A Jazz LEGACY REVELATION:

4 dead Jazz Legends & 1 VERY alive Urban Shaman
walk into a bar…

And so begins one Urban Bliss Shaman’s Sacred Music Quest…

 

If you’re reading this, Welcome & Congratulations!   You’re here because JWoW. feels a majickal adventure is something you might love.   Together, we’ll get to have fun while we:

  • augment a jazz legacy
  • fulfill a dying man’s wish
  • complete an Urban Shaman’s sacred quest

…all at the same time.

Today’s invitation looks like this:

  • We’ll share what we’re doing; how we’re doing it; and our end goal.
  • Then tell you a bit of the story around this miracle.
  • Finally, we’ll invite you to come play with us on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

 

Here we go…

An engaging image captures a diverse group of individuals in various dynamic poses: a vibrant Black woman, elegantly attired in a striking yellow and black long coat, strolling with a cane and exuberantly singing (JWoW); a joyful Black man donning a sharp tuxedo with a radiant smile (Howard Roberts); a skilled Black adult male pianist, adorned in a crisp white jacket, performing at a grand white piano (Count Basie); another accomplished Black adult male pianist, clad in a sophisticated gray jacket, showcasing his talent at a grand white piano (Duke Ellington); and a talented Black adult female singer, gracefully dressed in a white gown, passionately standing before two studio microphones (Ella Fitzgerald). The backdrop consists of a captivating brown and purple gradient.
Logo for the Rhythm Roots Project, Jazz EdVenture. 4 abstract music notes with the head in the shape of a heart. 4 such heart notes, one blue, one yellow, one brown-red, one purple. Words and heart notes are on a purple to tan gradient bakground.

Legends Are Lived.
Legacies Are Built.

Black & White picture of conductor, Howard Roberts, when he conducted the music for the first Muppets Movie. He has an upraised wand, a ring o his pinkie finger, a striped, open-collar shirt, and a halo of a 4 inch salt-and-pepper afro. Roberts has a small moustache.
Album cover of Howard Roberts Chorus and Orchestra album, Dream a Little Dream of Me. A Black man with a conductors wand held in both hands, Howard Roberts, is in a white turtleneck and a brown suede suit. A woman in a 60s flower print, long dress is laying at his feet, to the left. A woman is sidled up next to Roberts, wearing a cream top and taupe skirt with low-heel cream pumps. There is a red pillow and a sea green pillow underneath the woman on the ground.

Howard Roberts

Howard Roberts was the first international, Black, symphonic conductor in the world.    He was also Founder/Director of jazz’s world-famous Howard Roberts Chorale.

He and JWoW. met through his daughter when JWoW. was in college.   While they didn’t spend much time together, they each recognized a kindred spirit in the other.

Then, in 2011 — from his deathbed — Roberts made a request:

He asked his daughter to get 2 reel-to-reel tapes to JWoW. with the “instructions” that “she’ll know the right thing to do… and do it”.

PLEASE NOTE: EVERY other tape, from his private collection — except these 2was donated to a museum somewhere in the world.   Howard clearly cherished these tapes, from the 70s, at a deeply personal level and had not been able to get them restored in his lifetime.

Now, Howard’s gift to JWoW. allows her to bring all of us on a modern-day art-&-spirituality quest!   We’ll get to educate ourselfves; augment Howard’s legacy; AND build cultural bridges between each other and out to our respective tribes.

Our Legendary Quest…

Your involvement is a Golden Ticket-to-Ride into a real, live “JAZZ EdVenture” of unearthing buried, epic music greatness:    unpublished, private, studio-level jam sessions with 4 jazz legends.

Drawing of a donation box with lots of bills -- with hearts at the center -- stuffed i the hole at the top. There's a rectangular gray top with the hole. The front is a  logo for the Rhythm Roots Project, Jazz EdVenture. 4 abstract music notes with the head in the shape of a heart. 4 such heart notes, one blue, one yellow, one brown-red, one purple. Words and heart notes are on a purple to tan gradient background.

 

DONATIONS fuel our next steps…

Your financial gifts pay operational costs for:

  •  filming a “reveal documentary” about JWoW. and Howard.   Together, they’re bringing hope — and bridges — to the world… even after Howard’s death.
  • setting up early, for Phase 2, primes our research, outreach, and engagement pumps.

What’s So Special About These Tapes?

According to Roberts, there are 2 likely options for what’s on the tapes:

They COULD be unpublished practice sessions and private recordings of the Howard Roberts Chorale.

