Fifth Stream Music

Fifth Stream Music is a San Francisco-based non-profit arts organization with a mission to advance the art form of jazz through innovative music and transformative educational experiences that reflect and promote American cultural diversity.

More specifically, Fifth Stream Music strives:

BACKGROUND

Jazz is uniquely situated to nurture a new musical idiom that draws on the varied cultural experiences and perspectives of 21st century America. As a creative process, jazz encourages the expression of individual voices — reflective of one's unique experiences--within a collaborative democratic dynamic. As a conceptual approach, it embodies the ideal of American democracy — E Pluribus Unum or out of many, one. As a multifaceted art form, jazz possesses the adaptive history and capacity to transform diverse influences into a unifying voice that speaks to contemporary realities and bridges cultural, religious, ethnic, and age differences.

Jazz's value and contribution to American culture were formally recognized in 1987 with the passage of House Concurrent Resolution 57 "respecting the designation of jazz as a rare and valuable national American treasure." The language of the resolution makes clear the dynamic and inspirational influence of jazz in America and throughout the world. Fifth Stream Music embraces the intent of the resolution "to preserve and celebrate this unique art form," bringing it into the 21st century.

The creative process of jazz also supports a new paradigm for education, focused on direct interaction in an improvisational context. Students participate in a creative process combining language — poems they write about themselves — and music — provided by professional jazz musicians. Drawing on their expertise about their own experiences, students perform as equals in written and spoken word activities that develop and validate their sense of self within a public, collective framework. This interactive experience of self-expression within a context of respect for one's collaborative partners serves as a life lesson for students, particularly in the formative middle school years.

WHY FIFTH STREAM?

In the mid-20th century, a group of American composers and performers created a new musical idiom called Third Stream, which synthesized essential characteristics of Western concert music with those of African American jazz and blues traditions. Based on this historical precedent and in response to the growing globalization of American culture, Fifth Stream Music blends the instruments, conventions and sensibilities of jazz, classical, world and popular music to create a new musical language for the 21st century.

OUR VALUES

Artistic Excellence
We strive to create artistic work that is of the highest, professional caliber.

Diversity and Inclusiveness
We value diversity as the palette from which we draw our inspiration and affirm the importance of including culturally diverse artists, a balance of men and women, and a range of ages in our performance ensembles and in all our work.

Creativity and Innovation
We support and encourage new and unique approaches to jazz and education.

Respect for the Past
We acknowledge the importance of historical developments and innovations in music as the basis from which our current work flows. We make efforts in all we do to make people aware of our varied cultural traditions and heritage.

Responsibility to the Future
We acknowledge our responsibility to contribute to the education and development of young people, and to share with them the life values and lessons we’ve learned from the jazz tradition.

FOUNDING BOARD AND STAFF

Dr. Anthony Brown, President of the Board and Artistic Director, is a percussionist, composer, educator, and ethnomusicologist who has played a seminal role in contemporary California creative music from his pioneering work with the Asian American jazz movement in the early 1980s to his current leadership of Anthony Brown's Orchestra. Under his direction, the Orchestra has recorded three critically acclaimed CDs, completing a trilogy of homages to American composers Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and George Gershwin. A Smithsonian Associate Scholar, Guggenheim and Ford Fellow, Dr. Brown has served as Curator of American Musical Culture at the Smithsonian Institution (1992-96) and as a Visiting Professor of Music at UC Berkeley (1998, 2002).

Dr. Tommy Lott, Board Member, is currently Professor of Philosophy at San Jose State University and has taught at the college level throughout the United States. His areas of expertise include African American social and political thought and African American culture, with extensive research credentials and publications under his own name and as editor.

Mr. George Yoshida, Board Member, is a retired music educator, having taught in the Berkeley School District for over 35 years, as well as a jazz musician, community activist, and author. His 1997 publication, Reminiscing in Swingtime, chronicles the history of Japanese American participation in American popular music and has been used as the basis for public educational programs about the Japanese American internment experience during World War II. He continues to actively contribute to the Bay Area Japanese American community.

Ms. Martha Brown, Secretary/Treasurer, is Assistant Director of Public Programs at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, with over twenty years experience in nonprofit financial, personnel, and project management.

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