Myth #1: J4JA! is giving the clubs a bad name.
We recognize that NYC’s jazz clubs play an important role in our city’s cultural and economic life. These clubs are among the few places presenting the music that is one of our nation’s greatest treasures.

That’s why Local 802 took pains to make sure that our initiative won’t cost the clubs a dime. We lobbied in 2007 for the NY State Legislature to repeal the sales tax on admissions, on that basis, and we succeeded. That means that the repealed sales tax of 8.375% can be redirected into pension payments at no cost to the clubs.

The music needs to be treasured, but we also need to treasure the musicians. When we are able redirect these former tax revenues to musicians benefits, we will be the first to applaud and congratulate the clubs.

Myth #2: The union never contacted the jazz clubs about this issue.
First of all, many of the jazz clubs actively supported our plan when we lobbied the NY State Legislature for the tax credit. After it passed, we were unable to engage them in a discussion about how best to move the tax relief to musicians’ benefit funds. Over the last year, we’ve made a series of phone calls to every club and sent letters, most recently a certified letter sent on September 1. Until two weeks ago, not a single club responded to our efforts to communicate. We believe that a reasoned discussion with club representatives can find a solution that works for the clubs, the musicians and the music.

Myth #3: Most jazz musicians don’t qualify for the pension plan.
Many jazz musicians can’t qualify because their employers don’t make contributions on their behalf. Because jazz and other freelance musicians make a living from many different sources, it is important that every employer make their fair contribution, including the clubs. That’s what we’re fighting for.

The jazz clubs are only one part of the equation. We applaud Jazz at Lincoln Center, the New School Jazz and Contemporary Music program, and a number of small ensembles and bandleaders for making pension contributions on behalf of their musicians. These musicians are now eligible for a pension. The clubs, festivals and other employers need to do likewise. The bottom line: pension payments from the jazz clubs are only one piece, but an important piece in a multi-source pension plan.

Myth #4: Most jazz musicians aren’t in the union.
This assertion misses the point — the Justice for Jazz Artists! campaign is not restricted to union members. If you’re a jazz musician and you have something to say, get in touch! We welcome all participation and feedback. Also, any pension contributions are credited to the musician whether they are a member of the union or not.

Do you have questions or feedback, positive or negative about the campaign? Post it in the comments, or send us a message.

Momentum is growing — we now have well over 2,000 signatures on our petition — but we still need your help to make Tuesday’s rally a overwhelming success! We need you to be there – and we need you to spread the word by personal contact, email, blogs, Facebook and Twitter.

The play button is at the bottom of the page. Thank you Jazz Session!

As we inch closer to our rally in NYC on Tuesday, Sept. 29 2PM @ Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South (between Thompson and Sullivan Streets), we strongly encourage you to do 3 things:

1. Convince 10 of your friends (real or Facebook), through direct contact, to go to justiceforjazzartists.organd sign the petition.
2. Get all of your Facebook friends to join our Facebook Cause — our goal is 500 people by Tuesday, September 29.
3. If you are in the greater NY area – Get off your butt on 9/29 (by all means vote in the runoff election) and bring a friend or two to the Justice for Jazz Artists Rally, at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, Greenwich Village, NYC.

Rally Starts at 2PM
March to Jazz Clubs 4PM

Musicians — bring your instruments!

Support your local jazz artists! Let them know they are not alone in their struggle for dignity and respect.

Much has been said about jazz’s cultural relevance or supposed lack thereof, and one constructive development of this latest conversation is the “#jazzlives” campaign.

Darcy James Argue explains:

Critic and blogger Howard Mandel has launched a worthy Twitter trend: #jazzlives. If you are already on Twitter, you probably have a pretty good idea where this is headed: whenever you hear live jazz — at a club, festival, concert hall, on the street, wherever — throw up a Tweet with the #jazzlives hashtag, and let us know where you are and who you’re hearing.

It’s a great idea, and we’ve already put up the official #jazzlives widget on the right column of the website — showing what everyone has tweeted about the jazz shows they’ve heard lately. A further explanation of Twitter and instructions to add your own widget are in Darcy’s post.

Still, it brings to mind the question, “What does it mean to support jazz?” It’s obviously a positive step to show up at a jazz show, in terms of personal enjoyment, the artistic significance of larger audiences, and support of venues that present jazz.

However, in economic terms, attendance at jazz shows doesn’t necessarily translate into support for jazz musicians. Some jazz venues pay well; others collect a cover but keep most of it for themselves; many don’t pay musicians at all, forcing them to play for tips.

It follows that we can have artistically-thriving jazz scenes in New York City, where even many of the top, well-established musicians are without financial security, health insurance or a retirement plan. In fact, some have argued that NYC scenes are essentially subsidized by arts funding in Europe.

