New York Jazz Clubs

[randissimo]

New York Jazz Clubs

This is by noted trumpeter Marvin Stamm. It is an important and sobering article we

should all pay attention to, reflecting on the state of the jazz club scene today.

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New York Jazz Clubs

by Marvin Stamm

When on tour, I am often asked about the Jazz scene in New York City and the

clubs that feature this music. Most of my work these past 15 years is out of town “on the

road,” but when at home I most often do concerts with my quartet, in duo with Bill Mays,

or with the Westchester Jazz Orchestra. So though I perform quite a bit in the New York

area, I don’t play often in New York City. To a great extent, most of what I know about

what’s going on in the clubs today comes from what I hear from many of the musicians I

talk with, and much of this really disturbs me.

A few places, mostly the smaller clubs, put a lot of effort into presenting

and preserving this music. They do a wonderful job, and for this they are to be extolled.

Among these are the aforementioned Kitano, Smoke, The 55 Bar, and a few other small

clubs. The larger clubs seem to present whatever bigger-name Jazz artists bring in the

most money, and groups that don’t produce right away are not asked back.

Whatever can be said about the business, most club owners aren’t necessarily

people who are in it because they love the music, as did Max Gordon, the gentleman who

opened and ran the Village Vanguard for many years. Max, who passed away a number of

years ago, dearly loved the music and the musicians. He was at the club every night – a

true fixture on the New York Jazz scene. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore!

The business today isn’t about the music, but rather about how to make money

from it. Being the entertainment center that New York is, tourists from around the world

come here to enjoy the Arts. All kinds of music compete for their dollars, and the Jazz

clubs want their share of the spoils. I don’t take issue with this fact – we all have to

survive – but I do take issue with some of the practices they employ to satisfy their

wants at the expense of the musicians. As most musicians will tell you – “the biz just

sucks!”

The one thing that bothers me as much as anything is that many clubs no

longer allow a group – one that might not be very well known in New York – the time or

the opportunity to develop an audience in their venues. The “old way” of doing things was

for club owners to work with artists and groups to develop a following in their clubs.

Over a period of time this business practice paid off quite well. It might have taken an

artist or group a few times around in a club to gather a large audience, but as the

people came to know and enjoy those musicians, they looked forward to returning again and

again to hear them. This practice gave a group or artist longevity in a particular club

and provided audiences with a lasting opportunity to become familiar with the music these

groups were presenting.

While working this way took an investment of time, money - and faith - it

many times resulted in a significant payoff for the clubs’ owners. It also gave the

artists a bit of a “home base” in New York where they could get high-profile exposure and

excellent PR. It was a “win/win” situation for all concerned even though, in a number of

instances, it was a gamble for the club owner. But that IS what business is all about,

isn’t it?

Today you find a radically different picture. Many club owners refuse to take

any chances with musicians and their groups, and are rarely willing to expend an effort

to develop any kind of working relationship with them. The artist is expected to assume

total responsibility; rarely do you find a club willing to share any of the risk. This is

a very sad situation, particularly for some of the newer groups or lesser-known artists,

because it places many clubs more or less off limits except for an off-night or those

times when or if the musician shows a willingness to “pay to play,” a practice with which

I strongly disagree. The “pay to play” syndrome is something I don’t remember occurring

when I came to New York in 1966. It now seems to have been going on for a good while and

exemplifies what I have been writing about.

If an artist or group is new or unknown, some clubs - even the larger clubs -

will ask that the artist or group’s record company guarantee that the club will break

even. If there is no record company to back the artist, then he will probably have to

guarantee this himself. An example of this is something I was told recently by someone

close to me about a young saxophonist approaching the booker or owner of a club about

bringing his quintet into the club on an off-night. The club agreed to pay the quintet

five hundred dollars, but the musician had to guarantee the club attendance by thirty

people for their performance – at twenty-five dollars a head, or a total of seven hundred

and fifty dollars. If the artist didn’t draw those initial thirty people, the difference

had to come out of his pocket. So, in essence, the leader of the quintet had to “pay to

play.” Sad! Disgusting!

