NEWS
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Dave Boule
Pacific Communications Group
310.224.4959
dboule@paccomgrp.com
Bruce Forman
JazzMasters Workshop
831.659.4654
“ROUTE 66 CHALLENGE” TO TRAVEL ON
FORD WHEELS
Ford Provides 2004 Explorer Sport Trac for Innovative Fundraiser,
Supporting National Music Mentoring Program
Monterey , CA – May 3, 2004 – Ford advertises it’s Sport Trac as “built exclusively for life’s active participants,” which makes it tailor-made for the adventurous Route 66 Challenge. Beginning May 7, four professional musicians will drive--and perform--the length of old Route 66, from Chicago to Los Angeles securing per-mile pledges to raise funds for JazzMasters Workshop, the four-year old non-profit music mentoring program. Leaving Chicago with a full tank of gas and $100 between them, the band will have no pre-set concert dates, playing only the performances they can arrange on the spur of the moment as they arrive in each town along their route. The objective is, while living only on the money they can raise from these spontaneous gigs.
“The Route 66 Challenge is equal parts crazy quest and professional commitment. Ford’s Explorer Sport Trac is the spot-on vehicle for us. It has comfortable seating for a quartet and plenty of room for our instruments, including our standup bass! The sound system’s awesome, too.” says JazzMasters Workshop founder, jazz guitarist Bruce Forman. “It is an honor that the quintessential American car company is sharing in our efforts to bring music performance and mentoring to the children of our country through our voyage down America ’s Main Street .”
ROUTE 66 CHALLENGE
Fundraising campaigns for music programs in this economy require bold, ambitious and visionary initiatives. And that’s exactly what internationally renowned guitarist Bruce Forman is embarking on with his Route 66 Challenge on behalf of JazzMasters Workshop. Forman and his four-piece Western jazz swing band, ‘Cow Bop’, is heading down Route 66--all 2,248 miles of the storied roadway--to raise awareness and new sources of funding for the nationally expanding JazzMasters Workshop. The organization’s free-of-charge music mentoring programs are now operating in Central California , SF Bay Area, Los Angeles , Chicago and New York .
“The Route 66 Challenge is really designed to emphasize our commitment to making music performance and education available to all young people,” said Bruce Forman, Founder and Executive Director of JazzMasters Workshop. “I can’t think of a better way to personalize the mission of JazzMasters Workshop than to actually perform spontaneously on the most famous of American roadways. We plan to visit schools and community centers along the way, looking for new program sites as well.”
Each sponsored mile of the Route 66 Challenge represents an opportunity to generate an important new source of funding to bring the time honored approach of music mentoring--free-of-charge--to young musicians of diverse ages, abilities and backgrounds.
An official Route 66 Challenge web site containing more detailed information on sponsorships, pledges, journal updates from the road and Cow Bop’s tour progress can be visited at www.wayoutwestmusic.com . The site also provides links to JazzMasters Workshop-- www.jazzmastersworkshop.org --as well as to the band’s highly entertaining web site at www.cowbop.com .
Founded in 2000 by internationally acclaimed guitarist and educator, Bruce Forman, JazzMasters Workshop (JMW) puts the power of music performance directly in the hands of children and young adults from all walks of life. What distinguishes this non-profit organization is its emphasis on the time-honored mentoring process to augment traditional music education. JMW is providing a new generation of students – including beginning, developing and advanced players – with unprecedented access to world-class professional musicians. By facilitating weekly, hands-on performance-oriented workshops, artists directly interact with, educate, and inspire students. As a result, children and young adults are provided an apprenticeship approach to learning and performing, a necessity for continuing the rich historical tradition of American music.
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