“Jazz music is the power of now,” as Wynton Marsalis once said. For Santa Barbara–based men’s clothing company 32 Bar Blues, jazz is the inspiration for the brand — and the power behind an exciting new partnership with the Jazz Foundation of America. Compelled by the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on live concerts, tours and gigs across the country, 32 Bar Blues reached out to the Jazz Foundation last summer with an idea to create a special t-shirt to help raise awareness and crucial funds for the JFA’s COVID-19 Musicians’ Emergency Fund.
“Since our first catalog in 2012, we’ve always featured musicians, writers, and photographers alongside our clothing,” says 32 Bar Blues founder and chair Bruce Willard, “and we give the profits from the sales of their CDs and books directly back to them as part of our commitment to the arts. But as the pandemic unfolded, we knew we had to augment our efforts.”
Collaborating with the JFA, the 32 Bar Blues creative team designed a colorful Jazz Foundation t-shirt inspired by vintage jazz festival posters and artwork, and then they fast-tracked its development for inclusion in their 52-page holiday catalog mailed nationwide in early October.