Certain clubs will have the artists “play for the door,” meaning that the

club makes no real investment. The groups play for the admission alone; all proceeds from

sales of food and alcohol are kept by the club. But then, some owners even want a

percentage of the door in addition to the food and drink receipts. In the end, the

investment in the evening is all at the expense of the musicians.

Now here’s a fair proposal: I will work for the door and give a percentage of

that money to the club owner IF the club owner will share that same percentage of the

money brought in by food and drink. Now THAT would be a good deal! This way, both

management and the musicians win.

But as I have already said, I don’t frequent many of the clubs. Since I am on

the road a great deal, I tend to spend my spare time around home. That is, I don’t go

clubbing as I did when I lived in Manhattan. The club business, like the Jazz recording

business, has become all about the money, just like most other things in our country. I

find this situation particularly troubling because, to some extent, this is supposed to

be about the music. For the musicians, the whole point of performing IS the music. In

the earlier times of the Village Vanguard and the Half Note, this is what it was all

about. I knew Max Gordon from my six-and-a-half years playing at the Village Vanguard

with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. I also knew the Cantareno family that owned

the old Half Note down at Spring St. and Hudson Ave. from playing there with the Duke

Pearson Big Band and sitting in with Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, and others. These club owners

loved the music; it was as much part of their lives as it was the musicians’ lives. That

is what “Art” is all about! Those were wonderful times - a great deal of camaraderie and

a real feeling of community. I loved it and loved being part of it.

This joy of sharing the musical experience doesn’t seem to exist today. Or if

it does, it is the exception rather than the norm. With rare exception, the New York

situation is really not much different than in any other United States city. The shame of

it all is that most of the people who own or manage these places come from a different

place and time in the music business than Max Gordon and the Cantarenos. Nevertheless,

and sadly, one must understand that today is today, yesterday is gone. As they say, it’s

a different world – and because of this, the club scene today rarely holds any attraction

for me.

[sheldonm]

I think I'll pay my boss for letting me come into work today....sounds fair to me!

m~

[AllenLowe]

gives new meaning to the old expression, "they couldn't pay me to work there." Apparently it shoud be the other way around -

[AllenLowe]

also reminds me that some things never change, re-nightclub owners. There's a story about when Jo Jones was working at the West End Cafe and lecturing some musicians about being on time. The owner of the place (I can't remember his name but he was universally despised) came up to him and said, "Mr Jones, I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your attitude." Jones turned to him and said "Who the hell are you?" The guy said, "I own this place." Jones said, "A nightclub owner? I don't give a fuck about no nightclub owner," turned on his heel and walked away.

[marcello]

Because of the price of real estate in NYC, any space at street level is valuable and cpuld be used for any kind of bar, restaurant or retail store. I'm not making excuses, because I come accross a lot of narrow minded music presenters in NYC, but the reality is if you want to hear adventurous music, and that may be any kind of jazz soon, you will have to find it in the places like Clem says and in the smaller, 2nd and 3rd storey rooms.

I mean, I'm not a big fan of Iridium, but at that location in Times Square, they could put in almost anything and make more money. To their credit, they have been adding late night sets ( 3rd sets) with new and different talent lately.

All accross the country there are clubs who off the split mentioned in the article. The real problem ( except in the largest cities) is that they won't give you a weekend, but want to do this on Wed. & Thurs. Forget the weekend, they can hire anybody to fill the place on the weekend.

To have a career in this music you have to do it all: selective workshops & clinics, publishing, recording ( both as a leader and sideman), non USA tours and clubdates, festivals, on site cd sales and yes, NYC club/concert dates.

Because to many, if you don't play NYC as a leader, you aren't one.

[J Larsen]

Because of the price of real estate in NYC, any space at street level is valuable and cpuld be used for any kind of bar, restaurant or retail store. I'm not making excuses, because I come accross a lot of narrow minded music presenters in NYC, but the reality is if you want to hear adventurous music, and that may be any kind of jazz soon, you will have to find it in the places like Clem says and in the smaller, 2nd and 3rd storey rooms.

It really says something that the tiny, dilapidated space on Bowery that was once CBGB's is on the market for over $30,000/month. Places like Tonic and the Stone (and even Iridium, which I do enjoy on the rare occassions they get a show I'm interested in) are really miracles these days.