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NEW YORK (WABC) -- Jazz is often called the great American art form, but despite the genre's important place in our culture, its musicians often go without steady work.

Now, one organization is aiming to change that.

It's called KEYED UP!, and it is a non-profit organization of jazz lovers who know that jazz musicians are often underappreciated and underpaid. Keyed Up aims to change that by giving musicians extra cash and more opportunities.

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“Liquid Melodies,” are able to perform at the Bronx Burger House with financial help from KEYED UP! — one of three programs of Jazz Generation, which is an education and performance initiative to create playing opportunities for children and adults.

KEYED UP! works by supplementing the income of live Jazz performers in venues from New Jersey to Long Island and the five boroughs. Musicians must secure a venue willing to provide the space and compensation for them to perform. If the venue is unable to meet the industry pay-rate, which varies greatly according to location and band size, Keyed Up! will supplement the difference on a case-by case-basis. As it stands, the nonprofit has paid approximately $2 million to Jazz performers since its founding in 2014.

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Along the way, James also started a nonprofit called KEYED UP! in 2016. He had been playing with musicians for many years, and he saw that it was almost impossible for them to make a livable wage playing jazz. He wanted to do something to change that. “These are people who do the most difficult thing that I’m aware of, the most beautiful thing that I’m aware of, and they make peanuts. I was with a guy and, there was cancelation, he said that if he didn’t get paid that $50 cancelation fee, he wasn’t going to be able to make his rent for a room—this was a guy who had toured the world playing music. And I said to myself, there’s something off here. There is a disconnect here—how can it be that you’re among the best in this art form, which is America’s greatest art form, and you have to survive on only a $50 a night gig? I couldn’t wrap my head around this idea. So, in the midst of the pandemic, my idea was to reopen the Jazz Standard as part of the nonprofit, with all the profits flowing from Jazz Standard, as well as donations, to help propagate jazz all around the city and, actually, all around the country.”

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