About

Jazz on Wheels brings Austin’s professional and student jazz musicians directly into the community—transforming spaces like laundromats and soup kitchens into pop-up jazz clubs. Rooted in the understanding that jazz was born from the Black community, the program seeks to bring the music back to marginalized communities of color by performing in accessible, everyday spaces rather than expensive venues such as conventional jazz clubs. By removing barriers like transportation and cost, Jazz on Wheels introduces new listeners to the spirit of live jazz, while partnering with local nonprofits that serve the very communities that gave birth to the art form.

Events

Swing Cycle - Free community jazz performances at laundromats during peak hours

Paolo Dumancas, jazz trombonist and Executive Director of ATX Artists for Social Impact

Background

Jazz on Wheels takes direct inspiration from John Coltrane’s 1966 interview with Frank Kofsky of KPFK Pacifica radio, roughly eight months before the legendary saxophonist’s death. In that interview, Coltrane, known for a level of musicianship only rivaled by his sense of spirituality, famously says:

“I want to be a force for real good. In other words. I know that there are bad forces, forces that bring suffering to others and misery to the world, but I want to be the opposite force. I want to be the force which is truly for good.”

-John Coltrane

Almost sixty years later, ATX Artists for Social Impact is committed to inheriting the late Coltrane’s will by using this uniquely American genre of music as a vehicle to serve the Austin community.

Connection to a Global Movement

Jazz on Wheels aims to align with the mission of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the world's premiere jazz institution. We seek to take the JLC’s global mission and apply it on the local level by amplifying the voices of Austin’s most vulnerable communities through performance, outreach, and creative advocacy.

Together, ATX Artists for Social Impact, the Austin Jazz Community, and their community partners will represent the best aspects of democracy, celebrate personal freedom and individual expression, find common ground in serving the marginalized, and tackle these unprecedented and tumultuous times with persistent optimism.