folks
who up to that point I'd only heard on record.
So that sort of further immersed me into the music
(05:15):
and made me ever more passionate about it. So fast forward,
after Berkeley, I moved to New York City to sort
of pursue my own career path just to basically play
the music and play as much as I could and
so forth. But along the way, I actually say, like
between the time I moved to New York City in
nineteen ninety and between then and ninety four, when I
(05:37):
established Jazz Reach, I sort of became increasingly concerned about
young people's lack of access to jazz music and its
history and opportunities to experience it live. And so to speak.
I'd had one sort of transformative experience or pivotal experience
when I was asked to do a little educational presentation
with a trio at a downtown Brooklyn high school and
(06:00):
was really just sort of taken aback by the student's
level of sort of disengagement and disinterest. And I thought
this can't be about the music. Something's happening, whether you know,
you know, I don't know if it was our if
the way that we delivered it, or what, but there
has to be a way to further immerse these young
people and engage them in a meaningful way and an
(06:21):
impactful way. And so that was sort of like the
germ or the impetus to sort of start jazz reach.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
And it was a light bulb moment.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
It was a light bulb moment. Certainly you knew, you.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Knew it was right, you knew it was something that
was gonna help others, was gonna satisfy your curiosity, but
cement your passion for the music.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Right Yeah, I mean I just felt like it was
it was you know, young people are entitled to access
to their own cultural heritage or they're you know, and history,
and and the fact that this wasn't a subject that
was included in most students, you know, social studies or
history curriculums. You know, they didn't really have access to
artistic excellence and so far as musicians coming into their
(07:07):
communities and performing for them. And so there was really
a void that I saw that needed to be filled.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
So how did you embark on this journey then.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Very idealistically and very naively. You know, I had had
no prior not for profit experience, that's for sure. I
had no idea what running enough for profit would entail.
But I knew it was something that I was going
to take very seriously and I wasn't going to allow
to fail. And it's one of those things like the
(07:39):
more I talked about it with friends and peers and
other musicians, you know, sort of it sort of put
me against the wall and sort of in so far
as you know, holding myself accountable to do what I
say I said I was going to do, which is
a good thing, I think. But nonetheless, I had a
friend who I had gone to college with, who, after college,
became the very first development director for SF Jazz. At
(08:03):
the time, I think they were called Jazz in the city,
but they were there were producers of the San Francisco
Jazz Festival, and so he was charged he literally were
there were They too, were sort of in their infancy.
They were a little further along than we were, but
my friend was hired as their very first development director,
and I basically said, can you send me some writing
samples in terms of like grant writing and fundraising and
(08:24):
things like that. And so he sent me writing samples
that that that that were for grant requests, individual donations,
and I think sponsorships, and that sort of became the
foundation of my grant writing expertise. I would say, yeah, yeah,
I mean I geah for lack of a better word.
So so it was basically from that point forward, it
(08:46):
was just it was just everything was a learning experience.
And you know, again I founded the organization in nineteen
ninety four, which sort of predated the Internet, and so
you know, I used to I used to go to
either New York phil Harmonic concerts or I'd go to
the very sort of first jazz and linkn Center concerts
and I'd take those playbills home and I'd go to
(09:06):
the back where they acknowledge all of their donors and
I would sort of make lists, you know, by hand,
these lists of like foundations that were sort of historically
committed to supporting the arts. And so I would have
to go to a place called the Foundation Center, which
is based at the time, it was based in the
Flatiron district, and you literally had to go there. This
(09:28):
is again this predates the internet, so there was no
online portal or any way to access any of this
information remotely. So, yeah, I've lived and they had these
big books and again these all this information was not
available on a computer. It was these large books, like
bigger than phone books, that were designated by areas of interest.
So there would be a big book of foundations, you know,
(09:51):
and it would be nationwide. It was a nationwide book,
and you know, foundations that support social services or things
like that. And then there were there other books that
were designated foundations that supported the arts. So I would
then cross, I'd go down my list and get the information,
you know. And it was just literally just trial and error,
trial and error. And I have to say, the first
four years or so first three years, you know, we
(10:15):
got nothing but declines from all the foundations. And mind you,
we had no track record, no history, nothing that proved
that we were capable of doing what we said we did.
