Jazz Violinist Zach Brock Partners With Kickstarter To Micro-Fund New Recording

Not opting to put his new music on hold indefinitely, acclaimed jazz violinist Zach Brock, who is originally from Lexington but now calls Brooklyn his home, is joining a growing movement of independent artists who are using unorthodox methods to fund new works.  Brock has mounted an all-or-nothing fundraising campaign with the website Kickstarter to raise money through “micro donations” for a new acoustic trio recording called The Magic Number. 

Kickstarter, inspired by Web 2.0 tactics used by record companies such as ArtistShare and the grassroots campaign of President Obama, helps artists to independently fund creative ideas and ambitious endeavors through a unique business model in which projects must be fully-funded or no money changes hands. Project creators inspire people to open their wallets by offering smart, engaging, and tangible rewards in exchange for donations. In addition to more standard rewards offered by other Kickstarter projects such as product giveaways and exclusive access, Brock is hoping to up the ante by involving donors in the pre-production of the recording itself.

Fundraising for The Magic Number began on February 1st and continues until 11:59PM EST on March 31st. If the $8000 goal is not reached by that time then no money will be collected and the project will not be funded. However, if the fundraising is successful, Brock has pledged to donate any money raised over the goal amount to relief organizations such as Doctor’s Without Borders and The American Red Cross.

Brock relocated from Chicago to New York in 2006 and since then he has benefited from oppoThertunities to work as a sideman with some of the best-known artists in jazz. A diverse career path, which has included touring with bassist Stanley Clarke, playing the music of John McLaughlin, performing in Poland with Zbigniew Seifert’s first quartet, and backing up the legendary Bob Dorough, has resulted in Brock’s new focus and desire to record and tour under his own name once again.

While the current climate of the recording industry, chilling for the past fifteen years and now almost frozen by the recession, has been stalling recordings by emerging artists such as Brock, a new paradigm of internet-based community mobilization is building momentum within the artistic community and seems to be pointing towards the future of arts funding in this country.

About Zach Brock: He has been heralded by Blue Note artist and MacArthur Grant recipient Patricia Barber as "the one on whom to place your bets in jazz" and lionized as "the great bright hope for jazz violin" by the Chicago Tribune. Brock has produced three recordings on his Secret Fort Record label and performed with his first band, The Coffee Achievers at Carnegie Hall and the Tudo e Jazz Festival in Brazil. Brock has also performed with an impressive roster of artists that includes Stanley Clarke, Patricia Barber, Bob Dorough, Alice Coltrane, Kurt Elling and The Mahavishnu Project. In 2009 Brock made his international film debut in "Passion," a documentary about forgotten jazz violin pioneer Zbigniew Seifert. In 2010 Brock is touring extensively with guitarist Frank Vignola in a centennial celebration of Django Reinhardt as well as touring with his new trio, The Magic Number.

Zach Brock
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