OUTREACH
JAZZ ON WHEELS
Jazz on Wheels Hits the Streets Again this Summer
Now entering its fourth season, Jazz on Wheels features professional musicians performing for free from the back of a traveling "rolling stage." Bringing live music into the community, the program provides today's urban youth with positive artistic experiences, helping them to discover new creative outlets and to develop a life-long appreciation for jazz.
Jazz on Wheels is the vision of Steve Kirby, director of jazz studies at the University of Manitoba's faculty of music, who wanted to introduce a unique artistic experience to young people.
Recognizing that Winnipeg's young people face seemingly insurmountable pressures from increasing gang violence, urban poverty, drugs and theft, Steve looked back thirty years to his own difficult youth on the streets of St. Louis.
"As a teen, I was getting into some of the worst kinds of trouble," he explains. "One of the guys I used to run with has been executed for his crimes. I know others who have been incarcerated and some who have been permanently crippled because of the direction their lives took."
One day, after breaking into the right building, he heard music playing down the hall. Peering in-and more importantly, listening in-he saw and heard the strains of jazz being played right in front of him by Oliver Lake and Lester Bowie. It changed his life.
Jazz became his passion and in the years since, it has motivated him to master his instrument and rise from the streets to the stage, joining some of the greatest performers in jazz today-from James Carter to Cyrus Chestnut to Wynton Marsalis.
With his own history in mind, Steve formed a partnership with Jazz Winnipeg to produce Jazz on Wheels to bring jazz to young people who might not otherwise get a chance to interact with these exceptional musicians.
Jazz Winnipeg continues it's mission to be a leader in furthering an appreciation of jazz music through presentations, promotion and outreach programs such as Jazz on Wheels.
Jazz on Wheels is produced by Jazz Winnipeg and is generously supported by Canadian Heritage, Maxim Truck and Trailer, TD Canada Trust, The Winnipeg Foundation, the Manitoba Arts Council and the Music Performance Fund.
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