We at Indy Arts are excited to announce that none other than Nat Hentoff — a legendary jazz and music writer who’s penned criticism for a variety of national publications, as well as liner notes for records by everyone from Billie Holliday and John Coltrane to Bob Dylan — has published an article about Jazzheimer’s, a fiscally sponsored project of Indy Arts.
We present an excerpt here — go read the whole piece on Jazz.com.
Hentoff on Jazz: The Healing Touch
Jazz.com, June 16, 2009Louis Armstrong, a true believer in the healing power of music, sent recordings of jazz and classical music to a hospital in New Orleans, so they could be played for women giving birth. In keeping with his wishes, the Louis Armstrong Department of Music Therapy at New York’s Beth Israel Hospital – funded in part by the Louis Armstrong Foundation – treats patients in pediatrics, oncology, pain care and other specialties.
Now, in a remarkably challenging venture in jazz as therapy, guitarist and vocalist Marlina Teich has founded a group called Jazzheimers to bring jazz to patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in hospitals and other convalescent venues in San Francisco …
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Jazzheimers is a decidedly non-profit project. Sponsored by the Independent Arts and Media Network [sic.], the musicians get a small stipend, but there is no budget for salaries or office space. At its start in 2005, the annual budget was $3,000, and then went up to $5,000, and is now $8,000 a year. Marlina is shooting for a survival budget of $10,000 a year.
I would think that foundations, Alzheimer’s research organizations, and individual donors – with or without Alzheimer’s patients in their families – would be pleased to help support this very small but successful reawakener of memories, melodies and dreams. If you want to contribute, write to:
Jazzheimers, PMB #169, 3739 Balboa Street, San Francisco, California, 94121-2605. The message phone for Jazzheimers is 415-820-1595 …
Read the whole article on Jazz.com.
Tags: Arts & Culture, jazzheimers
