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There are no musicians of the future if they are not nurtured, encouraged and educated today. Serving on the board of The Lawrence “Scotty” Scott Foundation, in the late ‘90’s and early 2000’s, proved to be an awe-inspiring experience in making a concerted difference in the lives of young people across the Delmarva Peninsula. From providing instruments to young people who couldn’t afford them, to providing sheet music, music stands and special instruction to school districts whose budgets had been stripped by school boards, I was privileged to provide and witness the difference one small organization can make in the lives of many children.

When The “Scotty” Foundation ceased operation, we at True Blue Jazz Inc. saw an incredible need to reach back into the lives of children and their teachers in the music world. TRUE BLUE JAZZ is honored to pick up the mantle where The “Scotty” Foundation left off.

Since we started in 2012, we have seen the difference our programs have made. Our scholarships have helped aspiring young musicians reach for their collegiate goals for music education, our performance programs have given young players additional outlets in which to be seen and heard. Our instrument donations have given kids in need an opportunity to have an instrument free of charge. Our Masterclass/Clinics are the pinnacle of our Youth Jazz programs.

During our Festival week, we bring our headline artists into the schools to clinic with the kids. These moments are, by far, the most rewarding for Eddie and me. Over the course of a few hours under the mentoring of these world-renowned artists, you watch these kids transform. You see the light bulbs going off. You witness them dig into parts of themselves they didn’t know they had. They’re playing one-on-one with legends, and for a lot of them – its life altering.”

If you can change the life of one child, you have made a difference. If you can change the life of one child, and you can seek to enrich the lives of all children in a community by the power and beauty of music, then you have started a beautiful revolution. Music is math, it is freedom, it is expression, it is culture, it is life. We are proud to persevere in this effort to sustain a gloriously fulfilled life of not just one, but what we hope will be the lives of many children. Young lives enriched and enhanced by Jazz…in all it’s amazing and musically expressive forms.

Peggy Raley
Jazz Vocalist, Co-Founder & Artistic Director of True Blue Jazz Inc.

“True Blue Jazz Festival is a champion for jazz education. In the past five years alone, the festival has brought in Wycliffe Gordon, Camille Thurman, Vuyo Sotashe, Paul Carr, Peter and Will Anderson and the Fred Hughes Trio to give clinics to the Cape High School Jazz Band. Cape students have hung backstage at True Blue Concerts with Christian McBride and the late great jazz master Jimmy Heath. True Blue has given thousands of dollars in scholarships, bought horns and equipment for kids and supported our young performers as they’ve gone on to achieve their own professional success. Eddie and Peggy aren’t just providing world-class concerts to our region, they are insuring the future of the great American art form by investing in youth jazz education. We are incredibly lucky to have these jazz crusaders supporting us and eternally grateful for what they do.”

Chris Burkhart, Cape Henlopen High School Band Director, 2020

Past Scholarship Award Winners

Ben Koly – 2022 TBJazz Scholarship Award Winner

Brenden Groll – 2022 Ed Shockley Sr. Memorial Scholarship Winner

Elliot Bastian – 2022 Nammak – Ennis Memorial Scholarship Winner

Jaqueline Johnson – 2021 TBJazz/Lawrence “Scotty” Scott Scholarship Winner

Megan Erbe – 2021 Nammak – Ennis Memorial Scholarship Winner

 

 

Camille Thurman and Darrell Green with Cape and Dover HS Jazz Bands 2023

Emmet Cohen with Cape and Dover HS Jazz Bands 2022

International Jazz Day 2023 – The Stars of Tomorrow. A showcase concert featuring TBJAZZ Scholarship winners from 2016 -2023

Dru Simmons 2017 TBJazz – Rehoboth/Dewey Beach Chamber Scholarship Winner

Cape Henlopen Jazz Band Students backstage with Christian McBride at 2017 True Blue Jazz Festival

December 2016 • True Blue Jazz donates Vintage MusicMan Bass Amp to Sussex Tech Jazz Band

Georgetown, DE-TrueBlueJazz- The Sussex Tech jazz band perfoms at a holiday concert at the Georgetown CHEER Center Wednesday December 21, 2016. Eddie Sherman and Peggy Raley, with True Blue Jazz, were on hand to donate a vintage bass amp to the school program. Photo/Scott Nathan

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2016 – Cape HS Jazz Kids & Band Dir/Chris Burkhart go Backstage to meet Jimmy Heath

Award Dinner w_MorganH

The first-ever True Blue Jazz Scholarship Award was presented to Cape Henlopen HS Senior, Morgan Hurlock at the Rehoboth/Dewey Beach Camber of Commerce Annual Banquet on February 11th, 2016. Morgan Hurlock plays Alto Sax with the Cape HS Jazz Band, and she intends to continue her Jazz Studies as she enters college to pursue a career in Music Education. Morgan accepts her Scholarship Award Check here with True Blue Jazz Founders, Peggy Raley & Eddie Sherman. The RB/Dewey Beach Chamber partnered with True Blue Jazz to support the local community’s aspiring young Straight Ahead Jazz Musicians from the Cape Henlopen High School Music Program.

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