Trumpeter Eddie Gale is joining with guitarist Calvin Keys to help make healthcare available for musicians. As part of an effort to raise public awareness and to help artists take care of themselves, Gale and Keys are headlining the San Francisco Jazz Fest on April 23. As quoted in a recent Huffington Post story,

"Being a musician myself, I got so tired of emergencies," Gale said. "This one needs a heart transplant, this one need a kidney. We just had to bury one of our great musicians last Christmas. He thought he was having a hernia cause he played the saxophone and it was heavy to carry around, but he must have had problems he didn't recognize. He died a week later because he didn't have health insurance."

Gale said that the health care fundraiser will feature performances from a number of notable jazz musicians, music workshops and free health screenings, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the California Jazz Foundation to help musicians' pay for health insurance.

While musicians are struggling for their lives, radio broadcasters still refuse to allow artists make healthcare a possibility. Big radio evidently prefers to spend its vast resources fighting against the Performance Rights Act, a bill which would guarantee fair compensation for musicians' work.

Read the rest of the Huffington Post's story: Jazz Musicians Throw Concert To Pay For Their Health Coverage: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/12/jazz-musicians-throw-conc_n_534220.html