Dear Friends:

This has been a important few months for Smalls.  Besides our top-secret project (I can't tell you about it because it's a secret), we are finally underway developing the SmallsLIVE Musicians Revenue Share Project.  I finally have made the right partners and have the right developers to build the complicated new website that this requires.  Part of the scope was to define the SmallsLIVE philosophy which I'd like to share with you below -
 
The fundamental philosophy of Smalls is rooted in the life outlook of proprietor Mitchell Borden, who created Smalls in such a way that it operated in near total chaos.  In this chaotic environment something special was allowed to happen and that was artistic ferment.  Smalls was fundamentally an anti-business – nothing was sold, the cover charge was ridiculously cheap.  In the beginning food and beverages were free – there was no closing time and most of the musicians had keys to the place to do with as they wished.  Over the next 9 years, several generations of jazz musicians began to develop their voice in this Greenwich Village basement, unimpeded by economic needs or fame but just wild, zealot-like passion for jazz music.  Developing the hard-core self-introspection that comes from intensive practice and no-sleep.  The musicians of this generation include Kurt Rosenwinkel, Omer Avital, Peter Bernstein, Brian Blade, Josh Redman, Brad Mehldau, Sam Yahel, and many other notables.  Because of the opportunity to work night after night unimpeded, real jazz growth took place and these musicians became the leading voices of their generation.  It was through the attitude of generosity by Mitchell Borden that these artists flowered.
 
Smalls has undergone many transformations but the fundamental essence of its core philosophy has never been changed.  The mission of Smalls is the presentation and preservation of real, NYC jazz music.  It’s also a commitment to a certain lifestyle, which is lived late at night and early into the morning.  It’s a commitment to offbeat and off –the-path thinking, artistic temperament and even insanity.  But these are also all servants of the greater good of real musical art.  Smalls is dedicated to the protection of the artists who create this music.  Smalls is altruistic at its core – profit is not measured in dollars but in spiritual gains.  The mission is to serve mankind by giving a true community of artists a unified voice with which to speak to the world.  The motto of SmallsLIVE, which graces each project, is “we are dedicated to world peace through music” – world peace is achievable through communication.  Music is communication without words – understandable by all of those of equal spiritual temperament.  It is universal.  Jazz is music of joy, romance, anger, blues – adult and human messages for real people.
 
Because of this mission and the passion of the artists involved, Smalls has earned a powerful core following and reputation.  With the advent of the Internet and live streaming, Smalls has become now known internationally.  I will continue to update you as the site develops.

I wish you all a productive and positive week and look forward to seeing you at the club.

Best,

Spike