I would send these these three page meandering letters on
the merits of jazz music and its place in our
nation cultural heritage, and why it's so important to make
sure that young people have access blah blah blah blah.
(10:36):
But nonetheless, you know, three years of sending you know,
I mean tens upon tens upon tens upon tens of proposals,
only to you know, sort of be rejected, rejected, rejected, rejected,
And so we didn't really get our very first grant
until maybe ninety seven or ninety eight, and it was
it was the ASKAP Foundation that responded to a letter
(10:57):
that I had written, and they took me to lunch
and wore my best suit and tried to make as
strong a case as possible, and they ended up giving
us a small grant, but nonetheless, it enabled us to
sort of premiere our debut educational program for a full
house of New York City public school students. That was
sort of like sort of launched us a little bit,
but you know, it was slow going from that point forward,
(11:19):
but it went nonetheless.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
And that culmination, after those dark moments of not you know,
getting bites on funding, the culmination of that finally that
first program must have been absolutely mind blowingly exhilarating.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah, it was very I mean, it was very affirming,
particularly after all that rejection. And I have to there
was one one moment when I received a manila envelope
in the mail from a school that it attended that
very first performance, and in it were all these letters,
(12:01):
just letters probably maybe forty to fifty letters from students
who had attended this performance, and they were all just
so positively glowing and complimentary that I literally I started
I bawled. I started to cry sitting there on my
bed because it had just been such a long process,
(12:21):
you know, not knowing whether or not, you know, what
I wanted to do was ever going to be embraced
by anyone or affirmed by anyone to the extent that
they supported or funded or make what we were striving
to do possible. So yeah, so that was, Yeah, that
was pivotal.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
And just watching the five minute video talking about Jazz
Reach on YouTube and just seeing the faces of the
students and just their joy and you know how locked
in they are to what's going on is just so beautiful.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
It's amazing, It's beautiful, and it continues to fill my cup.
I mean, you know, as you can imagine thirty years in,
you know, I'm certainly wrestling with some burnout and I'm
certainly trying to muster all the inspiration motivation that I
can to to sort of keep going and you know,
keeping it growing, and and obviously I am committed, but
(13:25):
you know, the reminders are always help, you know, when
whenever we get these opportunities, we present seasonally, so it's
sort of consistent with the academic calendar. So we generally
begin our annual seasons of educational programming in the fall
January through April or may tend to tend to be
the busiest period of time. But yeah, within those with
those within those spans of time, when we when we're
(13:47):
actually out there carrying out the mission and doing what
we are so committed to doing, it's it's certainly a
re energizing and and yeah, cup runneth over in those moments, thankfully,
you know, because I think we continue obviously, like any organization,
you know, we continue to get rejected or you know,
(14:09):
requests for funding de clent and you know, so it's
it remains an arduous process, you know, to continue from
one season to the next. So I mean we're fortunate,
you know that we that we have cultivated really meaningful,
impactful partnerships with performing arts presenters around the country who
present our work on their stages. I mean they they
(14:29):
play a major major role in making what we do possible,
and you know, insofar as giving us access to their community,
going so far as to market the programs and promote
the programs and to ensure that schools have buses to
bring the students into the performing arts venues and so forth.
So so yeah, we're we're grateful for them.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
And there's also the aspect of new touring seasons that
you sort of create new, new particular themes. There's a
new one that's celebrating the John Coltrane Centennial that I'd
love for you to talk about.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
So I should mention that most of our educational programming
is in the form of these live productions. So the
productions are generally between fifty five to sixty minutes long,
and our theme or subject oriented. They're all scripted and
integrate live narration with live music, and all of this
(15:28):
is complimented with really beautiful video projections. So this is
sort of our template or our formula for presenting the music.
