Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bruce Forman has performed and recorded with jazz luminaries such as Joe Henderson, Ray Brown, and Freddie Hubbard, released several of his own recordings, and recently arranged and performed the guitar soundtrack for Clint Eastwood’s Academy Award-winning Million Dollar Baby.

Forman is also the author of highly acclaimed method book The Jazz Guitarist’s Handbook (Guitar Solo Publications) and Jazz Band Rhythm Guitar (Mel Bay), which is popular with high school band teachers. He has also recorded an instructional video, Jazz Guitar Soloing (GSP). His teaching philosophy is based on a no-nonsense, pragmatic approach to playing music. “Teaching forced me to really understand what I did and why,” Forman notes. “I had to understand how it all worked and be able to explain it in terms any student could understand. This process helped my playing, too.”

Rather than focusing too heavily on theory or exercises, Forman’s teaching is pragmatic and strongly emphasizes the learning and playing of “real” tunes for live performance. “It’s what we all need to do, and I love to play with students,” he says. As a longstanding member of the Monterey Jazz Festival Education Program and, more recently, as founder of Jazz Masters Workshop (JMW), Forman stresses to his students the joy and community of playing and learning music together in a live performance situation.

Learning from the Masters
Over the years, Forman has recognized the importance of, as he says, “learning on the bandstand from the masters” and how time-honored apprenticeship opportunities have gradually faded away for younger musicians. “I am the product and beneficiary of great musicians playing with me, inspiring and challenging me,” Forman explains. “They all demanded that I apply myself, have integrity, and learn the language. I felt there weren’t those kinds of opportunities out there for kids, yet there are more musicians out there now than ever before.”

Forman’s teaching style developed into a mentoring approach, and he soon started to invite his friends, many of whom are top jazz musicians, to come and work with students in a master-class setting. Forman immediately witnessed incredible results and received lots of positive feedback—from both students and the musicians. “I tried to create a setting for professional musicians and kids to get together in a playing atmosphere, and let the experience, wisdom, and knowledge of great players inform the kids by example,” he says. “You have to have faith in music and musicians, which I do.”

Starting Jazz Masters Workshop
In 2000, Forman decided to take his workshops a step further and founded JMW (www.jazzmastersworkshop.org). The website describes the fundamental philosophy behind the nonprofit organization: “By facilitating weekly, hands-on, performance-oriented workshops, artists directly interact with, educate, and inspire students. As a result, children and young adults are provided with an apprenticeship approach to learning…. At the root of JMW’s workshops is an unwavering conviction: that mentoring is a key element to keeping kids in school, out of gangs, and off drugs; and that accessible music education is an essential catalyst for developing a wide range of learning skills that transcend all subject areas.”

Current JMW programs include the introductory “Developmental Performance Workshop,” “The After-School Workshop,” “The Jazz Workshop,” and “The Ensemble Workshop.” Programs are catered to absolute beginners as well as advanced students with more performing experience.

Although many of his students have moved on to become great players and develop careers as professional musicians, he says, “There are also many kids who appreciate music on a new level, who have learned about dedication, discipline, and group interaction. These kids have benefited from great people who care about them and who are passionate about what they do in life. It’s important for kids to observe that in an adult.” But the students aren’t the only ones who benefit. Forman says that the teachers, all professional musicians, “recognize their ability to empower and inspire, and even leave a legacy for the kids along with a future responsibility to music. I am extremely gratified by it all.”

JMW has conducted over 1,500 music performance workshops and has blossomed into several programs throughout California and programs in New York and Illinois. University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music developed a similar program in tandem with JMW called Guitar Masters, which works with the Boys and Girls Club of Los Angeles and offers lessons for children and teens in the South Central area.