Text by Dawoud Kringle
On the night of Thursday, April 11, 2013, Justice for Jazz Artists held a demonstration and rally to begin its Jazz Built This! protest against jazz club owners who refuse to make modest pension contributions on behalf of the musicians who play in their clubs and make these club owners rich.
New York City is a Mecca for the best jazz musicians in the world. It was here that jazz became one of America’s greatest artistic and musical achievements. At the same time, many older musicians have little economic security and often retire in poverty. Broadway and symphony orchestras are protected by union contracts; jazz musicians are not. To add insult to injury, owners of prestigious and expensive jazz clubs (such as the Blue Note, Birdland, Jazz Standard, Village Vanguard and Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola) have prospered from the musicians who play in those clubs; while the musicians are not guaranteed minimum pay standards or benefits. Many of these clubs record the musicians with no remuneration (Some clubs have argued that players have de facto agreed to the clubs’ recording and use of their work simply by agreeing to play there; which is absurd. Under any basic union contract, musicians would receive compensation for work they create. Club owners already make ample profit from the live performance, and do not have the right to perpetually profit from the product that musicians create simply because the owners possess the space where the musicians play).
