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THIS PAGE IS DEDICATED TO JAZZ LOVERS ALL OVER THE WORLD
"JACK TAFOYA ALMOST SINGLE-HANDEDLY SPONSORED A REVIVAL OF JAZZ IN NEW YORK CITY"
Mike Wallace 60 MINUTES 1971
For those of you who remember Jack Tafoya's non profit organization JAZZ ADVENTURES INC. in the 70s, here are some of the many newspaper, jazz magazine articles and concert headlines you may recall and reminisce on.
JAZZ ADVENTURES PRESENTS 8 CONCERTS AT TOWN HALL - PLAYBOY PLAYS HOST TO JAZZ ADVENTURES
JAZZ SEES DAYLIGHT AT JIMMYS ON 52D ST. - RUSSIANS PUT LOVE OF JAZZ ABOVE COUNTRY
BIG BANDS ARE BACK AT JAZZ ADVENTURES - "JAZZ ADVENTURES JAZZ ON THE RIVER CRUISES"
"JAZZ ADVENTURES WITH JACK TAFOYA" (weekly prime-time TV show, and 'live' weekly RADIO show at the HALF NOTE on 52nd st.)
JAZZ ADVENTURES PRESENTS ORNETTE COLEMAN AT CARNEGIE HALL - JAZZ ADVENTURES "JAZZ IN ATLANTA"
OVERSEAS JAZZ CLUB PRESENTS "JACK TAFOYA'S JAZZ ADVENTURES ORCHESTRA" FEATURING CHET BAKER.
NOON JAZZ AT THE MAISONETTE - NOON JAZZ AT THE DOWNBEAT
Here is a listing of the many jazz greats presented by Jack in the 1970s for your perusal and reminiscence :
* Appeared on 'live' Jazz Adventures Club Stage ** Jack's 'live' TV show *** Carnegie, Beacon Theatre or Town Hall Concerts. **** Jazz Adventures "Jazz On The River" Cruise.
BIG BANDS * Bill Watrous New York Band * The Bobby Rosengarden (Dick Cavett Show) Band * Howard McGhee Big band * Don Ellis Orchestra
* Frank Foster Orchestra * Billy Taylor Orchestra (David Frost Show) * Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra * Dick Cone Orchestra
* Jack Tafoya's Jazz Adventures Orchestra featuring Chet Baker * Sy Oliver Orchestra * Lew Anderson Concert Jazz Band * Clark Terry Big Band * Rod Levitt Orchestra * Gene Roland "Horns Of Manhattan"
**** Woody Herman and The Thundering Herd **** Lionel Hampton Orchestra *** Ornette Coleman Quintet at Carnegie
**** Mongo Santamaria Sextet and Tito Puente at the Beacon Theatre *** Maynard Ferguson Orchestra at Town Hall
"JAZZ ADVENTURES WITH JACK TAFOYA" TELEVISION SHOW : Sunday nights
TV VOCALISTS Betty Carter - Dee Dee Bridgewater - Chris Connor - June Christy - Ruth Brown - Dakota Staton - Chet Baker
TV BANDS The Gil Evans Orchestra - Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers - Shirley Scott Trio - Donald Byrd and The Blackbyrds
Bill Evans Trio - Stan Getz Quartet - Roy Ayers Ubiquity - Enrico Rava Quartet - CZAR Russian Quintet
Clifford Jordan Quintet - Charles Tolliver Quintet - Mongo Santamaria Sextet
"JAZZ ADVENTURES PRESENTS"
STAGE VOCALISTS Johnny Hartman - Mark Murphy - Babs Gonzales -
JAZZ STAGE GROUPS Earl Fatha Hines Quintet - Milt Jackson Quartet - Al Cohn / Zoot Sims Quintet - George Benson Quintet - Elvin Jones
appearing at Quartet - Billy Taylor Trio - David Amram Quintet - Chico Hamilton Quintet - Jimmy Heath Quintet - Dick Hyman Quintet -
JAZZ ADVENTURES Steve Kuhn Quartet - Ray Nance Trio - Joe Newman Quintet - Dewey Redmond Quartet - Barry Miles Trio - Bobby Brown
Yolanda Bavan Quintet - Marian McPartland Trio - Bobbi Humphrey Quartet - Bucky Pizarelli Quartet - Ernie Wilkins Trio
HaroldOusleyQuartet - Toots Theilemans Quartet - Randy Weston Quartet - Jackie Paris / Anne Marie Moss - Roy
Eldridge - Quintet - Hubert Laws Quartet - Ernie Wilkins Trio - Jim Hall / Ron Carter 'live' recording - Ernie Wilkins Trio -
Emme Kemp Trio - James Moody Quartet w/ Eddie Jefferson - Attila Zoller Quartet - Barbara Carroll Trio w/ Silvia Sims -
