Jazz Bandleaders Pool Resources in New York
By Dan Ouellette
Reuters
NEW YORK (Dec. 9) - Given the shifting tides of the recording industry, breaking in as a jazz bandleader poses increasing challenges, not only in raising one's profile but also in rustling up the funds to pay the support musicians.
With these hurdles in mind, 10 New York-based artists have formed the Brooklyn Jazz Underground, a collective of 10 bandleaders who are pooling their resources to forge increased awareness of their individual projects. The BJU will launch its improvised music project next month with four nights of shows at New York club Smalls.
Billed as the first Brooklyn Jazz Underground Festival, the Jan. 11-14 event will roughly coincide with the annual International Assn. for Jazz Education conference (Jan. 10-13), which will attract thousands of jazz fans to New York. Three members of the collective will also be on the IAJE panel "The Artists Collective in Jazz: Unity and Diversity in the New York Scene" Jan. 11 at the Sheraton Hotel.
"New York is a big city with a constant influx of musicians each month," says classically trained viola/violin player Tanya Kalmanovitch, a founding member of BJU and the leader or co-leader of several bands, including Hut Five, which plays the fest Jan. 11. "It's a constant challenge for those living here to present our music, to make phone calls just to get a door gig. An individual sending out a press release about a show doesn't go far. But a collective event sounds a different note. None of us alone can afford a publicist, but as a collective we pooled our money and hired one."
A year ago, Kalmanovitch met with trombonist Alan Ferber and bassist Alexis Cuadrado to discuss the notion of forming a do-it-yourself community of bandleaders to create buzz. Seven other cohorts enlisted, including trumpeter Shane Endsley, pianist Benny Lackner, saxophonists Dan Pratt and Jerome Sabbagh, bassist Anne Mette Iversen and drummers Sunny Jain and Ted Poor. "The first thing we agreed on was developing a Web site," Kalmanovitch says. "Then we focused on the launch event at Smalls. Down the road we want to find ways to do fund-raisers and teach the next generations of jazz musicians."
The collective meets once or twice a month. "After each meeting, I leave with a renewed sense of hope," Kalmanovitch says. "The loneliness of being a leader gets alleviated. I play viola. Chances of me getting hired as a side player are slim at best. But since the collective started, I've made connections and been hired on to other projects. Many of us now play in each other's groups."
In addition to two album releases on her homespun Perspicacity Records imprint, Kalmanovitch will release "Heart Mountain," a duo improvisation project focusing on themes from Irish and Indian classical music with pianist Myra Melford, in May.
With these hurdles in mind, 10 New York-based artists have formed the Brooklyn Jazz Underground, a collective of 10 bandleaders who are pooling their resources to forge increased awareness of their individual projects. The BJU will launch its improvised music project next month with four nights of shows at New York club Smalls.
Billed as the first Brooklyn Jazz Underground Festival, the Jan. 11-14 event will roughly coincide with the annual International Assn. for Jazz Education conference (Jan. 10-13), which will attract thousands of jazz fans to New York. Three members of the collective will also be on the IAJE panel "The Artists Collective in Jazz: Unity and Diversity in the New York Scene" Jan. 11 at the Sheraton Hotel.
"New York is a big city with a constant influx of musicians each month," says classically trained viola/violin player Tanya Kalmanovitch, a founding member of BJU and the leader or co-leader of several bands, including Hut Five, which plays the fest Jan. 11. "It's a constant challenge for those living here to present our music, to make phone calls just to get a door gig. An individual sending out a press release about a show doesn't go far. But a collective event sounds a different note. None of us alone can afford a publicist, but as a collective we pooled our money and hired one."
A year ago, Kalmanovitch met with trombonist Alan Ferber and bassist Alexis Cuadrado to discuss the notion of forming a do-it-yourself community of bandleaders to create buzz. Seven other cohorts enlisted, including trumpeter Shane Endsley, pianist Benny Lackner, saxophonists Dan Pratt and Jerome Sabbagh, bassist Anne Mette Iversen and drummers Sunny Jain and Ted Poor. "The first thing we agreed on was developing a Web site," Kalmanovitch says. "Then we focused on the launch event at Smalls. Down the road we want to find ways to do fund-raisers and teach the next generations of jazz musicians."
The collective meets once or twice a month. "After each meeting, I leave with a renewed sense of hope," Kalmanovitch says. "The loneliness of being a leader gets alleviated. I play viola. Chances of me getting hired as a side player are slim at best. But since the collective started, I've made connections and been hired on to other projects. Many of us now play in each other's groups."
In addition to two album releases on her homespun Perspicacity Records imprint, Kalmanovitch will release "Heart Mountain," a duo improvisation project focusing on themes from Irish and Indian classical music with pianist Myra Melford, in May.
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