The Power Of Jazz

This is a proposal for a major radio series and campaign, to redefine jazz, finally giving full recognition to the importance of the music, individuals and culture that has soundtracked history and highlighting that jazz is once again at the forefront of a thriving youth culture.

The aim is to achieve significant growth in both the heritage and new jazz scenes.

Jazz is a word that divides music fans. Simply and wrongly, because the almost unbelievable, stories and struggles behind the legendary musicians and the significance of the music to the history of culture and the black person, a thread that runs directly from Louis Armstrong to the thriving new scene, is too little known.

Jazz musicians are often saying through their music what people are saying politically. It has bonded people together and soundtracked protest and activism, led fashions, created the most famous music venues, led to Oscar-winning movies, influenced the greatest music acts of every other genre and given us an authenticity of music that comes from the very soul of geniuses.

Jazz has yet to be presented for what it really is - contemporary and relevant to today’s mass music market.

Almost every major selling artist in rock has voiced the opinion that jazz has influenced their music but because the original musicians suffered from a lack of respect, support, and recognition, it means that instead of jazz being recognised as the most important and influential musical genre globally, the stories have remained untold, and it is perceived as obscure.

Each episode of the series features a major star who has expressed their debt to jazz (Kendrick Lamar, Radiohead, Adele, Robert Glasper etc) from their studio, recording a new contemporary track, for an album that raises funds for a cause associated with black lives, whilst sharing clips and introducing talking heads who tell the story of a genre of jazz, the music icons who created it, their lives at the time and the breadth of influence they have on music until today.

We will bring to life the individual struggles of the original jazz geniuses, the corresponding culture of the time, the different genres of jazz and their influence on the civil rights movement, fashion, clubbing, movies and culture generally. How jazz dominated the charts, fused into hip-hop, and in 2022, how young cool artists are creating a new wave of jazz by remixing their past and collaborating with the future stars of grime, rap and even classical.

This important, but also very cool, series and supporting campaign will cause music and culture fans to rethink what jazz is, what the artists are really saying, what genre and albums they should be listening to and which new wave jazz artists they should go to see live.

The website is a draft of the episodes and content, with some amazing unknown stories in there.

*NOTE All mentioned artists have previously recorded, or played live, the proposed jazz-influenced tracks.

Please get in touch to discuss further. Email

About us.

This is a major campaign. Previously, we have run similarly large campaigns with the likes of Bishop Desmond Tutu, Lewis Hamilton, Coldplay, One Direction, Ed Sheeran etc.

We create communications campaigns for global brands, the entertainment and sport industries and for global charities and good causes. We have most recently helped raise £millions and send over three billion text messages on behalf of charities and good causes as a Communications Director for the likes of Comic Relief, the legacies of the Olympics and FIFA World Cup, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, whilst also leading on initiatives for Nelson Mandela Day, ITV charity telethon and BBC’s Children in Need.

Please get in touch with us here.

Chris Ward

chris@chrisward.cc

0044 – 7932 746 591