What is N-Motion Foundation about?

---

The N-Motion Foundation is dedicated to using music to give back to the community.
We have used the Jazz Intervention Project as our vehicle to provide real music opportunities to local music students.  Our goal is to enhance the visibility of the project and increase support from the community and corporations.   Music can have a healing impact on problems and people in despair.  The N-Motion Foundation are looking for ways to create these healing opportunities for the community.

N-Motion Foundation is on a mission to help preserve live jazz music. We want to have an impact with keeping jazz as a functional, relevant genre of music going into the future through our student musicians. 

The N-Motion Foundation would like to introduce the Jazz Intervention Project. Jazz Intervention Project is a series of potential events that involves student musicians learning or/and performing with national/local jazz artists. This is accomplished through jazz workshops, master classes, jazz camps, concert performances, and mentoring opportunities with jazz artists in various formats. It is the N-Motion Foundation's hope to provide a baseline for the student musician that wants to continue to perform jazz as a result of getting an up-close look and feel of actual live performing jazz artists. With the current brittle state of jazz and live music, there are industry and artists concern about the life expectancy of today's jazz. So, to help change this perception, the N-Motion Foundation is suggesting one potential path for jazz preservation is through our student musicians. If a process can be created to get the student to appreciate and understand jazz along with the freedom of improvisation as an artist, there's hope for seeing the genre of jazz continue.  The N-Motion Foundation would like to think the Jazz Intervention Project can contribute to the ongoing jazz preservation effort.   

The N-Motion Foundation's parent for-profit company N-Motion Entertainment LLC previously ran with the Jazz Intervention Project for several years with great participation from local high schools and colleges. Unfortunately, the for-profit company was not able to sustain the project without financial assistance. After several years of the Jazz Intervention Project, N-Motion Entertainment found out that financial funding and assistance is generally not available to for pro-profit organizations.  Based on limited funding and other financial obstacles the Jazz Intervention Project was suspended.   

Over the course of 3 years, we had schools as Shady Side Academy, Peters Township, South Fayette, Penn Hills, University of Pittsburgh, and California University of PA as a few participate in various events during this period. Hempfield High School jazz band was fortunate enough to perform with the late 2015 & 2017 Grammy Nominated Jazz artist Chuck Loeb at a Jazz Intervention Project event. The Jazz Intervention Project collaborated with local high school South Fayette and held an event at the South Fayette High School.  N-Motion Entertainment and South Fayette High School's collaboration brought in the nationally recognized group The Sax Pack.   Prior to their performance, the Sax Pack consisting of Jeff Kashiwa, Steve Cole, and Marcus Anderson all met with students from the South Fayette and the California U of PA for workshops and master classes. The students were in awe of working with Jeff, Steve, and Marcus based on these performers' notable careers thus far. 

Jeff performed the internationally known band called the Rippingtons for over a decade.  Jeff then formed the Sax Pack in 2004 in which is still part of today.  Jeff continues to perform his own highly successful solo career.

Saxophonist Steve Cole is one of the most celebrated players in contemporary jazz.  The Chicago native exploded onto the scene in 1998 with the album “Stay Awhile” that was produced by fellow Chicagoan Brian Culbertson.  After starting his solo in the 1998 timeframe joined the Sax Pack in 2004.  When he's not on the road, Dr. Cole teaches music industry entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota where he is a Clinical Professor and Teaching Fellow.

Marcus joined the Sax Pack as a touring member replacing original member Kim Waters.  Aside from the Sax Pack Marcus has had a well-documented career.  Marcus pas performed as a front man for several highly recognizable names, Ceelo Green, Shelia E, and Prince.  Marcus caught Prince's attention after viewing one Marcus's fiery performance videos after which Prince reached out to Marcus to perform and travel with him and the New Power Generation.  Marcus performed with Prince and the New Power Generation on TV shows such as Arsenio Hall, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Late Night and has also performed at events for former president Barack Obama and his wife, First Lady Michelle and Hillary Clinton.  In addition to his solo career Marcus is the front man for keyboardist Brian Culbertson. 

The N-Motion Foundation feels it is important to connect the student musicians with artists and events like these to help inspire them to continue performing live jazz music. 

The plan would be to approach the schools that we worked with in the past to kick the program off. They would be familiar with the process from past events.

The Jazz Intervention Project was created to help maintain the existence of jazz here in the city of Pittsburgh.  With the loss of contemporary jazz on the radio airwaves and mainstream music, it has become critical for followers of this genre to be creative to be an audience to this music. 

Old school R&B music from the 70's, 80's, & 90's transitioned into contemporary jazz (smooth jazz) in the late 90's early 2000's on many of the urban radio stations across America.  Many Smooth Jazz radio stations were created during this period due to the explosion of this jazz genre.  Over the last 8 - 10 years there has been a steady decline in the entire jazz genre on the airwaves and the ability to hear this music is becoming more infrequent. 

Baby boomers that grew up listening to the R&B music gravitated toward the Smooth Jazz genre.  Simply this occurred because many of the R&B songs they listened to growing up, were now being covered by contemporary jazz artists. Yes, songs from Earth, Wind, & fire, Stevie Wonder, Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, and many more were now becoming jazz favorites. 

With this music no longer readily available to its listeners, listeners have to use other resources to hear their favorite songs and artists.  Online streaming of Smooth Jazz stations, Pandora, Spotify, and Google music are just a few that are available to listeners.  Many listeners are not sophisticated enough to navigate through Pandora or Spotify, they simply want to hear and see good music. 

The Jazz Intervention Project are live jazz scenarios that puts students and seasoned jazz artists in the same environment.  Many times, the students are getting to perform with the artists.  This of course is after experiencing a music workshop or master class from the visiting artists.  This provides real insight for the student as how to prepare for a life on stage as a jazz artist.    Being able to pick the brain of a seasoned artist about all the things that a jazz musician may experience is priceless to the student that has dreams about perfecting their craft and someday performing.

Equally as important, the Jazz Intervention Project hopefully prepares and encourages the student musician to carry on the jazz tradition for years to come.