Living Jazz is a Bay Area–based arts nonprofit founded in 1984 with a mission to transform lives through the music, spirit, and culture of jazz in the Bay Area community by educating students and uplifting artists of all ages and abilities.

Living Jazz began when a group of musicians and educators came together to save a beloved music camp in the redwoods, believing deeply in jazz as both an art form and a cultural inheritance rooted in Black American history. What began as Jazz Camp West has grown over four decades into an interconnected ecosystem of programs that meet evolving community needs while remaining grounded in access, belonging, and creative expression.

As community needs emerged, Living Jazz cultivated new programs that now stand independently as pillars of Oakland’s cultural landscape. In 1986, we launched the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir to provide year-round access to joyful, communal singing. In the early 1990s, the Oakland Jazz Choir was created to offer performance opportunities for adult vocalists. In 2005, as public school arts funding declined, Living Jazz launched what is now RootED, bringing free, school-based music education into under-resourced elementary schools.

In 2008, Living Jazz launched Jam Camp West, expanding the camp model to serve youth ages 10–17 in an immersive, creative environment rooted in jazz and global traditions. Over time, Living Jazz also developed programs such as Jazz Search West and In the Name of Love, Oakland’s annual MLK Tribute Concert, amplifying local artists and community voices.

Across all programs, Living Jazz prioritizes working in communities with limited access to arts education, cultivates deep partnerships with schools and local artists, and centers the cultural legacy of jazz as a vehicle for connection, expression, and social transformation.