Alaadeen Enterprises, Inc.

Alaadeen Enterprises, Inc. was established by Ahmad Alaadeen and Victoria Dunfee in 1998 as a 501c3 with the specific purpose to develop an understanding and appreciation of the Jazz tradition with particular emphasis on Midwestern and Kansas City style Jazz, with a major focus on education. Now with Alaadeen's passing, in order to keep his mission alive, Alaadeen Enterprises, Inc. is being restructured with the creation of an advisory board to keep focused on Alaadeen's mission.

In 2010, the first annual Alaadeen Achievement of Excellence Award recognizing artistic excellence in Jazz performance was given to Harold O'Neal. The first annual Alaadeen Educator of Excellence Award recognizing excellence in Jazz Education was presented to Clarence Smith. Tom Alexios, now a director of Alaadeen Enterprises, Inc. initiated the Alaadeen Excellence Awards. Tom was previously with DownBeat special projects and currently is the director of education outreach programs for the Duke Ellington Family. At this time, we are collaborative partners with the Duke Ellington Family on a project that will provide music therapy to patients in VA Hospitals around the country.

Scholarships have been secured in Alaadeen's name at Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley in Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City Kansas Community College. We are currently in the process of developing a saxophone summit that will be coordinated with area colleges.

In 2009, Alaadeen wrote, "The Rest Of The Story, Jazz Improvization and History." Published by our sister company Fandeen Publishing Company, this manual was written as a guide for the musician in finding his or herself as a soloist. In 2011, Alaadeen's autobiography; "Dysfunctional / life journeys of a second generation jazz musician" was published. In addition to the five Jazz recordings that Alaadeen produced, Alaadeen Enterprises is aggressively marketing both books.