JAZZ IN ARIZONA INC

The Nash is a venue created by Jazz in Arizona, Inc., a charitable nonprofit community arts organization dedicated to performance, education, and promotion of jazz. The mission of Jazz in Arizona is to ensure the future of jazz by supporting and providing opportunities for live performance, education, listening, and appreciation of this music as America’s great original art form.

Strategically located in the burgeoning Roosevelt Row Arts District of downtown Phoenix, The Nash was opened four years ago by Jazz in Arizona, Inc., a nonprofit organization founded in 1977 to provide a special place for young musicians to learn about and play jazz and to build a vibrant diverse jazz community. The first note ever played in The Nash emanated from the trumpet of Wynton Marsalis (Lincoln Center Jazz Artistic Director, Pulitzer Prize winner, NEA Jazz Master, world ambassador for jazz) who drove pro bono from New York City to open the venue.

In the four years since that auspicious beginning, The Nash has grown to present more than 300 educational programs, jam sessions, and jazz performances annually – featuring student musicians, top local musicians, and world-renowned jazz artists. The Nash is honored to feature Lewis Nash, whom Modern Drummer magazine calls “The Most Valuable Player in Jazz” and for whom The Nash is named in recognition of his incomparable respect as a musician, educator, and role model.

In addition to receiving local awards such as Phoenix New Times Best of Phoenix, The Nash has been named to Downbeat magazine's prestigious “List of Great Jazz Venues in the World” three years in a row! And, in September of 2016 The Nash was instrumental in Phoenix being named as one of four national Jazz Hub cities by the Jazz Forward Coalition, funded by the Doris Duke Foundation, whose purpose is to strengthen jazz's cultural presence in the United States.

The Nash has assembled the major jazz assets of the Valley of the Sun into an unprecedentedly vibrant jazz community populated by student musicians, local pros, educators, devoted volunteers, and widely diverse audiences numbering 30,000 annually who share a passion for jazz---America’s original art form.

The Nash impacts thousands of elementary through high school-age youth with educational outreach programs presented in schools, music, and art museums; multi-generational jam sessions where young musicians play with veteran musicians before a live audience; a summer camp program that focuses on inspiring under-served youth; the Phoenix Arts Center’s City Jazz band program, the Phoenix Conservatory of Music/Nash Combo; The Nash Legacy Ensemble for top high school student musicians; and many more youth programs in development.