Looking FORWARD to 2026: Our 25th Year as a Non-Profit Organization!
In the 1990’s Vincent embarked on his mission to teach children and adults the historical and cultural significance of JAZZ through the music.
In 2001, Vincent York’s Jazzistry became a 501.C-3 non-profit organization in order to fund-raise and grant-write to support delivering Vincent’s vision to (mostly) schools, and also, libraries, senior centers, museums and other places that have difficulty raising the necessary funds.
The organization has flourished, with YOUR support and the work of a small, mighty group of volunteers. Over 550 school and public performances have inspired and informed thousands of students and hundreds of teachers… and have inspired many of our greatest young, local emerging artists.
THANK YOU for making JAZZistry happen! Here’s to the past 25 years of JAZZistry swinging in classrooms and to future schools and venues that will experience the life-changing experience of seeing JAZZistry move through the evolution of American music, connecting ‘their own’ music to it ALL!
About Vincent York’s JAZZistry:
Since the 1990’s, nationally recognized Jazz saxophone and woodwind player, Vincent York and his band have excited and informed audiences of all ages with his program JAZZistry (Jazz + History + Artistry). It is a powerful LIVE demonstration of America’s cultural, racial, and musical history through unforgettable music and multi-media primary materials (maps, photos, newsreel clips, etc.), using virtuosi musicians as guides. Auditoriums become multicultural musical time machines, travelling 500 years, crossing four continents: from West Africa and Europe to the New World; from Havana and New Orleans to Harlem; from Joplin and the Blues to RocknRoll; from Ellington to Miles; from Bebop to Hiphop. With memorable music and stories, this interactive program ‘swings’ through history, connecting people to our shared culture and heritage. It showcases the evolution of America’s most unique gift to the world–Jazz and its profound influence on all modern music. In hundreds of school performances, students are integrated into the shows, such as soloists, dancers, marching bands and rappers. Through direct work in classrooms, JAZZistry crosses the curriculum into literature, history, world languages, math and science, enriching students’ understanding of culture, while demonstrating to teachers the power of integrating the Arts to better engage students. JAZZIstry also inspires many students (and adults) to get directly involved in music. A nonprofit organization, JAZZistry has been supported for decades by loyal volunteers. Vincent York’s JAZZistry is the ‘swingingest’ way to teach and should be a national curriculum!
Musicians as Story-tellers & Role Models
Jazzistry tells the fascinating stories that surround great American music, our virtuoso musicians are Jazzistorians through music and great stories.
Interactive Shows & Student Performers
Students are always part of the show, especially in our Integrated High School model. which engages students with the Jazzistry Band and production roles for the final school performance,
Concerts & Events
In addition to schools, Vincent York delivers numerous community performances throughout the year. His own straight-ahead jazz band and his Bands For Hire are also active.
Showcasing the Soundtrack to US History
Jazzistry takes audiences through 400 years of US history, showing how jazz grew out of our shared multicultural heritage. exciting learning in over 400 schools across Michigan.
Diverse Educational Programs
Jazzistry's live multi-media performance is modified for the age and interests of the audience from children and adults, We work across the school curriculum and energize teaching and learning.
Teacher Workshops & Artist Visits
We partner with schools, planning with teachers how to make extra links to the curriculum. Smaller group intro sessions also make extra connections.
Vincent's 12th Annual Concert
for International Jazz Day:
April 30, 2026
Kerrytown Concert House
Watch this space for Details of
Vincent York's Annual IJD Concert
NEWS / VINCENT YORK joins BANDCAMP!
Bandcamp and Vincent York: BLENDING FORCES – A MEMORABLE MIX
We are pleased to announce that Vincent York is releasing his recordings on Bandcamp!
Bandcamp is an online record store and music community where passionate fans discover, connect with, and directly support the artists they love. You will able to listen to and download Vincent York’s BLENDING FORCES recording, also available in vinyl and CD.
We are proud to announce VINCENT YORK’s ALBUM RELEASE on BANDCAMP. Check out Linda Yohn’s reflections on the recording and its musical and historical significance.