So we do have a program on Miles Davis on
Too Kellington. We have programs that promote the histories of
Latin jazz and women in jazz, and we have programs
that sort of highlight the history of jazz sort of
(15:49):
using twentieth century American history as a backdrop. We've got
a relatively new program called Janis Johunting, which aims to
promote innovations and developments in jazz between nineteen ninety and
So to your comment about a new program, particularly of
the John Culture and program, it's it's sort of what
we're working on currently and we hope to sort of
(16:09):
have a soft debut of that program in early January.
There's a Performing Arts presenters conference in New York that
takes place every January called APAT, which stands for the
Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and it's really where all
of the performing arts presenters around the country converge to
sort of explore opportunities for the coming season. So it's
(16:30):
always beneficial for us to showcase a new work that
we're planning to feature for the next season, and so
we're hoping to sort of have the program more or
less finished by Ben and then we'll offer it for
presentation in the twenty six twenty seventh season.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
So over time, I think you have observed and passed
on your learnings about what jazz does for the students
in these communities and talk about some of those takeaways
that I think are very key for people to understand
and why this is important.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
First and foremost, I mean it to experience a live
jazz performance is to sort of experience the most aspirational
of our democratic principles and ideals sort of an action, right,
So this notion that you have any number of musicians
on stage reacting to one another, interacting with one another,
(17:32):
communicating with one another, and participating in a democratic process
that gives everyone equal weight and equal say. So, you
have the accompaniment portion or component of which is to
say that the rhythm section is always sort of supporting
the soloists, right, sort of give them a forum or
(17:52):
a platform to sound as great as they can sound
and be as great as they can be. So you
have this accompaniment portion, but then you have this opportunity
to solo and really express yourself and to to have
your voice be heard and to have had an individuals
say so you know that said, you know, you literally
have sort of like the democratic process sort of embodied
(18:14):
in that in that experience. But they're also I mean,
the young people who attend our performance is also you know,
it may be their first time participating as an audience member.
So it sort of cultivates this this awareness of what
it means to participate, you know, and enjoy music from
a listener's point of view. And it's also you know
it oftentimes it's their their first time experiencing you know,
(18:36):
what we might call and I realize this as subjective,
but what we what we might call artistic excellence. You know,
you have these individual musicians who have dedicated their lives
to the practice of their instruments and to the mastery
of their instruments, and I think it's important to see
anyone who's committed themselves to something passionately and who are
are so dedicated to achieving, you know, excellence at what
(18:59):
they do. So I mean, that's.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
That's a that's the short the short list.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
And of course there's the empathetic aspects of it. I've
sort of referred to the collaborative aspects of it, but
there are these these uh not so subtle learnings that
come out of that process and that listening as well.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Right, yeah, well, inter you know, interaction, you know, to
interact in a meaningful way or in a way that
that that produces great art, you know, is in it
of itself an active empathy and compassion.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
So how can folks help out in the mission of
Jazz Reach.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Well, they can certainly go to our website, which is
Jazzreach dot org. If they're interested in supporting us, obviously
we encourage them to make a donation to our organization.
If they're based in New York City and are interested
in playing sort of an active role, they can inquire
with me about the possibility of joining our board of
(20:00):
directors or playing some sort of advisory role. We're certain
we're currently in the process of carrying out some capacity
building plans and strategies that are kind of taking me
out of my depths or my comfortable wheelhouse, and so
that's a that's a capital project where we're aiming to
sort of build a facility in the Upper Hudson Valley
(20:22):
of New York State. But we're very we're very much
in the embryonic stages of that of implementing that project.
