Pennsylvania Jazz Collective

MISSION Statement
The Pennsylvania Jazz Collective strives to expose and promote the diversity of jazz through education, outreach and performance encouraging participation in America's unique art form.

The Three Goals: 1.- To educate the public about numerous world class musicians that reside in our region. Neighbors that perform with household names such as Frank Sinatra, Jr., Liza Manelli, Phil Woods and on. Requesting member support to enable live performances to once again thrive in our area.
2.- This enabled us to create employment opportunities for local jazz musicians of excellence.
3.- Educate Youth - While we helped a number of budding young virtuoso's, It was not our intention to create more jazz musicians. Most importantly it was all about building future audiences in support of this unique American Art form.
Our plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The first thing the board did was develope a criteria of musical excellence. They then listed all qualified regional artists and voted for inclusion.. Hence our Collective roster. In an effort to further educate the community we awarded an artist of the year based on their outstanding contributions. This decision was unanimously agreed upon by the board. These artists are indeed the "cream of the crop" in our region and beyond.
(Later we created additional awards including: Youth, business, lifetime achievement, etc.)
ARTISTS OF THE YEAR
Year 1 - NELSON HILL - Alto Saxophonist with Co-op
Year 2 - TOM KOZIC - Guitarist with Co-op
Year 3 - CRAIG KASTELNIK - Hammond B3 Organist
(Co-op)
Year 4 - GARY RISSMILLER - Drums (Co-op)
Year 5 - Bill Washer - Guitarist -
Sometime sub for Tom Kozic w/Co-op
Year 6 - Paul Rostock - Acc. Bassist
Year 7 -- Neil Wetzel - Alto Saxophonist
Sometime sub for Nelson Hill w/ Co-op

In partnership with Moravian College, where Alan taught for over 26 years, the first creation was a FALL - 4 day November jazz series. This series changed the featured instrument each year as follows:
2012 Trumpet Guest RANDY BRECKER
2013 Sax Guest PHIL WOODS NEA Jazz Master
2014 Piano Guest BOB DOROUGH NEA Jazz Master
2015 Trombone Guest ROBIN EUBANKS
2016 Big Band - Composition Guest
MARIA SCHNEIDER NEA Jazz Master
2017 Guitar Guest VIC JURIS
2018 Arrangers -- Guests - Andrew Neu, David
Springfield & Mike Tomaro

It was our objective to present these artists in education clinics and performances at no charge to area school students. The featured guests are world class artists of international acclaim. (Regional artists have been interacting with them regularly over the years- giving us a more personal relationship that differs from the normal booking venues).
Students were given the opportunity to interact up close and personal.
We also created a Spring series with the theme JAZZ IDOL - Our version of the popular TV show AMERICAN IDOL Our program focused on improvisation which is the one thing that school kids get the least amount of exposure to. This was the backbone of what we as professional jazz artists offered.
ALWAYS FREE -

Finally we attempted to produce our own Jazz festival - We ultimately presented three consecutive years 2016, 17 & 18. This turned out to be a very difficult task considering there are many existing competitors. Many thanks to Richard & Susan Master of MCS Industries for the unwavering support of jazz in the Lehigh Valley. Additionally - We also produced 5 annual summer scholarship fundraising events at a regional winery and 3 end summer young Jazz artist showcases at Riverside Park along the Delaware River in Easton, PA.

Members of CO-OP BOP were active throughout this 8 year time period. COVID turned out to be a very difficult time period for live music and ultimately the Collective was forced to cease activities.

Online Press for PA Jazz:

https://www.mcall.com/2016/07/14/first-christmas-city-jazz-fest-is-saturday-in-bethlehem/

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2018/07/19/christmas-city-jazz-festival-in-bethlehem/

https://www.lvpnews.com/20170721/afternoon-night-delight-spyro-gyras-to

https://biography.omicsonline.org/united-states-of-america/moravian-college/alan-gaumer-422656

https://www.mcall.com/1986/01/17/french-horn-of-plenty-lv-native-plays-classical-jazz-with-distinction/

https://www.mcall.com/2011/12/14/top-3-concerts-jazz-christmas-party/

https://www.mcall.com/2018/06/01/grammy-winner-half-dozen-more-to-play-bob-doroughs-music-at-jazz-scholarship-fund-raiser/