[Dixielandjazz] Setting Up a Jazz Club

[Robert S. Ringwald]

 Robin Gaskell wrote:

      I am retired in a country town in NSW, Australia, and I am seeking 
advice on the dos and don'ts of setting up a small jazz club in the town. 
Lithgow is in the tablelands just west of the Blue Mountains behind Sydney: 
a small group of us have been practicing to form a jazz group, but this is 
seen as a separate thing from the idea of an open jazz club where all are 
welcome.
>    So, there might not be a complete 'home band' available at the 'club', 
> and most of the members of our practice group are readers - not ear 
> players (made up of musicians from the local brass band and community 
> orchestra).  We would obviously be starting rather small, but have our 
> location and time picked out: it will be in a local hotel on the fourth 
> Sunday of the month.  There is already an existing pattern, with a Folk 
> Club running on the first Sunday in the same pub.
>    I have asked people to register their interest by contacting me, having 
> advertised in the local community diary.  Also, I have canvassed members 
> of the folk club.
>
>    It would not be a commercial club, but I don't know if it is best to 
> have memberships with a nominal subscription fee, or whether we should 
> keep it very informal at the start, with an easy come, easy go atmosphere. 
> There is no piano at the pub, and I would have to try to tee up someone 
> with a snare drum, at least.  I wonder if any of your subscribers 
> recognise our situation as one that they have been through, and for which 
> they can pass on the benefits of their experience.
>
> Looking forward to recieving a slew of good advice,
>
> Robin Gaskell


Guday Robin,

We have over 580 members to DJML so I am sure you will be getting a lot of 
good and diverse advice.  Every situation is different.  Every town is 
different.

You have a tough one ahead of you.  It is hard for us over here in the 
States to imagine your situation in a small town in Australia.  I suggest 
starting off informally and seeing how it goes.  Being a small town, perhaps 
there is not as much competetion as there might be in a larger town?

A lot depends on who is heading it up and how much work, promotion that 
person is willing to do.

Try to get all segments of the population involved.  Get the business 
owners, police, firemen, Mayor, press, everyone.  Make it a real fun time. 
If it takes off and grows, if you want to do a newsletter, if you have to 
pay rent, if you have to buy equipment, piano, P.A., drums, or have other 
expenses, then you can start the club formally.  But in the beginning, try 
to make it a real fun time.  OKOM (Our kind of music) is a fun music. 
Promote it that way.

Also, if you can tie your club into some very worthwhile charity.  That is a 
good way to get people introduced to your club and to the fun music.

That is just a few ideas from the left coast of the US.  I am on the board 
of Directors of the largest Jazz Society in the States and posibly in the 
world, not sure.  We started off that way.  Actually, we got our big push 
when we started having our meetings on an old riverboat that had been sunk 
and was in bad repair.  It was to save the Delta King.  The Delta King was 
originally a riverboat that was on the Mississippi River.  It had been 
brought to the Sacramento River and eventually sunk.

The boat is now a floating hotel, permentantly moored in the historic part 
of Sacramento.  We help to save it.

Good luck.

--Bob Ringwald
Fulton Street Jazz Band