It’s a movement. It’s a mission. It’s magical music and much, much more! The Jazz Outreach Initiative (aka JOI) is doing it all with a wonderful degree of success. There are plenty of exciting performances, programs, and events on the horizon, and we’re here to give you a few highlights.
Jazz Outreach Initiative Las Vegas.
In many ways, the impact of JOI is personified in the smile of Executive Director Donny Thompson. Thompson emphasizes that their team effort extends far beyond board members, instructors, musicians, and volunteers. But the starting point is his two co-founders, as Donny told VEGAS 411:
Kenny Rampton (Vegas native and member of Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra) and Gary Cordell (a venerable who’s-who among local first-call musicians, educators, and arrangers) see jazz as a way of connecting people regardless of their differences. Their mission is to spread “JOI” throughout the community as they “connect the language of music to the language of life through education, outreach, and performances.”