 
This would be an incredible blessing to jazz aficionados around the world!   The Chorale’s performances at Montreaux and Newport Jazz Festivals have delighted mainstage audiences for decades.

And yet, that’s NOT what he thought — and we also really think — is on the tapes…

What Howard Roberts thought was likely to be on them — and why he wanted to get them into JWoW.’s hands — is this:

They might be jam sessions — recorded in Roberts’ private studio — with 3 of his GoodBuddyPals:

A black-&-white photograph of Count Basie -- ina black tux -- smiling and playing a white grand piano, looking down at his fingers.

Count Basie

American jazz pianist, organist,
bandleader, and composer.

Duke Ellington at the piano, circa 1940.

Duke Ellington

American jazz pianist, composer, and jazz orchestra leader.

A black-&-white photograph of Ella Fitzgerald holding a mic stand, looking to right, towards the camera.  She's wearing a cream dress with open, sequined sleeves.

Ella Fitzgerald

American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the “First Lady of Song”.

(Let’s pause for a moment of reverence for the POSSIBILITY that this is true!   Seriously.   Even though there are no guarantees, the possibility is goosebumps-level thrilling!)

Why Now?

 

James Cameron wrote Avatar 25 years before movie technology caught up to his visions.   He was committed to waiting until he could make his legendary film in key ways that aligned with what he saw and felt the film could be.

JWoW. has been stewarding the tapes — and her visions for good they get to do beyond the worlds of jazz — since 2011.

Logo for the Rhythm Roots Project, Jazz EdVenture, Phase 1 of the project.  The graphic is an unlocked Masterlock, a strip of film, and a reel-to-reel, all layered on top of each other with the film coming out of the opened lock.  The project name words and heart notes are on a purple to tan gradient bakground.

Phase 1

NOTE:   We’re already on this train.

Our 2 mission channels are:

  • tape restoration
  •  

  • filming our documentary about this reveal / revelation ride

Similar to movie tech, tape restoration technology has radically evolved in the past few years.   Even analog tapes — from almost a half-century ago — now have a great shot at being fully restored.

JWoW. has waited patiently for restoration tech to evolve.   We’re moving forward because these tapes now have an excellent chance at revealing legendary music they’ve likely been storing since the 70s.

Logo for the Rhythm Roots Project, Jazz EdVenture, Phase 2, with Phase 2 written at the bottom. 4 abstract music notes with the head in the shape of a heart. 4 such heart notes, one blue, one yellow, one brown-red, one purple. Words and heart notes are on a purple to tan gradient bakground.

Phase 2

This documentary is a cross-cultural bridge-building tool.

It fuels initiatives designed to bring more — and more diverse — music and art to “arts education desert” urban, rural, and tribal secondary schools.

This goal’s success has presented significant challenges, in the past. It’s now evolved into a more easefully fulfilled vision in today’s cultural climates.

Come Join our
JAZZ EdVenture Tribe!

Together, we get to bring new voice to (at least) 2 majickal and magnificent musical lives.

One was silenced by
youth and circumstances.

One was silenced by
age and death itself.

 

BOTH are about to be heard AND cherished as the Tribal Treasures that they are.

A Message From JWoW.…

JWoW. wearning a rainbow jacket. A bald Black woman, looking to the right, grinning.

Hi everyone!     Thanks for looking at joining our JAZZ EdVenture, EARLY.     Your timing is perfect:   right now is when we get to nourish the first roots of this multi-media rhythm arts project.

“The caliber of the dust —
with which we make our bricks
affects the strength of bridges
we GET to build.

 

~ JWoW.

For me/us, it’s an HONOUR and DELIGHT to steward this whole discovery process!   We all ARE dust of the bridges we’re getting to build.   Human and tech hands we need, in order to do this well, are joining our EdVenture quest.   The more of y’all that join us for this fun, the more folx get to live more expansively through the EdVenture ride we get to be on together!

Feels good to get to share.   This feels like contiguous miracles!

So let’s discover some Tribal Treasures together, then get them out into other worlds.   Please donate… regularly.   Please share… everywhere.   And thank you for your active support!

With you, here’s to loving the legend we’re living…

So please click below and donate today!

(or click HERE to contact us for bank wires and where to mail a check!)

Your generosity fuels majick, music, and miracles we’re making happen over the next 12 months.

Thank you. ::bowz::

Here we go!

 

Blissings. Blessings. Appreciations.

JWoW.