JazzMasters Workshop Revisits Highly Successful 'Route 66 Challenge'

JazzMasters Workshop Revisits Highly Successful 'Route 66 Challenge'

First-of-Its Kind Fundraiser for National Music Mentoring Program Retraces Its Steps This Coming October

CARMEL VALLEY, Calif., Sept. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Driving across the entire length of Route 66, America's most fabled highway, to raise awareness and funding for a non-profit music mentoring program might be a one-time undertaking for even the most ardent true believer. But not for internationally renowned guitarist Bruce Forman and his Western jazz swing band, 'Cow Bop' who did just that in May, 2004 as part of an extraordinary fundraising campaign for JazzMasters Workshop (JMW) (www.jazzmastersworkshop.org), his five-year old non-profit music-mentoring program that has expanded to national proportions.

Given the success of last year's ambitious road tour, dubbed the "Route 66 Challenge," Forman and his band are taking to the road again -- all 2,248 miles -- leaving Chicago on October 7 to broaden awareness and secure per-mile pledges to help fund JMW's innovative workshops. "Route 66 Revisited" is Forman's latest fundraising endeavor that will take his mission to provide music-mentoring for kids out of the studio and directly on the road through the heart of the country. As part of its performance schedule across Route 66, 'Cow Bop' will also visit schools and community centers to demonstrate firsthand how music in can transform lives.

"Our reason for choosing Route 66 was -- and is -- its symbolic and mythic status in our culture," explains Bruce Forman, founder and executive director of JazzMasters Workshop. "Route 66 affords us the opportunity to once again connect with a wide variety of people through concerts and ad hoc gigs to explain how we put the power of music performance into the hands of children. We're asking for pledges for every mile we travel, and these funds will enable JMW to make deeper inroads to reach even more children."

As part of the Route 66 Revisited campaign, JMW is seeking corporate and executive sponsorships for additional funding. SCO, the leading developer of UNIX(R) software technology for distributed, embedded and network-based systems, has stepped up as the first corporate sponsor by providing communication and transportation capabilities.

"Many of SCO's customers around the country and around the world are small community businesses and large businesses with a strong community presence," said Darl McBride, president and CEO, The SCO Group Inc. "SCO provides these businesses with the computer technology that enables them to meet the manifest daily needs of the people in those communities, including health care, food, medicine, and more. JazzMasters Workshop is meeting a different, equally important need in a growing number of communities across the nation, providing their young people with a safe, nurturing place to learn, grow, and realize their potential. The SCO Group is proud to be the first corporate sponsor for the Route 66 Challenge, and we encourage all of our colleagues in the technology community, our partners and our customers to join us in supporting this worthy cause."

JMW's free-of-charge music mentoring programs are now operating in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, Central California, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.

Beginning October 7, Forman's four-piece band -- along with special guest artists -- will drive and perform along the length of old Route 66, from Chicago to Los Angeles. A schedule of the band's performances will be announced later this month.

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 Revisted web site containing more detailed information on sponsorships, pledges, blogs 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.

About JazzMasters Workshop

Founded in 2000 by internationally acclaimed guitarist and educator, Bruce Forman, JazzMasters Workshop (JMW) empowers the professional music community, providing an opportunity for nurturing and inspiring children and young adults. Emphasizing the time-honored mentoring process to augment traditional music education, weekly JMW programs serve students of all ages, abilities and backgrounds, offering unprecedented access to world-class musicians. 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. A fundamental belief of JMW is that mentoring and music are key catalysts in keeping kids in school, off drugs and out of gangs.

Source: JazzMasters Workshop

CONTACT: Peter Dave of Dave Communications LLC, +1-510-465-7740, peter@davecomm.net, for JazzMasters Workshop; or Bruce Forman of JazzMasters Workshop, +1-831-659-4654, bebop@bruceforman.com

Web site: http://www.cowbop.com/

Web site: http://www.wayoutwestmusic.com/

Web site: http://www.jazzmastersworkshop.org/

------- Profile: Ent