Grady Tate Trio - Red Balaban and Cats - Darius Brubeck Ensemble - George Wiens Newport Ensemble - Al Drears Quartet Jeremy Steig Quintet w/ Eddie Gomez - Chuck Wayne / Joe Puma Quartet - Bill Watrous/Carmen Leggio "the worlds fastest
trombone and sax players" - Louis Hayes Quartet - Rhoda Scott Trio w/ Freddie - Waits and Frank Wess - No Gap
Generation Jazz band - Jimmy McPartland w/ Teddy King, JAZZ TAP w/ Baby Lawrence Chuck Green, and John McFee -
Marian McPartland Trio
"JAZZ ADVENTURES PRESENTS"
LATIN BANDS Mongo Santamaria - Tito Puente - Cal Tjader - Ray Barretto - Jerry Gonsalez
JAZZ MUSICIANS WHO APPEARED WITH GROUPS AT JAZZ ADVENTURES CONCERTS:
Mike Abene - Harold Danko - Eddie Gomez - Sonny Fortune - Steve Gadd - Charley Haden - Julius Hemphill - Kenny Baron Jake Hanna Billy Harper - Tom Harrell - Billy Higgins - Milt Hinton - Dave Holland - Dave Liebman - George Mraz
Don Pullen - David Sanborn - Reggie Workman - Lew Soloff - Harold Vick - Eddie Gladden - Cassell Wiley - Bill Hardman - Calvin Hill - David Schmitter - Michael Carvin - Massimo Urbani - Albert Daley - Clint Houston - Randy Brecker - Ronny Cuber Steve Lacy - Dewey and Joshua Redmond - Jimmy Madison - George Young
"Jack, I can truly say that In my lifetime I've come across some of the most extraordinary people.....and without question, not only are you one, but the very first one. No words can express the profound appreciation I have for you Jack. In my book, you're an exemplary man in every sense of the word.....and some. You paved the way and will always be "the most" integral part of my professional career in music. I'm so glad I found you, because I now have the opportunity to say....thank you. Freddie Ben-Perez, Guitarist - New York City
While in High School in the 1940s, Jack met Los Angeles jazz pianist Horace Tapscott who was stationed at the F.E.W. Airbase in Cheyenne Wyo. and formed his first prominent jazz group. As a Bassist in the 50s, Jack had the unique opportunity to work with (then) Denver jazz artists Dave Grusin, Spike Robinson, Booker Irvin, Pete Jolley, Phil Urso, and many other traveling jazz musicians. In the 60s while appearing in Las Vegas with his own Band, he met and jammed with Pianist Joe Samples, Trombonist Wayne Henderson, Saxophonist Wilton Felder and Drummer Stix Hooper - who later became The Jazz Crusaders. Jack said "they seemed to like my playing." By then, Jack was 'hooked' on Miles, Coltrane, Horace Silver, Monk, Bird, etc. etc. and never dreamed that one day he would have the opportunity to produce and promote the very jazz giants he worshiped ....that were still alive. In 1978 at the request of then Atlanta Mayor (and jazz lover) Maynard Jackson who wanted to make Atlanta "The Cultural Center of The South" Jack presented Stanley Turrentine and Ramsey Lewis in concert at the Fox Theatre. Jack left New York in 1979 bound for the Yucatan and the Mayans, then to Peru with the Incas to begin his long and dedicated search to uncover the secret "Number Codes".
Jack Tafoya came from a musical family of 12 children – 6 boys and 6 girls – all of whom sang and played musical instruments. His father was a “rag-time” jazz pianist/bandleader and artist in the 1930s and 40s. Jack’s father "Leo" weaned him on old home-movie jazz classics; 35mm films of Fats Waller, Bessie Smith, and Lady Day to name a few, and eventually Jack favored two jazz vocalists, Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughn whom he later fashioned his own singing styles after. Coincidentally, in 1961 Jack appeared opposite Billy and Sarah and the Harry James Orchestra with his own band in the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.