So I, you know, I could certainly use some insight
and expertise in some of those areas. But first and foremost,
you know, if they're if anyone's interested in supporting us,
we'd certainly encourage you to donate by just going to
our website.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
It's amazing work.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
You wouldn't be the type of person to crow about
things like this, but you've never missed a single Jazz
Reach performance in thirty years. And your work is incredible
and it's so important and we're grateful for it. But
we hope understand it and appreciate it because it deserves.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Having a light shining on it. So thank you, Hans
Schumann for everything you're doing.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
I can thank you enough for giving the opportunity to
speak about it means a lot.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Thank you, Buzz, Thank you, Hans.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Well, I'm buzz night and welcome to the Taking a
Walk podcast. And we love telling stories about the great
work that so many people do in nonprofits that celebrate
music and that apply the greater good theory, like we
like to call it on Taking a Walk. So on
this episode, I'm proud to welcome Hans Schumann. Hello, Hans,
(00:23):
how you doing.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Buzz Good to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I'm doing tremendous now, Hans. You are the founder of
the national nonprofit Jazz Reach, which is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary,
which is incredible. We're going to talk about the organization
and the work that you do, which is so incredible.
It's across do I have this correct, Hans, across forty
(00:47):
two states.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
We toured nationally and we've, you know, since inception, we've
we've presented our work in partnership with major performing arts presenters,
you know, over forty two states.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
So it's great work celebrating music, taking music out into
the community, and that outreach we're going to talk about
and the beginnings of Jazz Reach.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
We'll talk to Hans Schumann coming up right after this.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
A Walk. Well, Hans, welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
I appreciate you being on.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I appreciate you having me on, and we like to.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Open up the Taking a Walk Podcast with this little
question first, So you're not going to escape this question.
If you could take a walk with somebody living or dead, Hans,
who would you take a walk with?
Speaker 1 (01:36):
And where would you take that walk?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I think I would take a walk, or choose to
take a walk if he's so generously permit with James Baldwin,
the great American author and intellectual, And I can't imagine
a better place to walk than Harlem, which was home
to him for most of his life.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
That would be that would be a story or two
to tell, absolutely and a lot to unpack.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
As they say, right.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Absolutely, no, I mean obviously it was one of the
deepest intellectuals of our of well at least of the
twentieth century, and continues to be studied and celebrated and
for good measure.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
So thank you for sharing that, Hans, and I want
to congratulate you first of all.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
And the amazing work of jazz reach.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Tell me about the beginnings of jazz reach, and this
goes back to the mid nineties, Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
In effect? Yeah, I mean, growing up, I mentioned that
I'm a musician, and I played the drums, and I
began playing in eighth grade and sort of was introduced
to jazz sort of in reverse. I was very much
a product of my generation and so far as the
only exposure to most music was popular music, and you know,
(03:03):
I'm definitely of the MTV generation and so but I
also participated in my high school's jazz ensemble, and so
many of my friends played saxophones and trumpets, and by
the very nature of the fact that they played those
instruments meant that they were a little bit more aware
of jazz and certainly appreciated the music more than I did,
at least at that time. And so you know, we
(03:25):
would we would go to each other's houses after school
and listen to records and make sandwiches and just have
these sort of like little listening parties, and so I
sort of I was sort of lukewarm to it, but
then became sort of introduced to sort of like the
sort of progressive rock or fusion stuff, and then you know,
which would mean you know, Genesis and Russian bands like that,
(03:46):
and then would sort of and sort of gradually was
introduced to you know, the bands like Weather Report and
Chickorea and some of his bands, and then subsequently Miles
Davis and then Miles Davis's history obviously we'd in reverse
to his career, and it was introduced to, you know,
to all the great subsequently, all the great musicians who
(04:08):
who we all celebrate today, and you know, all the
blue note artists and all the you know, sort of
mainstream straight ahead jazz music. So that that sort of
so that process was a sort of a cultivation of
a passion, you know, for this music. And so eventually,
after high school, I went to Berkeley College of Music,
where I was really sort of put in touch with
(04:29):
students my own age peers who were even far more
serious and passion than I was, which was great, and
so it really that was very inspirational to me. But
also I grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and aside from
the University of Arizona, was sort of a cultural desert,
pun intended. But when I got to Boston, all of
(04:51):
a sudden, I had access to to all of my
heroes who were coming into Boston regularly, you know. So
we're talking about like Max Road, Chanelvin Jones and Tony
Williams and Billy Higgins and Al Foster and just the
list goes on, Roy Haynes and all these amazing folks
who up to that point I'd only heard on record.
