Gil Evans Project Musicians Relief Fundraiser
Donation protected
The Gil Evans Project is an award-winning large ensemble based in New York City that specializes in the research and performance of the music of the great composer/arranger, Gil Evans. For the past nine years, the band has held an annual performance residency in May at Jazz Standard, a wonderful jazz club in NYC that has truly become a home to the band over the years. This past May, our plan was to perform the music from the historic collaboration between Miles Davis and Gil Evans, Sketches of Spain.
Unfortunately, like so many other musicians and ensembles around the world, our performances were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With clubs, concert halls, Broadway, and recordings studios all shuttered through the end of 2020 (if not longer), the wonderful musicians of the GEP have all suffered tremendous financial hardship, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Which brings me to the reason for this video: I wanted to create something that showcased the incredible talent and artistry of these world-class musicians, give us a chance to celebrate Gil’s incredible music from Sketches of Spain, and provide a way to subsidize the musicians’ lost income and help ease the financial burden they face from the fallout from the COVID pandemic.
The money raised through this fundraiser will be split evenly among the 22 musicians you see in this video. If you help us reach our goal, you would be putting approximately $725 in each of these musicians' pockets. At a moment when the next paycheck is unknown and the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program is ending, this amount is extremely helpful to combat these musicians' growing financial needs.
You can watch the live premiere event and the video for FREE! But, if you had planned (or would be willing) to pay a cover to see us perform at Jazz Standard this past May, I hope you’ll consider donating that cover to the GEP musicians who spent a tremendous amount of time creating this virtual performance of one of the most revered and beautiful works from Sketches of Spain. If you would have loved the opportunity to hear the band play this work live, this is an opportunity for you to enjoy part of the show we all missed, while directly helping each of these incredible musicians.
I know these are financially difficult times for many of us, but any amount you can spare would go a long way to ease the financial burden this pandemic has (and will continue to) place on the musicians you see in this video. No donation is too small… or too big! ;) And if you can’t give financially, that’s ok! If you enjoy the band’s performance, please consider helping by sharing the video and this fundraiser with your friends and on social media, so we can reach an even broader audience.
Thank you so much to everyone who has supported the band in the past, and for your support today in giving to our fundraiser or sharing this virtual labor of love with your corner of the online world. . We look forward to being able to perform live and in-person for you soon, but in the meantime, please enjoy our remote performance of Gil Evans’ arrangement of Joaquin Rodrigo’s Adagio from Concierto de Aranjuez from Sketches of Spain.
Ryan Truesdell
Director and Founder, Gil Evans Project
Unfortunately, like so many other musicians and ensembles around the world, our performances were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With clubs, concert halls, Broadway, and recordings studios all shuttered through the end of 2020 (if not longer), the wonderful musicians of the GEP have all suffered tremendous financial hardship, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Which brings me to the reason for this video: I wanted to create something that showcased the incredible talent and artistry of these world-class musicians, give us a chance to celebrate Gil’s incredible music from Sketches of Spain, and provide a way to subsidize the musicians’ lost income and help ease the financial burden they face from the fallout from the COVID pandemic.
The money raised through this fundraiser will be split evenly among the 22 musicians you see in this video. If you help us reach our goal, you would be putting approximately $725 in each of these musicians' pockets. At a moment when the next paycheck is unknown and the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program is ending, this amount is extremely helpful to combat these musicians' growing financial needs.
You can watch the live premiere event and the video for FREE! But, if you had planned (or would be willing) to pay a cover to see us perform at Jazz Standard this past May, I hope you’ll consider donating that cover to the GEP musicians who spent a tremendous amount of time creating this virtual performance of one of the most revered and beautiful works from Sketches of Spain. If you would have loved the opportunity to hear the band play this work live, this is an opportunity for you to enjoy part of the show we all missed, while directly helping each of these incredible musicians.
I know these are financially difficult times for many of us, but any amount you can spare would go a long way to ease the financial burden this pandemic has (and will continue to) place on the musicians you see in this video. No donation is too small… or too big! ;) And if you can’t give financially, that’s ok! If you enjoy the band’s performance, please consider helping by sharing the video and this fundraiser with your friends and on social media, so we can reach an even broader audience.
Thank you so much to everyone who has supported the band in the past, and for your support today in giving to our fundraiser or sharing this virtual labor of love with your corner of the online world. . We look forward to being able to perform live and in-person for you soon, but in the meantime, please enjoy our remote performance of Gil Evans’ arrangement of Joaquin Rodrigo’s Adagio from Concierto de Aranjuez from Sketches of Spain.
Ryan Truesdell
Director and Founder, Gil Evans Project
Organizer
Ryan Truesdell
Organizer
New York, NY
