Help Jazz! With HelpJazz.com

Big challenges require big action. That's why the young fellows at Search and Restore, a New York jazz community website and concert promotion operation, are trying to raise $75,000.

The big challenge, in this case, is expanding the audience for current, vital, creative jazz. The big action they're proposing is an epic video documentation of the jazz scene in New York and the expansion of their website as a hub of the jazz community.

If anyone is able to pull off something like this, it's the folks at Search and Restore. A small team of idealistic 20-somethings, they've staged countless cutting edge jazz concerts in New York and their website is the source for info on the NYC jazz scene. Their grand plan involves filming 4 concerts a week for an entire year(!) Read all about it on their fundraising website, HelpJazz.com. Or you could watch the founder's appeal right here:

I, along with hundreds of others, donated some money to their cause, but they're still a long way from their $75,000 goal, with only a week left. These Kickstarter fundraising campaigns are all-or-nothing affairs: if they don't reach their goal by next Monday, the 6th, then all the donors get their money back and the project is unfunded.

In another characteristically big move, Search and Restore is putting on a benefit concert tonight unlike any other. It will be a series of duets featuring such A-list musicians as Don Byron, Christian McBride, Ben Allison, Matt Wilson, Avishai Cohen, Theo Bleckmann, Henry Grimes and others. I'm sure they'll get a big turnout at the event, and I hope it results in some strong donations. If you're not in New York (and not at this gig in Chicago), then you can watch the all-star jazz duet madness via live streaming webcast at http://www.watchitoo.com/searchandrestore.

Donate! Now! at HelpJazz.com