Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra

The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra (SJMO) was founded in 1990 with an appropriation from Congress in recognition of the importance of jazz in American culture and its status as a national treasure. The National Museum of American History is the nation’s only museum with its own jazz orchestra. A beloved fixture of the greater Washington, D.C. music scene, each year the orchestra offers an annual concert season and performs nationally at festivals and educational programs across the country.