So that sort of further immersed me into the music
(05:15):
and made me ever more passionate about it. So fast forward,
after Berkeley, I moved to New York City to sort
of pursue my own career path just to basically play
the music and play as much as I could and
so forth. But along the way, I actually say, like
between the time I moved to New York City in
nineteen ninety and between then and ninety four, when I
(05:37):
established Jazz Reach, I sort of became increasingly concerned about
young people's lack of access to jazz music and its
history and opportunities to experience it live. And so to speak.
I'd had one sort of transformative experience or pivotal experience
when I was asked to do a little educational presentation
with a trio at a downtown Brooklyn high school and
(06:00):
was really just sort of taken aback by the student's
level of sort of disengagement and disinterest. And I thought
this can't be about the music. Something's happening, whether you know,
you know, I don't know if it was our if
the way that we delivered it, or what, but there
has to be a way to further immerse these young
people and engage them in a meaningful way and an
(06:21):
impactful way. And so that was sort of like the
germ or the impetus to sort of start jazz reach.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
And it was a light bulb moment.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
It was a light bulb moment. Certainly you knew, you.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Knew it was right, you knew it was something that
was gonna help others, was gonna satisfy your curiosity, but
cement your passion for the music.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Right Yeah, I mean I just felt like it was
it was you know, young people are entitled to access
to their own cultural heritage or they're you know, and history,
and and the fact that this wasn't a subject that
was included in most students, you know, social studies or
history curriculums. You know, they didn't really have access to
artistic excellence and so far as musicians coming into their
(07:07):
communities and performing for them. And so there was really
a void that I saw that needed to be filled.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
So how did you embark on this journey then.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Very idealistically and very naively. You know, I had had
no prior not for profit experience, that's for sure. I
had no idea what running enough for profit would entail.
But I knew it was something that I was going
to take very seriously and I wasn't going to allow
to fail. And it's one of those things like the
(07:39):
more I talked about it with friends and peers and
other musicians, you know, sort of it sort of put
me against the wall and sort of in so far
as you know, holding myself accountable to do what I
say I said I was going to do, which is
a good thing, I think. But nonetheless, I had a
friend who I had gone to college with, who, after college,
became the very first development director for SF Jazz. At
(08:03):
the time, I think they were called Jazz in the city,
but they were there were producers of the San Francisco
Jazz Festival, and so he was charged he literally were
there were They too, were sort of in their infancy.
They were a little further along than we were, but
my friend was hired as their very first development director,
and I basically said, can you send me some writing
samples in terms of like grant writing and fundraising and
(08:24):
things like that. And so he sent me writing samples
that that that that were for grant requests, individual donations,
and I think sponsorships, and that sort of became the
foundation of my grant writing expertise. I would say, yeah, yeah,
I mean I geah for lack of a better word.
So so it was basically from that point forward, it
(08:46):
was just it was just everything was a learning experience.
And you know, again I founded the organization in nineteen
ninety four, which sort of predated the Internet, and so
you know, I used to I used to go to
either New York phil Harmonic concerts or I'd go to
the very sort of first jazz and linkn Center concerts
and I'd take those playbills home and I'd go to
(09:06):
the back where they acknowledge all of their donors and
I would sort of make lists, you know, by hand,
these lists of like foundations that were sort of historically
committed to supporting the arts. And so I would have
to go to a place called the Foundation Center, which
is based at the time, it was based in the
Flatiron district, and you literally had to go there. This
(09:28):
is again this predates the internet, so there was no
online portal or any way to access any of this
information remotely. So, yeah, I've lived and they had these
big books and again these all this information was not
available on a computer. It was these large books, like
bigger than phone books, that were designated by areas of interest.
So there would be a big book of foundations, you know,
(09:51):
and it would be nationwide. It was a nationwide book,
and you know, foundations that support social services or things
like that. And then there were there other books that
were designated foundations that supported the arts. So I would
then cross, I'd go down my list and get the information,
you know. And it was just literally just trial and error,
trial and error. And I have to say, the first
four years or so first three years, you know, we
(10:15):
got nothing but declines from all the foundations. And mind you,
we had no track record, no history, nothing that proved
that we were capable of doing what we said we did.