Jack spent his first thirty years as a jazz musician/vocalist, first with his own jazz bands in High School in the 40s, then as lead vocalist with the U.S. Navy COMPHIBLANT BAND during the Korean conflict in the early 50s. Jack returned to Denver Colorado in the late 50s where he formed his own bands and worked with big name visiting jazz artists in local clubs promoting jazz. He then appeared as featured vocalist with big bands and worked several years out of Las Vegas and was eventually disenchanted with the gambling and loud razz-ma-tazz Vegas music scene and moved to Aruba, Dutch West Indies in 1962 where he built and operated the Island’s first Country Club called MADIKI. After three years on this tiny island, Jack’s love of jazz - which was nil in Aruba - brought him back to the states in 1965 where he traveled and performed on the Playboy circuit.
Jack moved to New York City in 1969 where he was shocked to have found very little ‘live’ contemporary jazz. Who would have thought it! Only one or two major contemporary jazz night clubs in Manhattan featuring live jazz, and, located on the lower west side near the Hudson River where the cities’ corporate execs who favored jazz back in the 1940s and 50s wouldn't, or couldn't frequent. Later on, Jack found that these corporate execs who commuted from upstate early each day could not and did not frequent the clubs due to the late hours, and probably the location on the lower west side. They needed a place to see and hear live jazz at a convenient time, so Jack decided to form a non- profit organization in 1971 and named it JAZZ ADVENTURES INC. for the express purpose of promoting live jazz and the musicians who perform it, and those corporate execs were the ones Jack convinced to make it work. He knew that he needed the press, and the press would adhere to what the corporate execs were into, and it worked. Jack said "when it's on the news, people will go find it" and they did just that after Jack and his jazz endeavors were mentioned weekly in the press.
Jack became a nationally known jazz entrepreneur in the 70s where he produced over 500 major live jazz concerts in NYC including weekly live radio shows on station WRVR as well as producing many recordings. He also hosted his own weekly prime-time (non-profit) TV show called JAZZ ADVENTURES WITH JACK TAFOYA featuring such artists as Gil Evans, Bill Evans, Mongo Santamaria, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Stan Getz and many, many more in a three year period, all done ‘live’ at Brooklyn College, and to music students no less! In an interview in1971 with Mike Wallace of 60 MINUTES, Jack said, “I felt strongly that if I didn’t promote jazz – our one truly American art form – no one else would”. He added “when I came to NYC in 1970 there were only two jazz clubs, and three years later – after much promotion – there were over one hundred clubs presenting live jazz in New York due to the weekly ongoing newspaper articles about Jack's endeavors in the N. Y. Times, The Daily News, Village Voice and The Post, as well as jazz magazines such as Downbeat.”
When interviewed on a local TV show about whether he had “something going” with John Wilson - jazz columnist for the New York Times - who wrote weekly on Jack’s events, Jack said sternly ”I give him something to write about; and up to now, he had very little to cover. When people – especially young people – are told in the news that something is happening, they make it happen…and that’s what happened. The constant news I was generating brought jazz back and that put an abrupt end to the ‘jabs’. But by the end of the 70s, country music was beginning to hit the airways (even in NYC), and I realized my particular “jazz spell” was over. It was great while it lasted, but I had other even more important issues confronting me. And besides, it was time for other non-profit jazz organizations to pull their weight."
As a result of an out-of-body vision at his father’s funeral in 1979 when he was instructed by his guides to “break the numbers codes”, Jack abruptly left his career in New York City presenting jazz. His “search for the truth” in breaking the hidden 'Numbers Codes" led him to spend months with the Mayans of the Yucatan and the Incas of Peru. Jack said “I’ve always felt that someday I would bring forth vital knowledge that would benefit humanity. Like I felt about jazz ten years ago when I said to Mike Wallace “if I don't promote jazz, maybe no one else will"; then I felt, “if I don't break the secret numbers and language codes - as my guides instructed - maybe no one else would.”
After returning to the U.S. from time spent with the Mayans and with the Incas, Jack dedicated the next 30 plus years to uncovering these codes hidden for centuries by secret societies and labeled “secret mysteries”. The result is his first book HOW NUMBERS CONTROL YOUR LIFE AND GIVE YOUR LIFE PURPOSE published in 2007. numbers.jacktafoya.com
Jacks second book HOW THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONTROLS THE WORD was published in 2009 - words.jacktafoya.com - and Jack knows that Jazz people, being spontaneous, spiritual and soulful people are tuned to this New Age information.
Jack's next book will be CULTURAL DEVOLUTION - "The Downfall of Jazz in The 1950s; How and Why it Happened and Who Was Responsible".