Linda Yohn's Reflections on Vincent York's BLENDING FORCES
“… Four of the seven musicians who blended their considerable individual forces into a meaningful septet have since transitioned: trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, pianist Gary Schunk, drummer Lawrence Williams and percussionist Sundiata Keita. They represented the top Detroit and Ann Arbor jazz talent at the time and still do. The music is timeless: richly deserving re-examination. Two of the Blending Forces musicians continue to swing strong as performers, composers, educators and mentors: leader, saxophonist/flutist Vincent York and bassist Marion Hayden. Neither has lost any of their 1989 youthful verve.“
“… If you invest in a CD, you’ll read about a formative era in Detroit jazz. Even if you invest in a digital copy, you’ll have music for endless pleasure and inspiration. Case in point – the song No.3, penned by Vincent’s great friend, drummer/composer Lawrence Williams. Vincent says there isn’t a day that he doesn’t recall Lawrence with affection, admiration and fascination. Lawrence’s musical mind was unique and all encompassing. The ensemble knew when to come together in passionate choruses and when to grant space for genius-level individual expression over Williams’ confounding time signatures and chord structure. Following No.3 is a piece by another of Vincent’s dear friends: Eugene Thorne….”
Recent Updates
MEET Detroiter TASLIMAH BEY
Great Member of The JAZZistry Band
Taslimah P. Bey, Ragtime Piano Expert
“When I play ragtime, it feels like coming home.” Taslimah P. Bey began studying classical music at age 16, then switched to jazz in her senior year of high school. She started researching ragtime music and the roots of jazz while in college. When Taslimah heard Charlie Gabriel— clarinet and saxophone player with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band— play his horn, the music she had been reading about came alive. She formed Taslimah’s Ragtime Band, which featured the compositions of early ragtime composers, including Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, Tom Turpin, Artie Matthews, Harry P. Guy and James P. Johnson….
Read more on the Musicians Page
See us On Line! ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
The MUSIC Came and CONTINUES...
CLICK BELOW For the FREE CONCERT! Vincent York on INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY.
Other EVENTS are on the JAMming w/ JAZZistry Page ... and below
APRIL 2021–– INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY CONCERT STREAM the Show! Click BELOW
See Vincent York's JAZZistry in Action:
Watch the Original JAZZistry Intro Video c. 2004
The 11-minute video features Founding JAZZistry Band, Founding Board Members & First Friends!
The original JAZZistry intro video–circa 2004–features founding Board members and our original musicians.
We dedicate this video to our friends who have passed over:
Alma Smith, Countess of the Blues, piano
John Dana, bassist & friend
Also performing:
Dwight Adams, trumpet
Ron English, guitar & banjo
George Bennett, drums
Award Winning Programs
Meet VINCENT YORK Creator, Artistic Director & Bandleader. Plays alto/tenor/soprano saxophones, clarinet, flute, piccolo, oboe
Born into a family of jazz musicians in Vero Beach, Florida, York was introduced to the music of Charlie Parker in the 9th grade. This ignited his exploration and love for jazz history. His research for what became Jazzistry started with the questions: Who most influenced the constantly evolving art form? How did history impact the sound?
He attended Southern University at Baton Rouge as a music education major and became the first jazz studies major under clarinetist Alvin Batiste. After graduate study in classical saxophone at the University of Michigan under Donald Sinta, York toured with the Duke Ellington Orchestra under the direction of Mercer Ellington. In 1977 he formed his own band, Vincent York’s new York Force.
York has recorded and/or performed with noteworthy jazz artists including Ray Charles, Marcus Belgrave, Louis Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and Motown stars such as The Temptations, The Four Tops and Aretha Franklin. He was also the musical director for Martha Reeves.
York has 2 recordings, Vincent York’s new York Force and Blending Forces; the first was voted Best Jazz Album of the Year by MetroTimes.
York continues to play Straight-Up jazz whenever possible. His performances at The Blue LLama Jazz Club, the Detroit Jazz Festival and other venues, you can hear the depth of his understanding of the foundations of jazz while showing where jazz is headed. York’s concerts and annual performances- including Kerrytown Concert House’s International Jazz Day Concerts– showcase his artistry, composing talents… and continuing development as a virtuoso jazz musician.
"The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician. Things like old folks singing in the moonlight in the backyard on a hot night, or something said long ago."
"Jazz washes away the dust of everyday life."
"Our history is in the music and the music IS our history.
You just need to know how to listen to it."
"Everyone's got to be different. You can't copy anybody and end up with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling. And without feeling, whatever you do amounts to nothing."
“Jazz is the only unhampered, unhindered expression of complete freedom yet produced in this country.”
"Creativity grows out of two things: Curiosity and imagination."
"Anything you are shows up in your music - jazz is whatever you are, playing yourself, being yourself, letting your thoughts come through."
“Every American can be proud of jazz.
It embodies our most admired cultural characteristics —
self expression, spontaneity, boldness and invention!"
"Jazz objectifies America. It’s an art form that can give us a painless way of understanding ourselves."
"Jazz must first tell a story that everyone can understand."
"Jazz is America’s classical music. It is an American way of playing music."