I would send these these three page meandering letters on
the merits of jazz music and its place in our
nation cultural heritage, and why it's so important to make
sure that young people have access blah blah blah blah.
(10:36):
But nonetheless, you know, three years of sending you know,
I mean tens upon tens upon tens upon tens of proposals,
only to you know, sort of be rejected, rejected, rejected, rejected,
And so we didn't really get our very first grant
until maybe ninety seven or ninety eight, and it was
it was the ASKAP Foundation that responded to a letter
(10:57):
that I had written, and they took me to lunch
and wore my best suit and tried to make as
strong a case as possible, and they ended up giving
us a small grant, but nonetheless, it enabled us to
sort of premiere our debut educational program for a full
house of New York City public school students. That was
sort of like sort of launched us a little bit,
but you know, it was slow going from that point forward,
(11:19):
but it went nonetheless.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
And that culmination, after those dark moments of not you know,
getting bites on funding, the culmination of that finally that
first program must have been absolutely mind blowingly exhilarating.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah, it was very I mean, it was very affirming,
particularly after all that rejection. And I have to there
was one one moment when I received a manila envelope
in the mail from a school that it attended that
very first performance, and in it were all these letters,
(12:01):
just letters probably maybe forty to fifty letters from students
who had attended this performance, and they were all just
so positively glowing and complimentary that I literally I started
I bawled. I started to cry sitting there on my
bed because it had just been such a long process,
(12:21):
you know, not knowing whether or not, you know, what
I wanted to do was ever going to be embraced
by anyone or affirmed by anyone to the extent that
they supported or funded or make what we were striving
to do possible. So yeah, so that was, Yeah, that
was pivotal.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
And just watching the five minute video talking about Jazz
Reach on YouTube and just seeing the faces of the
students and just their joy and you know how locked
in they are to what's going on is just so beautiful.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
It's amazing, It's beautiful, and it continues to fill my cup.
I mean, you know, as you can imagine thirty years in,
you know, I'm certainly wrestling with some burnout and I'm
certainly trying to muster all the inspiration motivation that I
can to to sort of keep going and you know,
keeping it growing, and and obviously I am committed, but
(13:25):
you know, the reminders are always help, you know, when
whenever we get these opportunities, we present seasonally, so it's
sort of consistent with the academic calendar. So we generally
begin our annual seasons of educational programming in the fall
January through April or may tend to tend to be
the busiest period of time. But yeah, within those with
those within those spans of time, when we when we're
(13:47):
actually out there carrying out the mission and doing what
we are so committed to doing, it's it's certainly a
re energizing and and yeah, cup runneth over in those moments, thankfully,
you know, because I think we continue obviously, like any organization,
you know, we continue to get rejected or you know,
(14:09):
requests for funding de clent and you know, so it's
it remains an arduous process, you know, to continue from
one season to the next. So I mean we're fortunate,
you know that we that we have cultivated really meaningful,
impactful partnerships with performing arts presenters around the country who
present our work on their stages. I mean they they
(14:29):
play a major major role in making what we do possible,
and you know, insofar as giving us access to their community,
going so far as to market the programs and promote
the programs and to ensure that schools have buses to
bring the students into the performing arts venues and so forth.
So so yeah, we're we're grateful for them.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
And there's also the aspect of new touring seasons that
you sort of create new, new particular themes. There's a
new one that's celebrating the John Coltrane Centennial that I'd
love for you to talk about.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
So I should mention that most of our educational programming
is in the form of these live productions. So the
productions are generally between fifty five to sixty minutes long,
and our theme or subject oriented. They're all scripted and
integrate live narration with live music, and all of this
(15:28):
is complimented with really beautiful video projections. So this is
sort of our template or our formula for presenting the music.