THIS PAGE IS DEDICATED TO JAZZ LOVERS ALL OVER THE WORLD
"JACK TAFOYA ALMOST SINGLE-HANDEDLY SPONSORED A REVIVAL OF JAZZ IN NEW YORK CITY"
Mike Wallace 60 MINUTES 1971
For those of you who remember Jack Tafoya's non profit organization JAZZ ADVENTURES INC. in the 70s, here are some of the many newspaper, jazz magazine articles and concert headlines you may recall and reminisce on.
JAZZ ADVENTURES PRESENTS 8 CONCERTS AT TOWN HALL - PLAYBOY PLAYS HOST TO JAZZ ADVENTURES
JAZZ SEES DAYLIGHT AT JIMMYS ON 52D ST. - RUSSIANS PUT LOVE OF JAZZ ABOVE COUNTRY
BIG BANDS ARE BACK AT JAZZ ADVENTURES - "JAZZ ADVENTURES JAZZ ON THE RIVER CRUISES"
"JAZZ ADVENTURES WITH JACK TAFOYA" (weekly prime-time TV show, and 'live' weekly RADIO show at the HALF NOTE on 52nd st.)
JAZZ ADVENTURES PRESENTS ORNETTE COLEMAN AT CARNEGIE HALL - JAZZ ADVENTURES "JAZZ IN ATLANTA"
OVERSEAS JAZZ CLUB PRESENTS "JACK TAFOYA'S JAZZ ADVENTURES ORCHESTRA" FEATURING CHET BAKER.
NOON JAZZ AT THE MAISONETTE - NOON JAZZ AT THE DOWNBEAT
Here is a listing of the many jazz greats presented by Jack in the 1970s for your perusal and reminiscence :
* Appeared on 'live' Jazz Adventures Club Stage ** Jack's 'live' TV show *** Carnegie, Beacon Theatre or Town Hall Concerts. **** Jazz Adventures "Jazz On The River" Cruise.
BIG BANDS * Bill Watrous New York Band * The Bobby Rosengarden (Dick Cavett Show) Band * Howard McGhee Big band * Don Ellis Orchestra
* Frank Foster Orchestra * Billy Taylor Orchestra (David Frost Show) * Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra * Dick Cone Orchestra
* Jack Tafoya's Jazz Adventures Orchestra featuring Chet Baker * Sy Oliver Orchestra * Lew Anderson Concert Jazz Band * Clark Terry Big Band * Rod Levitt Orchestra * Gene Roland "Horns Of Manhattan"
**** Woody Herman and The Thundering Herd **** Lionel Hampton Orchestra *** Ornette Coleman Quintet at Carnegie
**** Mongo Santamaria Sextet and Tito Puente at the Beacon Theatre *** Maynard Ferguson Orchestra at Town Hall
"JAZZ ADVENTURES WITH JACK TAFOYA" TELEVISION SHOW : Sunday nights
TV VOCALISTS Betty Carter - Dee Dee Bridgewater - Chris Connor - June Christy - Ruth Brown - Dakota Staton - Chet Baker
TV BANDS The Gil Evans Orchestra - Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers - Shirley Scott Trio - Donald Byrd and The Blackbyrds
Bill Evans Trio - Stan Getz Quartet - Roy Ayers Ubiquity - Enrico Rava Quartet - CZAR Russian Quintet
Clifford Jordan Quintet - Charles Tolliver Quintet - Mongo Santamaria Sextet
"JAZZ ADVENTURES PRESENTS"
STAGE VOCALISTS Johnny Hartman - Mark Murphy - Babs Gonzales -
JAZZ STAGE GROUPS Earl Fatha Hines Quintet - Milt Jackson Quartet - Al Cohn / Zoot Sims Quintet - George Benson Quintet - Elvin Jones
appearing at Quartet - Billy Taylor Trio - David Amram Quintet - Chico Hamilton Quintet - Jimmy Heath Quintet - Dick Hyman Quintet -
JAZZ ADVENTURES Steve Kuhn Quartet - Ray Nance Trio - Joe Newman Quintet - Dewey Redmond Quartet - Barry Miles Trio - Bobby Brown
Yolanda Bavan Quintet - Marian McPartland Trio - Bobbi Humphrey Quartet - Bucky Pizarelli Quartet - Ernie Wilkins Trio
HaroldOusleyQuartet - Toots Theilemans Quartet - Randy Weston Quartet - Jackie Paris / Anne Marie Moss - Roy
Eldridge - Quintet - Hubert Laws Quartet - Ernie Wilkins Trio - Jim Hall / Ron Carter 'live' recording - Ernie Wilkins Trio -
Emme Kemp Trio - James Moody Quartet w/ Eddie Jefferson - Attila Zoller Quartet - Barbara Carroll Trio w/ Silvia Sims -
