Central Florida Lifestyle Magazine:  Music For The People, By Boz   By Shahdai Richardson

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Music is often created to entertain or make money, but there are some artists like Altamonte Springs resident Jeffrey P. Bosworth who make music to inspire and bring about change. Bosworth, better known as Boz, is a songwriter, artist, performer, drummer, guitar player and president of his own business, a consulting and music publishing company, Island Estuary Music Publishing, Inc., also in Altamonte Springs. According to Boz, Island Estuary’s mission is to create music that portrays positivity and sparks others to connect as human beings.

The Artist & His Inspiration

While growing up in Massachusetts, Boz discovered his love of music at an early age. “It started at about 11 [years old] when my parents took me to a concert,” Boz says. The concert was a performance by The Carpenters and marked the beginning of Boz’s lifelong passion for music.

The foundation of Boz’s company is his band, Boz with The Dove Tail Horns. The band, which includes 60 to 70 different musicians including Boz, began in 1995, when he first moved to Florida. He and the band primarily perform in Orlando, but only 6 to 16 members perform at each gig. Boz often finds new artists through networking or simply by posting a need for certain positions in the band.

As the lead singer of the band, Boz also has the opportunity to write many of the songs they perform. “I have always been an artist and songwriter,” he says. But the band performs the work of other artists as well, including Sting, Phil Collins, Don Henley and Bonnie Raitt, among others. “Those artists have inspired me greatly over the years,” he says. When thinking about other artists’ songs to perform, he considers artists who create music with messages that resonate with him personally.

Boz makes songs that inspire people to do what they can for others. Growing up as the middle child, he says that he complained a lot when he did not get things he wanted for himself. He says, “We live in a ‘me, me, me’ world.” Now, he explains, he is the total opposite because he always tries to do what he can for others. He applies this in his music as well. “We hope our music inspires some people,” Boz says. “We are not trying to shove anything down people’s throats, but we’re just writing songs that resonate with people.”

His adult contemporary album, “Karma Knows...”, was released at the end of 2007. The name of the album was inspired by Boz’s life experiences, which showed him that how we treat people always comes back to us in some way. “You got to treat people right in your life,” he says. As the result of the hard work of his publicist and operations manager, Suzanna Esch, songs from the album are currently being played in approximately 50 different radio markets across the country.

Businessman & Community Leader

When he’s not making music, his work with his company and the community keeps Boz busy. Since he started the band, he has had a full time job. Before starting his consulting and music publishing company, he worked as an Internet general manager for Clear Channel Communications and as vice president of mpiNET. Then, in 2003, he decided to start his own company.

Island Estuary advises people on starting a business. “Orlando is the No. 1 place to start a business,” Boz says. “Over the years, I’ve been able to give up my time and training to help people build their businesses.” This has led to regular communication with local businesses, which has also opened the door to several performance opportunities for the band.

Boz’s work with his company and the band has not distracted him from his determination to help others. Having volunteered with the Orlando Chamber of Commerce for seven years, he continues to participate in several civic and business organizations in the Orlando community. He has volunteered with Hands on Orlando, the Orlando Union Rescue Mission, the Disney Entrepreneur Center and Leadership Seminole.

Boz Live

Boz is now working on trying to give back to the Orlando community with a large scale concert on International Drive. The concert, named Boz Live on I-Drive, is scheduled for Memorial Day weekend 2009. The concert will feature performances by many local artists, including his band. “[The goal of the concert is] to create a stimulating world class performance showcasing the talents of various musicians and gifted guest artists,” he says.

Boz has been working on the concert for about three years now and hopes he can put together an event that inspires people to change how they treat one another. “I want people to take something home with them from the concert and music,” he says. “Maybe it can make a difference for them.” He says he wants people to really feel the “human aspect” of the concert. “We’re all human,” he explains. “We all have good intentions, and hopefully [the concert] will help people view things different and it will better our world.”

There will also be a CD produced, which will feature music from the concert. A DVD will be created to not only highlight concert moments, but also go behind the scenes spotlighting the people who helped put it all together and the Orlando community itself. “It is really about Orlando and the people who are doing it,” Boz says. “We are highlighting everyone’s individual role in putting this project together.” The expectation is for charity to receive 10 percent of the profit from the CD and DVD package.

Boz explains that he wants the concert to open people’s eyes up to the talent in Orlando and how wonderful the city really is. He wants to get rid of the perception that Orlando does not have culture. “There is a ton of talented people here,” he says. “The market for what we are doing is right here because we are the entertainment capital of the world.”