So we do have a program on Miles Davis on
Too Kellington. We have programs that promote the histories of
Latin jazz and women in jazz, and we have programs
that sort of highlight the history of jazz sort of
(15:49):
using twentieth century American history as a backdrop. We've got
a relatively new program called Janis Johunting, which aims to
promote innovations and developments in jazz between nineteen ninety and
So to your comment about a new program, particularly of
the John Culture and program, it's it's sort of what
we're working on currently and we hope to sort of
(16:09):
have a soft debut of that program in early January.
There's a Performing Arts presenters conference in New York that
takes place every January called APAT, which stands for the
Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and it's really where all
of the performing arts presenters around the country converge to
sort of explore opportunities for the coming season. So it's
(16:30):
always beneficial for us to showcase a new work that
we're planning to feature for the next season, and so
we're hoping to sort of have the program more or
less finished by Ben and then we'll offer it for
presentation in the twenty six twenty seventh season.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
So over time, I think you have observed and passed
on your learnings about what jazz does for the students
in these communities and talk about some of those takeaways
that I think are very key for people to understand
and why this is important.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
First and foremost, I mean it to experience a live
jazz performance is to sort of experience the most aspirational
of our democratic principles and ideals sort of an action, right,
So this notion that you have any number of musicians
on stage reacting to one another, interacting with one another,
(17:32):
communicating with one another, and participating in a democratic process
that gives everyone equal weight and equal say. So, you
have the accompaniment portion or component of which is to
say that the rhythm section is always sort of supporting
the soloists, right, sort of give them a forum or
(17:52):
a platform to sound as great as they can sound
and be as great as they can be. So you
have this accompaniment portion, but then you have this opportunity
to solo and really express yourself and to to have
your voice be heard and to have had an individuals
say so you know that said, you know, you literally
have sort of like the democratic process sort of embodied
(18:14):
in that in that experience. But they're also I mean,
the young people who attend our performance is also you know,
it may be their first time participating as an audience member.
So it sort of cultivates this this awareness of what
it means to participate, you know, and enjoy music from
a listener's point of view. And it's also you know
it oftentimes it's their their first time experiencing you know,
(18:36):
what we might call and I realize this as subjective,
but what we what we might call artistic excellence. You know,
you have these individual musicians who have dedicated their lives
to the practice of their instruments and to the mastery
of their instruments, and I think it's important to see
anyone who's committed themselves to something passionately and who are
are so dedicated to achieving, you know, excellence at what
(18:59):
they do. So I mean, that's.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
That's a that's the short the short list.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
And of course there's the empathetic aspects of it. I've
sort of referred to the collaborative aspects of it, but
there are these these uh not so subtle learnings that
come out of that process and that listening as well.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Right, yeah, well, inter you know, interaction, you know, to
interact in a meaningful way or in a way that
that that produces great art, you know, is in it
of itself an active empathy and compassion.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
So how can folks help out in the mission of
Jazz Reach.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Well, they can certainly go to our website, which is
Jazzreach dot org. If they're interested in supporting us, obviously
we encourage them to make a donation to our organization.
If they're based in New York City and are interested
in playing sort of an active role, they can inquire
with me about the possibility of joining our board of
(20:00):
directors or playing some sort of advisory role. We're certain
we're currently in the process of carrying out some capacity
building plans and strategies that are kind of taking me
out of my depths or my comfortable wheelhouse, and so
that's a that's a capital project where we're aiming to
sort of build a facility in the Upper Hudson Valley
(20:22):
of New York State. But we're very we're very much
in the embryonic stages of that of implementing that project.
So I, you know, I could certainly use some insight
and expertise in some of those areas. But first and foremost,
you know, if they're if anyone's interested in supporting us,
we'd certainly encourage you to donate by just going to
our website.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
It's amazing work.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
You wouldn't be the type of person to crow about
things like this, but you've never missed a single Jazz
Reach performance in thirty years. And your work is incredible
and it's so important and we're grateful for it. But
we hope understand it and appreciate it because it deserves.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Having a light shining on it. So thank you, Hans
Schumann for everything you're doing.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
I can thank you enough for giving the opportunity to
speak about it means a lot.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Thank you, Buzz, Thank you, Hans.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
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