MEDIA & PRESS

Non-profit Living Jazz in collaboration with SF Jazz put on the 21st annual tribute concert for MLK Jr. titled “In The Name of Love" at the Paramount Theater in Oakland.

Sitting inside the modest office he shares with a colleague, nonprofit executive David Hunt stared at his weekly programming schedule and unleashed a deep sigh.

“The more you lose money you’d been depending on,” he said, “the more it makes you worry.”

Last month, to help Oakland close a nine-figure deficit, city officials gutted the grant program for the arts. Though that funding represented less than 1% of the city budget, it was essential to many of the organizations that make up this beleaguered hub’s perhaps biggest remaining attraction: a long-lauded cultural scene.

Black women singers are taking center stage at this year’s Living Jazz‘ In the Name of Love, a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., featuring the music of legendary Grammy-award-winning artist Aretha Franklin. 

Lyz Luke, the executive director of Living Jazz, wanted Black women to be prominent participants in this year’s show that takes place a few days before the presidential inauguration. When planning the programming, there was uncertainty as to who would be next to occupy the White House, but Luke knew that regardless of the outcome, the tribute artist had to be a Black woman. 

At Monday’s Oakland City Council meeting, where hundreds of people showed up to speak out against sweeping cuts to city programs and services, one of the largest contingents, representing roughly a quarter of all the speakers, was there to defend funding for the cultural affairs division. 

The city council is grappling with a nearly $130 million shortfall for the fiscal year ending in June 2025, and, along with funding for arts and culture programs, reductions to senior citizen services, fire and police, and other departments are on the table. 

After four decades of working quietly in the wilds of La Honda and the public schools of Oakland, Living Jazz is ready to celebrate in public.

Since its founding in 1984, the nonprofit organization has played an essential role nurturing the Bay Area music scene with an array of educational programs and an annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day concert called In the Name of Love. But few people outside the organization have a sense of its far-reaching impact.

SF Chronicle Datebook, January 11, 2024

With a program co-presented by SFJazz celebrating the music of Stevie Wonder, the concert, set for Saturday, Jan. 13, isn’t a radical departure for Living Jazz. But it does flow directly from Luke’s experience as the driving force behind UnderCover Presents, which produced a series of near-legendary concerts between 2010 and 2019 reimagining beloved albums track by track by bringing together musicians from many stylistic realms. It’s a vision she’s bringing to Living Jazz, too.

“I want to be very expansive,” Luke said. “It’s a big thing that most jazz organizations are addressing, maintaining the traditional roots while bringing in that next generation. I think expanding genres will help that.”

For most of the year, Living Jazz tends to work with programs like the summer session Jazz Camp West and the Living Jazz Children’s Project, a free music education program for low-income public elementary schools in the East Bay. With a budget approaching $2 million, Luke is determined to keep expanding where she sees the need.

48 Hills, January 9, 2024

LIVING JAZZ & SFJAZZ PRESENT THE 20TH ANNUAL MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. CELEBRATION ON SATURDAY, JANUARY 13 AT THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE, OAKLAND
In its 20th year, Living Jazz, along with SFJAZZ, will present a Musical Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Birthday—the first one since the pandemic. This special commemoration will feature an exclusive artist lineup of Bay Area musical luminaries performing the music of Stevie Wonder, under the musical direction of Kev Choice and hosted by RyanNicole.

KQED January 8, 2024

On Jan. 13, during Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, a concert produced by Living Jazz at Oakland’s historic Paramount Theatre will honor the ways King’s and Wonder’s legacies have intertwined. Led by music director Kev Choice, an MC and classical pianist, In the Name of Love: Featuring the Music of Stevie Wonder brings together an eclectic group of musicians, including jazz bassist Aneesa Strings, genre-fusing multi-instrumentalist La Doña, singers PHER, Nona Brown and Rhonda Benin, and Choice himself. Awesöme Orchestra Collective and the Howard Wiley Band will accompany these artists in reimagined versions of Wonder’s beloved hits and deep cuts.

SF Classical Voice: August 8, 2023

Living Jazz, another public conservatory in Oakland, also offers programs for both adults and kids. Lyz Luke, the organization’s executive director, believes Living Jazz offers a way for people of all ages to come together. A cornerstone of the organization, she says, is the annual Jazz Camp West each June. Emily Wilson, SF Classical Voice

The Mercury News: Friday, February 14, 2023

Today, only one in five California public schools has teachers dedicated to the arts. That gap is often filled by nonprofit organizations like Living Jazz, private companies that contract teachers to multiple schools, or instructors hired by a school district to visit classrooms throughout their networks. Elissa Miolene, The Mercury News

Living Jazz, a Bay Area jazz-rooted education non-profit is expanding its after school music and dance programs in the West Contra Costa Unified School District. Listen Now!

Living Jazz, a Bay Area jazz-rooted education nonprofit, has announced that the Living Jazz Children’s Project’s (LJCP) is expanding into the West Contra Costa Unified School District and will serve after-school programs in four more schools this term. This brings the nonprofit group’s total of public schools served across the greater East Bay to 11, with more than 1,300 students. Read Article

"In a time when so many people seem inaccessible, it's quite an achievement for Living Jazz to be able to gather such iconic jazz messengers for intimate conversations."
– D. Scot Miller, East Bay Express

"Their current Pickup Sessions is a perfect example [of thinking outside the box], a collaboration led by Living Jazz in partnership with the West Oakland Food Pantry is a response to issues around food insecurity and the stigma and shame often associated with them."
– Ron Scott, New York Amsterdam News

“While Hoffman is passionate about the arts, she sees the communal activity of learning and playing music as a vehicle serving a larger end, as a “natural bridge to overcome division and discrimination.” – Andrew Gilbert

“Living Jazz believes that music education taught through the lens of cultural diversity, cultural respect and cultural pride is a necessary and effective antidote for the extreme division in this country and throughout the world.

“In the Name of Love” highlights the importance of music education for young children and the understanding of how music can be a powerful tool for social and cultural change.” – Marty Gonzalez

“The San Francisco Bay Area jazz scene would look and sound a lot less interesting without Stacey Hoffman. More than a tireless jazz advocate, she’s the co-founder and driving force behind the non-profit, grassroots arts organization Living Jazz, a veritable empire comprising Jazz Camp West, Jazz Search West, and the Living Jazz Children’s Project, a free music education program for low-income public elementary schools that serves more than 300 second and third graders.” – JJA Jazz Journalist Awards