[Dixielandjazz] Fw: [TPIN] Re: [TPIN-NEW] Jazz Club

Fri, 22 Nov 2002 07:19:59 -0600

Good morning, DJML'ERS!
Someone posted a letter to the TPIN that he was interested in starting up a
jazz club...there have been many interesting replies so far, and I posted
this one to the DJML because it is very appropriate to our love of
jazz...some very good points are made!
Bob Romans
Cell Block 7
Jazz Band
1617 Lakeshore Dr.,
Lodi, California, 95242
Phone.....209-368-3255
Cell...209-747-1148
Fax...209-368-3255
WebPages..click below
www.cellblockseven2002.net
>=iii=<0
-----Original Message-----
From: Eddie Lewis <TigerLew@flash.net>
To: tpin <tpin@tpin.dana.edu>
Date: Friday, November 22, 2002 2:38 AM
Subject: [TPIN] Re: [TPIN-NEW] Jazz Club

I have some suggestions about what can make a jazz club work.

1) Make sure that the club has an actual jazz theme. In my opinion, far too
many so called jazz clubs don't bare any relationship to jazz at all. Use
the jazz theme for everything from the name of the club to the decor. Put
pictures of jazz musicians on the wall. Put album covers under the glass on
the tables. Name some deserts after jazz tunes like "Red Clay" or "Scrapple
from the Apple". A club recently opened in my area called "Dolphin Street".
It is by far the most successful start up club I've ever seen. And the name
itself has already made a huge difference because dozens of people I've
talked to said they saw the club from the street and instantly KNEW it had
to be a jazz club. If you use a jazz theme it will attract jazz fans. That
only makes sense. I don't know why more clubs don't work that way.

2) Get maximum signage. For three different jazz clubs here in Houston the
signs were so small as to be practically invisible. No, now that I'm
thinking of it, four different jazz clubs I know of were guilty of this. For
each of these clubs, I searched literally for months before I actually found
them. I think a lot of people are like me, they like to "stop by" a new club
on the way to or from something else. Often times it's more of an
afterthought and less of a plan. But those clubs lost my business because I
couldn't find them. Houston's most prestigious club, Ceazan's,doesn't even
have a sign out front. You just have to know where it is. In my opinion,
this is just flat out bad for business.

3) Location matters. And I'm not talking so much about what part of town the
club is in but where it's located within the community. A supposed jazz club
recently closed down here in Houston but I knew it wouldn't make it in the
first place. The club was nestled within a residential area. This particular
club made several mistakes but the biggest was with the location. The best
places to be are on busy streets (yet, not too busy) and even better....on
corners. Your best advertising is always your store front.

4) Club size. The club business is an up and down business. There are good
nights and bad ones. The wise thing to do is use your extra profits from the
good nights to cover the bad nights. It all comes out in the wash, right?
But size has a direct effect on your ability to make more money on the good
nights. If the club is too small, then the good nights are never good ENOUGH
to cover the bad. So you're stuck playing the day by day game. And no one
wins that game.

5) Longevity. Stick it out for the long haul. Don't get squeamish and
"change formats" just because business is slow. That club I mentioned, which
is Houston's most prestigious, the one that doesn't even have a sign, gets
its prestige primarily from the fact that it's been around for so long. I've
known people who had left for seven years and when the returned, they went
straight to that club, knowing that there would be some good music there.

6) Kids. Find some way to make the club available to minors. A lot of band
kids dig jazz clubs but are often times not welcomed. This doesn't make any
sense to me. These are your future customers and the future standard bearers
of our art. It's VERY important to find some way to include them, whether
it's a matter of having special hours for them or opening a restaurant
instead of a bar .....or something. We need these kids in more ways than you
can imagine.

One thing I've thought about is the possibility of having my favorite club
in town sponsor some jazz workshops for the kids. Like maybe we could have a
day of instruction and clinics followed by an early evening concert given by
the instructors. Then, have a jam session between that set and the official
evening set geared more towards adults.

I don't know. I'm just brain storming here. but I do believe it's important
to get the kids involved.

A couple don'ts:

Don't book too many bands at first. What I mean is, there was a club here in
town that decided it would boast three shows with three different bands
every night. How long did that last? It didn't.

Don't change your "format" back and forth thinking that this is going to
help. It doesn't. I once read a business book that compared it to a parade.
You don't change something like that until everyone in the parade has seen
your float. You can't know if it works until you've actually given it a
chance.

Don't rely on the bands or musicians to "bring in" customers to your club.
You should take it upon yourself to seek out your own customers. You do that
through consistent advertising (as opposed to constantly changing
advertising) and through a consistent product. As long as you provide
quality music at your establishment and continue to please your customers,
they will come back. You shouldn't need to rely on the musicians to bring
customers to you.

Anyway, I could go on about this stuff for hours. I've been thinking about
these things for about twenty years. If a club owner were to hire me today,
I KNOW I could make it work just because I already have all my ducks in a
row. I already have a lot of this stuff hashed out.

--
Eddie "Tiger" Lewis
TigerLew@flash.net
Houston, Texas
http://www.flash.net/~tigerlew/information.htm

_______________________________________________
List-Help: <mailto:tpin-request@tpin.dana.edu?subject=lp>
List-Post: <mailto:tpin@tpin.dana.edu>
List-Subscribe: <http://tpin.dana.edu/mailman/listinfo/tpin>,
<mailto:tpin-request@tpin.dana.edu?subject=bscribe>
List-Id: Trumpet Players' International Network <tpin.tpin.dana.edu>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://tpin.dana.edu/mailman/listinfo/tpin>,
<mailto:tpin-request@tpin.dana.edu?subject=subscribe>
List-Archive: <http://tpin.dana.edu/pipermail/tpin/>

TPIN mailing list
TPIN@tpin.dana.edu
http://tpin.dana.edu/mailman/listinfo/tpin