Grady Tate Trio - Red Balaban and Cats - Darius Brubeck Ensemble - George Wiens Newport Ensemble - Al Drears Quartet Jeremy Steig Quintet w/ Eddie Gomez - Chuck Wayne / Joe Puma Quartet - Bill Watrous/Carmen Leggio "the worlds fastest
trombone and sax players" - Louis Hayes Quartet - Rhoda Scott Trio w/ Freddie - Waits and Frank Wess - No Gap
Generation Jazz band - Jimmy McPartland w/ Teddy King, JAZZ TAP w/ Baby Lawrence Chuck Green, and John McFee -
Marian McPartland Trio
"JAZZ ADVENTURES PRESENTS"
LATIN BANDS Mongo Santamaria - Tito Puente - Cal Tjader - Ray Barretto - Jerry Gonsalez
JAZZ MUSICIANS WHO APPEARED WITH GROUPS AT JAZZ ADVENTURES CONCERTS:
Mike Abene - Harold Danko - Eddie Gomez - Sonny Fortune - Steve Gadd - Charley Haden - Julius Hemphill - Kenny Baron Jake Hanna Billy Harper - Tom Harrell - Billy Higgins - Milt Hinton - Dave Holland - Dave Liebman - George Mraz
Don Pullen - David Sanborn - Reggie Workman - Lew Soloff - Harold Vick - Eddie Gladden - Cassell Wiley - Bill Hardman - Calvin Hill - David Schmitter - Michael Carvin - Massimo Urbani - Albert Daley - Clint Houston - Randy Brecker - Ronny Cuber Steve Lacy - Dewey and Joshua Redmond - Jimmy Madison - George Young
"Jack, I can truly say that In my lifetime I've come across some of the most extraordinary people.....and without question, not only are you one, but the very first one. No words can express the profound appreciation I have for you Jack. In my book, you're an exemplary man in every sense of the word.....and some. You paved the way and will always be "the most" integral part of my professional career in music. I'm so glad I found you, because I now have the opportunity to say....thank you. Freddie Ben-Perez, Guitarist - New York City
While in High School in the 1940s, Jack met Los Angeles jazz pianist Horace Tapscott who was stationed at the F.E.W. Airbase in Cheyenne Wyo. and formed his first prominent jazz group. As a Bassist in the 50s, Jack had the unique opportunity to work with (then) Denver jazz artists Dave Grusin, Spike Robinson, Booker Irvin, Pete Jolley, Phil Urso, and many other traveling jazz musicians. In the 60s while appearing in Las Vegas with his own Band, he met and jammed with Pianist Joe Samples, Trombonist Wayne Henderson, Saxophonist Wilton Felder and Drummer Stix Hooper - who later became The Jazz Crusaders. Jack said "they seemed to like my playing." By then, Jack was 'hooked' on Miles, Coltrane, Horace Silver, Monk, Bird, etc. etc. and never dreamed that one day he would have the opportunity to produce and promote the very jazz giants he worshiped ....that were still alive. In 1978 at the request of then Atlanta Mayor (and jazz lover) Maynard Jackson who wanted to make Atlanta "The Cultural Center of The South" Jack presented Stanley Turrentine and Ramsey Lewis in concert at the Fox Theatre. Jack left New York in 1979 bound for the Yucatan and the Mayans, then to Peru with the Incas to begin his long and dedicated search to uncover the secret "Number Codes".
Jack Tafoya came from a musical family of 12 children – 6 boys and 6 girls – all of whom sang and played musical instruments. His father was a “rag-time” jazz pianist/bandleader and artist in the 1930s and 40s. Jack’s father "Leo" weaned him on old home-movie jazz classics; 35mm films of Fats Waller, Bessie Smith, and Lady Day to name a few, and eventually Jack favored two jazz vocalists, Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughn whom he later fashioned his own singing styles after. Coincidentally, in 1961 Jack appeared opposite Billy and Sarah and the Harry James Orchestra with his own band in the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.