It’s time for jazz musicians and fans to demand more from our venues. Obviously, one effort that we think is worthy is our own Justice for Jazz Artists! campaign to get pension payments from top NYC jazz clubs like the Jazz Standard, Village Vanguard, Birdland, Blue Note and the Iridium. Our plan wouldn’t cost the clubs any money, so it’s a win-win-win for jazz musicians, audiences and venues.

The first stage of our campaign targets the high-end jazz venues. How can we improve conditions within the entire NYC club ecosystem? What are our responsibilities as audience members, jazz musicians and venue owners? How can we insure that support for jazz means some measure of stability for jazz artists? These questions aren’t easily answered, but they need to addressed.

]]> http://justiceforjazzartists.org/2009/09/jazzlives/feed/ 0 http://justiceforjazzartists.org/2009/08/august-17th-j4ja-jam-session-a-grand-success/ http://justiceforjazzartists.org/2009/08/august-17th-j4ja-jam-session-a-grand-success/#comments Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:41:07 +0000 j4ja http://justiceforjazzartists.org/?p=262

The Justice for Jazz Artists! Jam Session on August 17^th was a grand success.  A hearty congratulations to all who took part!

Two Mondays ago, Local 802, the Jazz Foundation of America and the 802 Jazz Advisory Committee hosted a Justice for Jazz Artists! Jam Session and Kickoff Event to raise awareness around the current campaign to bring benefits to musicians who work in NYC area jazz clubs.

The award winning filmmaker/musician Ron Grunhut created a splendid high definition video of the event, which features interview clips of Randy Weston, Dr. Billy Taylor, Benny Powell, Bernard Purdie, Junior Mance, Reggie Workman, Bob Cranshaw, Sean Lyons and Jimmy Owens, among others.

Featured in the J4JA! video are snippets of performances by Jimmy Owens, Benny Powell, Sean Lyons, Danny Mixon, Kenny Davis, Bernard Purdie, Guadencio Thiago de Mello, Vinnie Knight, Keisha St. Joan, Wade Barnes, Reggie Workman, Bertha Hope, Fran McIntyre and about 2o other performers.

The soundtrack for the video selected by filmmaker Grunhut, was, appropriately, the bluesy “Justice for Jazz Artists,” composed by trumpeter Owens.

The video is about 5 minutes in length, and will be posted on YouTube on or around September 14, 2009.

The Justice for Jazz Artists! campaign is gearing up for future events as we move our campaign into the public sphere this fall.

Local 802 and J4JA! have already been in contact with club owners and NYC political leaders in an effort to resolve issues surrounding the redirection of forgiven NY State tax dollars towards the American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund.

The tax dollars can be painlessly redirected from door admission charges towards benefits for performers who work in the club on any given night. The tax money is about .84 cents of every $10 collected at the door.

Club owners must comply with the intentions of state lawmakers, who passed a law forgiving the door sales tax in 2007, and allowing it to go to performers’ benefits.

Thus far, the clubs have refused to do so.

The Justice for Jazz Artists! campaign seeks to change that!

To volunteer in this important effort to help jazz artists in NY State, please email us or call the Local 802 Jazz Department at 212 245 4802 X185.

Monday, August 17th 6-10PM
322 West 48th Street (8th/9th)
NY, NY

This is a FREE Kick-Off Event for the Justice for Jazz Artists Campaign to get benefits for jazz musicians who work in NYC clubs.

Fans Welcome!

All Musicians and Audience Members will required to sign a release upon entry, as this session is being filmed. No partcipation without RSVP!!

RSVP: 212 245 4802 X 158 (Claudia) or email us

See You There!

Best,
Todd Bryant Weeks

J4JA! Petitioners have now reached over 900 concerned professional musicians and fans from all over! Here are some recent signers:

Dave Liebman
Helen Merrill
Bernice Watkins
Sean Gough
Gail Hightower
Ayodele Maakheru
Bob Blumenthal
Regina Carter
Laurence Donohue-Greene

We are building steam!

Keep up the good work!

Best,

Jimmy Owens
Bob Cranshaw
J4JA!

by Todd Bryant Weeks

When we regard our AFM local with an unclouded eye, one of the things with which we must come to terms is the notion that despite our shared vision of a democratic, unbiased body that serves all of its members equally; despite the fact that Local 802 has always been an integrated local; despite the fact that over the years 802 has bucked societal trends by having integrated governing boards; and despite the fact that in recent decades the local has reached out to jazz artists with the formation of a Jazz Advisory Committee – despite all this, the local is still learning how best to advocate for those who play vernacular music, and for our members of color.

One way 802 can achieve greater advocacy for these performers is by providing access to meaningful benefits.

For those older members who are not vested in the AFM pension fund, getting retirement benefits is an unlikely scenario, even for those who are still working.

