Jazz Foundation helps Music Maker ensure work for artists

Your support of Music Maker has made many highlights and successes possible for our programs and artists this year. As we work towards improving the lives of our partner artists and educating the world about Roots and Blues music, our living culture, we want to thank you, our supporters, for ensuring we can continue this important work!

Staff at Music Maker can be found daily helping partner artists meet day-to-day needs, overcome emergencies, hone their craft, and earn an income through their music. We present artists worldwide so that millions are given the chance to appreciate American traditional music. Through Music Maker’s programs, artists may live in comfort and dignity while developing their music and passing on their cultural heritage to future generations.

Please renew your membership today with a gift to our Annual Fund, or watch for your Annual Fund letter in the mail, and help us keep America’s musical heritage alive for future generations!

The Jazz Foundation’s Agnes Varis Jazz and Blues in the Schools Program creates performance and teaching opportunities for elderly artists who still have so much to give back to their communities. Ironing Board Sam, Alabama Slim, Eddie Tigner, Dr. Burt, Boo Hanks, and John Dee Holeman will now have more opportunities for steady income, and new audiences will have a chance to experience their music. Each of these musicians will play once a month at a school or eldercare facility and in return, will receive a grant from the Jazz Foundation.

Aaron and I have been working to find nursing homes and schools local to these artists and connecting them with the administrators of such programs.

Dr. Burt was excited to get the chance to play for school children because he felt that he had so much to share, proclaiming, “I love kids. They deserve to know about where the music they’re listening to comes from, and I want to be the one to teach them.”

Thank you so much to The Jazz Foundation for providing this wonderful program!

Maggie Morrissey is a summer intern for Music Maker. Maggie recently graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a degree in Journalism, and will begin her Masters in Public Administration at NC State in the fall.

This week we’re presenting Captain Luke singing, “A Snowy Night In Georgia” featuring Cool John Ferguson on guitar.

This is an alteration on a classic cover that Captain Luke has done in the past called “A Rainy Night In Georgia.” We hope this can help everyone stay cool this summer and keep holiday cheer going for a long time. We found this recording on a Captain Luke album titled “Old Black Buck” and on that CD as a bonus there was a video of Captain and Cool John performing some holiday themed songs.

— Mike

Mike Capodiferro is a Music Maker summer intern helping us with everything from writing to running shows. Mike is a Dramatic Writing and Literature major at Hampshire College.