Late in 1995, musician and educator Larry Luttinger (Syracuse Symphony, Syracuse University, Onondaga Community College, Hamilton College, Metropolitan School for the Arts, Summerfame High School for the Performing Arts) proposed a not-for-profit regional jazz orchestra to serve the Central New York community.
Luttinger recognized that jazz, America’s most significant contribution to world culture, deserves recognition and highly artistic presentation in every community. He was motivated by the belief that the 21st century will see the proliferation of these ensembles, just as the 20th century saw the development of American "classical" music ensembles playing European art music through the 20th century.
The effect of this phenomenon, so uniquely American, will benefit the artist and audience alike, forging a new legitimacy for an art form recently evolved from speakeasy to dance club to concert hall.
The Central New York Jazz Orchestra (CNYJO), a seventeen-piece big band and the performance arm of the CNYJAF, was created in 1996 in cooperative with the Cultural Resources Council of CNY. Initial funding from the CNY Community Foundation launched the inaugural season to critical acclaim.
Since the beginning, CNYJAF continued to grow rapidly, and is now the primary source of jazz programming for the Central New York region. It now serves a total public audience of 80,000 each year, trains over 4,000 students annually and presents students in performance to an annual audience of over 40,000.
The most exciting and recent development for the CNYJAF is the purchase and renovation of a downtown property named Jazz Central, that is now the organization’s home. The building has undergone renovations that:
* create a 78-seat theater to present scholastic and cabaret productions
* provide administrative and ticket office facilities
* develop a music library dedicated to jazz
* provide meeting and performance space
