In 2011, several career dedicated musicians living in Greenville, SC wanted to play their original jazz compositions in front of a serious listening audience, but there were no places in town to do so. They decided to take matters into their own hands and rent the theater at the Coffee Underground for one night to perform challenging jazz in a space that was immersive for both the musicians and the audience. With a strongly positive response from the performance, guitarist Matt Dingledine enlisted the help of bassist Shannon Hoover and trombonist Brad Jepson to establish a non-profit that would advocate for jazz in a similar manner to many symphony orchestra organizations around the world for classical music.

Over the years, our team has grown to include a diverse set of musicians, community leaders, and administrators, all the while increasing the GJC’s footprint, reach, and offerings to the community and region. At the core of our educational outreach efforts, the JazzEd program takes a 6 piece jazz ensemble to area schools to play for students of all ages and backgrounds, the vast majority of which we are able to fund free of charge to the schools. Our award winning, 17 piece Big Band released a critically acclaimed album of original music in 2018.

We have partnered with other important area arts and cultural organizations including the Greenville County Museum of Art, the City of Greenville, The Peace Center for the Performing Arts, the Metropolitan Arts Council, the Greenville Chorale, the Greenville County Library System, the Hispanic Alliance, The Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, Upstate International, the Fine Arts Center of Greenville, and many others.