Still, most elders I’ve spoken with are in favor of our Justice for Jazz Artists campaign, which seeks to provide a pension for jazz performers where no benefits have been previously available: the New York City clubs. The campaign has begun to gather momentum this summer and we expect to really ramp it up this fall.

Historically, musicians have rarely enjoyed union benefits while working in clubs. Even when union contacts exist, no artist works at any one club with enough frequency to secure eligibility in either the Local 802 Health Benefits Plan or the AFM pension fund from that employment alone.

Club owners have also found various ways to get around agreements, especially if they are conducting a cash business, which is typical for many.

In order for jazz musicians to have access to benefits, more of their work from different sources of employment and from a wider number of venues needs to be organized. The union has successfully organized some resident jazz orchestras, several tours and bandleaders, as well as teaching employment. For those receiving some contributions already, adding benefits from the clubs would be another important step towards a meaningful retirement package. For those who have no benefits, this could be a solid first step towards vesting in a strong and healthy national pension plan.

JAZZ TAKES BACK SEAT

When the AFM was at its peak membership in the 1950’s, vernacular music like jazz took a back seat to the concert field and Broadway, and the union’s neglect of the jazz field was often perceived by musicians as being anti-black.

The bassist and educator Dr. Larry Ridley recalls, “I’ve been in the union since 1960. As African-American musicians, we always had to fight to get the respect we deserved, even within our own union. Black musicians back then looked at the union as being insensitive to our needs – even as locals in every town, big and small, still demanded dues on every gig we played.”

This climate of indifference began to change in the 1980’s, as then 802 President John Glasel, who was a Broadway musician, worked to repeal the daunting cabaret laws that hamstrung musicians by prohibiting small venues and restaurants from hiring more than three performers at a time, and by excluding percussion and horn players from many gigs.

In the early 1990’s, Jimmy Owens, Benny Powell, Bob Cranshaw and Jamil Nasser formed the Local 802 Jazz Advisory Committee to address the inequities that had plagued jazz performers who were unionized – and those who weren’t but who wanted to take advantage of collective bargaining agreements and benefits programs.

Jimmy Owens remembers it this way. “It was a case of benign neglect,” Owens said. “That’s a nice way of putting it. The union and the musicians didn’t really look to secure the kinds of protections that should have been made available to all musicians. And, what was worse, the pension fund was kept a closely guarded secret.”

As the clubs foundered in the 1960’s, some jazz artists were able to make a living by working in studio bands, recording jingles, or playing in pit orchestras. Others sought refuge in Europe, where state-funded venues and a healthy appreciation for American vernacular music had created a vibrant, and expanding, jazz scene. Many musicians felt that both the country and the union had turned away from them.

A decade later, in an attempt to bring some equity to the New York club scene, the Jazz Advisory Committee, with the enormous help and support of New York City Assemblyman Herman “Denny” Farrell Jr. as well as upstate legislators George Maziarz and Joseph Morrelle, succeeded in getting a bill passed in Albany that allowed for an abatement of the sales tax normally charged on admission to small venues.

Like the earlier Turkus Award (the forgiven 1963 Broadway ticket tax utilized for Broadway employee benefits and still in effect today) the door tax dollars were now free to be contributed to the AFM Pension Fund.

The clubs, especially Birdland, the Blue Note, Iridium and the Jazz Standard, all agreed to support the 2007 lobbying effort by the union, but when the law was passed, the club owners balked.

Some felt that they would be deemed “employers” through their association with the fund, and thus would be liable for state statutory benefits like unemployment, workers’ comp, and disability insurance.

Others simply refused to participate, stonewalling any attempts by Local 802 to seek their co-operation.

Since the law as written did not actually compel the owners to do anything, the club owners were not violating any laws by refusing to redirect the tax. Even after the union successfully addressed the statutory benefits piece of the puzzle, allowing for a scenario where contributions could be made even as business in the clubs went on as usual, owners have yet to agree to sit down and discuss a resolution with the union.

Again, the jazz musicians found themselves on the outside looking in.

This summer, Local 802 hopes to move hearts and minds on this issue with two simple words – “Justice” and “Jazz.”

At this writing, the Jazz Advisory Committee has gathered over 800 signatures of prominent jazz artists in support of the campaign, and has put together a growing coalition of endorsers including the Jazz Ministry at St. Peter’s Church, New York City Central Labor Council, Jazz Foundation of America, New School Jazz Department Faculty Committee, Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition and prominent music writers, including Nat Hentoff, Dan Morgenstern and Gary Giddins.

WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION

For some artists for whom these efforts may be too little, too late, there must be continued advocacy.

If they are unable to access basic benefits programs due to past inequities, then we all have an obligation to these senior members of our musical community; at the very least we should do what we can to promote their music and their legacy and ensure their comfort and security in their later years.

For those younger musicians who work night after night in local clubs with no benefits, Justice for Jazz Artists will have a real and lasting impact.