An accomplished pianist in New York, not famous but not obscure, told me about her attempts to find work. They were discouraging. There seemed to be no work. Then, the owner of an Italian restaurant made her an offer. She could play in the restaurant, but only Italian songs or those associated with Frank Sinatra. Oh, and one other thing: there would be no pay. It was an offer she refused. But look on the bright side. The owner didn’t tell her that she would have to pay him. Many musicians these days aren’t that lucky.
In the last century–not so long ago, really–the best bands in jazz became the best by working together in jazz clubs night after night, week after week. In the 1950s and ’60s, it was not unusual for a group to have two, three and even six-week engagements in New York clubs like The Half Note, The Five Spot, Slug’s, The Village Vanguard and The Jazz Gallery. There were counterparts elsewhere; the Jazz Showcase in Chicago, the Black Hawk in San Francisco, Sardi’s and Shelly’s Manne Hole in Los Angeles, The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach. In the clubs during long runs, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, the Lighthouse All-Stars, the Miles Davis Quintet, Shelly Manne and His Men, Cannonball Adderley’s Quintet, the Bill Evans Trio, the Modern Jazz Quartet, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Cal Tjader’s quartet and many other groups perfected their music. None of them got rich playing clubs, but they grew together musically. Their exposure and popularity in the clubs led to record contracts and fame.
For Example
Club owners were not philanthropists. They were in business to make money, but they knew that in the long run if a band brought in enough customers, the economics would make sense for all concerned. Well, the long run is back there in the twentieth century, with recording contracts. Like nearly everything else in the most affluent economy the world has ever known, we want results now, the money now, return on investment now. Why should club owners be different? They are not, so many of them devise formulas whereby the musicians who play their clubs guarantee the club owner a profit. If you would like to know more about that, let Marvin Stamm explain it from the musician’s standpoint. He does so in the most recent edition of his excellent electronic newsletter, Cadenzas. Yes, musicians now sometimes have to pay to play in clubs. If that comes as news to you, if it shocks you, wait until you read the details in Stamm’s piece.
Marvin Stamm
Here is an excerpt:
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!
That is a small portion of a long, troubling article. To read the whole thing, go to Cadenzas and scroll down to “New York Jazz Clubs.” Fortunately for Marvin Stamm, talent and forty years of hard work have elevated him to a place where he doesn’t have to depend on night clubs to make a living. But he is worried about the next generation. It has never been easy for young musicians to find places to polish their art and be heard. Now, it’s even tougher, and they may be forced to pay for the opportunity.
I remember that this was standard practice in the 80s for clubs like the Whiskey au Go Go that hosted hair bands aspiring to be the next Motley Crue.
Oh, my gosh, I am horrified at this news!!! Somewhere I read that there was a survey revealing that there are 51,000,000 jazz fans in the U.S. Why can’t we make our concerns known as a huge lobbying group and shake up the recording industry and the restaurant owners???
I used to think that the great high school music directors who are introducing jazz to a new generation were going to be a major force in changing the direction of the younger generation’s interest from rock to jazz. Now, with all these wonderful young, enthusiastic jazz musicians coming out of the public schools, to be faced with such a dire situation as “pay to play”, what hope is there???!!!
Sounds like pure free market capitalism: a willing buyer & a willing seller. It’s a buyer’s market, with multiples of would-be performers vying for each open slot. If musicians stand together, they can have a voice.
Here’s a contrary view. Many jazz musicians have abandoned the listener; They and a few of their friends are involved in private explorations. When they remember that they are there for the audience, and not vice versa, they might get paid to play
Great article … about the “pay to play” scheme. I applaud your truthfulness and courage in exposing this particularly corrupt trend. In NYC, in the field of visual arts, artists have been known to pay $25,000 for a “wall” (wallspace) in a major gallery. The pure greed, lack of decency, and disrespect for art in general and artists in particular is on the increase in America. “Truth-tell” such as you offer on your blog is invaluable in fighting these very deleterious trends. Congrats, and keep the Truth coming! Respectfully, Jessica
“the artist has to find something within himself that’s universal and which he can put into terms that are communicable to other people” – Bill Evans
“It’s playing clean and hitting the pretty notes”
– Charlie Parker
“Giving the people a good time-that’s what they’re coming to you for. We can wrest back popularity when we get back to the basic elements of jazz, Blues, swing.
– Houston Person
Its probably as simple as that.
Mark