With support from the California Arts Council, The Jazz Organ Fellowship, a small arts organization, will present “The B3 Sessions,” a series of 8 free masterclasses with master Bay Area Hammond B3 organists. This program will respond to a community-defined need to uplift marginalized master musicians from the Black cultural traditions of jazz, blues, gospel, and R&B and provide accessible, culturally relevant intergenerational learning opportunities. The program will be collaboratively developed with community members and use artistic practices to impact Black Bay Area communities whose culture is threatened by gentrification.
The Jazz Organ Fellowship (JOF) provides workshops at jazz camps and community venues with world class jazz organists; presents performances with organ combos at middle schools and high schools; promotes a jazz organ curriculum explaining the lineage of jazz organ music, its primary proponents, and the significance of this genre within the wider musical spectrum; donates Hammond organs and Leslie speakers to schools, museums, and venues; promotes an awards program including The JOF Award and The Jazz Organ Fellowship Hall of Fame honoring living and deceased jazz organists who have contributed significantly to the development of the music; and presents jazz organ concerts at festivals, concert halls, and clubs throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. JOF programs elevate the position of the organ in all aspects of the music world, centering Black cultural traditions of jazz, blues, gospel, R&B, and beyond.

