Our Philosophy"Fifth Stream" is a 21st century extension of a mid-20th century musical idiom known as Third Stream, when a group of American composers and performers, including Milton Babbitt, Charles Mingus, Gunther Schuller, and the Modern Jazz Quartet synthesized essential characteristics of Western concert music with those of African American jazz and blues traditions. Fifth Stream Music updates this concept by combining the instruments, conventions and sensibilities of jazz, classical, world and popular music to create a new musical language for the 21st century.

We believe jazz is uniquely situated to nurture a new musical idiom that draws on the varied cultural experiences and perspectives of 21st century America. As a creative process, jazz encourages the expression of individual voices—reflective of one’s unique experiences—within a collaborative democratic dynamic. As a conceptual approach, it embodies the ideal of American democracy—E Pluribus Unum or out of many, one. As a multifaceted art form, jazz possesses the adaptive history and capacity to transform diverse influences into a unifying voice that speaks to contemporary realities and bridges cultural, religious, ethnic, and age differences.

The creative process of jazz also supports a new paradigm for education, focused on direct interaction in an improvisational context. Students participate in a creative process combining language—poems and stories they write about themselves—and music—provided by professional jazz musicians. Drawing on their expertise about their own experiences, students perform as equals in written and spoken word activities that develop and validate their sense of self within a public, collective framework.