The Jazz Sanctuary provides a place for people to congregate, with no goal in mind other than having two hours free of strife and anxiety.  This is accomplished through the giving of music (notably jazz) to the public free of any charges, the venue being offered by churches in the five-county area of Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester.  

How and why it began:

The story of The Jazz Sanctuary begins with my own story of brain injury. In August of 2006 I was diagnosed as having a brain amv (arterio-venous malformation), which meant that my brain sprung a leak. After a four month wait I was admitted to Jefferson Hospital and after two days and thirteen hours of surgery later was pronounced alive. Alive is a good description except I couldn’t walk, talk, read and I had no hand eye coordination. What followed was thirty-three days in the hospital where I was visited by priests (my wife is an Episcopal priest), rabbis, family and friends. After my release from the hospital I began the hard part of working to ask myself better. I was adamant that I would in fact be as good as new.

And so I began the arduous task of rehabilitation. I decided that as part of my therapy I would practice the bass to help my hand-eye coordination and ability to read. It worked! I turned myself into a jazz bassist. During the years of therapy I wondered how I was going to ever repay the folks that gave so much attention to me, not to mention the love that was showered on me through cards, calls and prayers.

I came to the conclusion that I would form an organization that would provide music free of any charges to charitable organizations and houses of worship.  At the completion of 2023 we completed 769 events, had 28,500+ visits to our events, provided opportunities for over 120 musicians, provided educational opportunities, and have helped many charitable organizations raise funds for their organizations.

Peace,

Alan Segal, Ex. Dir.