Jack spent his first thirty years as a jazz musician/vocalist, first with his own jazz bands in High School in the 40s, then as lead vocalist with the U.S. Navy COMPHIBLANT BAND during the Korean conflict in the early 50s. Jack returned to Denver Colorado in the late 50s where he formed his own bands and worked with big name visiting jazz artists in local clubs promoting jazz. He then appeared as featured vocalist with big bands and worked several years out of Las Vegas and was eventually disenchanted with the gambling and loud razz-ma-tazz Vegas music scene and moved to Aruba, Dutch West Indies in 1962 where he built and operated the Island’s first Country Club called MADIKI. After three years on this tiny island, Jack’s love of jazz - which was nil in Aruba - brought him back to the states in 1965 where he traveled and performed on the Playboy circuit.
Jack moved to New York City in 1969 where he was shocked to have found very little ‘live’ contemporary jazz. Who would have thought it! Only one or two major contemporary jazz night clubs in Manhattan featuring live jazz, and, located on the lower west side near the Hudson River where the cities’ corporate execs who favored jazz back in the 1940s and 50s wouldn't, or couldn't frequent. Later on, Jack found that these corporate execs who commuted from upstate early each day could not and did not frequent the clubs due to the late hours, and probably the location on the lower west side. They needed a place to see and hear live jazz at a convenient time, so Jack decided to form a non- profit organization in 1971 and named it JAZZ ADVENTURES INC. for the express purpose of promoting live jazz and the musicians who perform it, and those corporate execs were the ones Jack convinced to make it work. He knew that he needed the press, and the press would adhere to what the corporate execs were into, and it worked. Jack said "when it's on the news, people will go find it" and they did just that after Jack and his jazz endeavors were mentioned weekly in the press.
Jack became a nationally known jazz entrepreneur in the 70s where he produced over 500 major live jazz concerts in NYC including weekly live radio shows on station WRVR as well as producing many recordings. He also hosted his own weekly prime-time (non-profit) TV show called JAZZ ADVENTURES WITH JACK TAFOYA featuring such artists as Gil Evans, Bill Evans, Mongo Santamaria, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Stan Getz and many, many more in a three year period, all done ‘live’ at Brooklyn College, and to music students no less! In an interview in1971 with Mike Wallace of 60 MINUTES, Jack said, “I felt strongly that if I didn’t promote jazz – our one truly American art form – no one else would”. He added “when I came to NYC in 1970 there were only two jazz clubs, and three years later – after much promotion – there were over one hundred clubs presenting live jazz in New York due to the weekly ongoing newspaper articles about Jack's endeavors in the N. Y. Times, The Daily News, Village Voice and The Post, as well as jazz magazines such as Downbeat.”
When interviewed on a local TV show about whether he had “something going” with John Wilson - jazz columnist for the New York Times - who wrote weekly on Jack’s events, Jack said sternly ”I give him something to write about; and up to now, he had very little to cover. When people – especially young people – are told in the news that something is happening, they make it happen…and that’s what happened. The constant news I was generating brought jazz back and that put an abrupt end to the ‘jabs’. But by the end of the 70s, country music was beginning to hit the airways (even in NYC), and I realized my particular “jazz spell” was over. It was great while it lasted, but I had other even more important issues confronting me. And besides, it was time for other non-profit jazz organizations to pull their weight."
As a result of an out-of-body vision at his father’s funeral in 1979 when he was instructed by his guides to “break the numbers codes”, Jack abruptly left his career in New York City presenting jazz. His “search for the truth” in breaking the hidden 'Numbers Codes" led him to spend months with the Mayans of the Yucatan and the Incas of Peru. Jack said “I’ve always felt that someday I would bring forth vital knowledge that would benefit humanity. Like I felt about jazz ten years ago when I said to Mike Wallace “if I don't promote jazz, maybe no one else will"; then I felt, “if I don't break the secret numbers and language codes - as my guides instructed - maybe no one else would.”
After returning to the U.S. from time spent with the Mayans and with the Incas, Jack dedicated the next 30 plus years to uncovering these codes hidden for centuries by secret societies and labeled “secret mysteries”. The result is his first book HOW NUMBERS CONTROL YOUR LIFE AND GIVE YOUR LIFE PURPOSE published in 2007. numbers.jacktafoya.com
Jacks second book HOW THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONTROLS THE WORD was published in 2009 - words.jacktafoya.com - and Jack knows that Jazz people, being spontaneous, spiritual and soulful people are tuned to this New Age information.
Jack's next book will be CULTURAL DEVOLUTION - "The Downfall of Jazz in The 1950s; How and Why it Happened and Who Was Responsible".