Hello My Friends:

I dislike the term "club owner". When people introduce me as the "club owner" I smile politely but am always a bit embarrassed.  I mean, how can anyone "own" Smalls?  There's nothing to own.  Smalls is an organic process - a natural reaction of multitudinous humans interacting harmoniously with manifold musicians.  I prefer to think of myself as "caretaker"  and I'm extremely grateful to have a dedicated team of talented people working with me every night, staff and artists both.  Smalls is a symbiosis.

With that said, I'm very pleased by the reaction I got to the Smalls Jazz Club Musician's Revenue Sharing Project.  I received many encouraging emails with excellent comments and suggestions, many of which we'll be putting into practice.  To reiterate: - we intend to make our live video feed free (with a valid email registration) and make our ever growing library of audio and video available for a subscription.  The revenue from subscriptions will be shared fairly by all the musicians in the archive based on how many minutes their shows get listend to.  All musicians on a date get credit for a listen.  In this way we can reward popular sidemen who are on a large number of dates.  We hope to create a revenue stream for all the Smalls artists and have a positive effect on their personal economics.  We also hope to subsidize the expense of running the club and to even create a charitable foundation for musicians in need.  As I said, a symbiosis.

I've been working closely with my friend Dennis Jeter, who is programming the new site for me to my specs.  It's been fun to redesign the site and to think about things like metrics (how we measure how many minutes are listened to) and how to formalize the automatic payouts to the artists.  As the project progresses I am getting more and more excited.  As I mentioned, we are about to launch our crowd-funding campaign to raise the funds to finish building out the site, upgrade our cameras and recording equipment and - most importantly, replace our Steinway piano which, although a noble beast, is on it's last legs and needs desperately to be replaced.  I know everyone and their grandmother is doing crowd funding but we are going to try and offer some unique gifts for the donor levels and even a private concert.  I'll officially announce everything next week.  I welcome your comments at smallsjazzclub@gmail.com

This Week At Smalls

On Monday we have a great double bill starting with a truly great artists - pianist Jon Davis.  He'll be in with his excellent trio for his CD release.  If you haven't yet heard Jon, please take this opportunity to hear this excellent veteran pianist.  Following Jon is Ari Hoenig and his quartet featuring the effervescent Tivon Pennicott and bassist Johannes Weidenmuller and the fantastic Aaron Goldberg on piano.

On Tuesday I'll be playing with my drumless trio with Yotam Silberstein & Paul Gill.  Following us is the Smalls Legacy Band featuring Frank Lacy, Josh Evans, Stacy Dillard & Theo Hill.  This is a top-notch exciting band and please come out and hear it.

On Wednesday we have a couple of musicians who I met back at SUNY Purchase - Ken Fowser & Behn Gillece.  Now their celebrating another in a series of CD releases for the Positone Label.  With them is pianist Steve Einerson, bassist Paul Gill and the amazing Joe Strasser on drums.  Following Ken and Behn for our "Round Midnight" Concert  is Sean Nowell and his group he calls "The Kung-Fu Masters".  Should be an interesting show with Baba Israel doing spoken word and a band with Brad Mason, Alan Ferber, Art Hirahara, Michael O'Brien and Marko Djordjevic.  The whole date will be free on our live cam if you'd rather stay home.

On the 4th of July, Thursday, we won't open until 9PM.  At 9:30 PM we have one of my truly favorite pianists and people - Pete Malinverni.  He's coming in with a great trio featuring Ugonna Okegwo and the legendary Eliot Zigmund.  Please check out the insightful interview with Pete Malinverni on our SmallsLIVE Interview Blog conducted by Spencer Murphy - CLICK  Following Pete is Carlos Abadie and his excellent quintet to play a show and host a session.  If you're feeling patriotic, come to Smalls and celebrate the true American artform - Jazz music.

This weekend all the bands are led by drummers.  Friday and Saturday at 10:30 PM I'm psyched to have an old friend and one of the best drummers around Joe Farnsworth is leading a trio with David Kikoski on piano and Gerald Cannon on bass.  This is definitely going to be a high energy event.  Friday night at 7:30 PM is Sylvia Cuenca  and her quartet with Bruce Williams on alto, Rick Germanson on piano and Chris Berger on bass.  Saturday at 7:30 PM is Jeff Williams celebrating his CD release.  With Jeff is Duane Eubanks, John O'Gallagher, Phil Robson & John Hebert.

Sunday we have Marion Cowings masterclass at 1PM.  Leonid Volskiy is performing trio for our showcase at 4:30 PM with Chris Haney & Phil Stewart.  At 7:30 PM we are featuring vocalist Nancy Harms who will be performing duets with pianist Romain Collin.

As always, I appreciate your support of this club and of this music.  I urge you to do good deeds and I wish for your well being.