FAIRNESS. DIGNITY. RESPECT. NOW’S THE TIME!
Join us on Wednesday, May 1st as Local 802 joins many other labor unions and activist groups to celebrate May Day!
We will be there to bring some music to the event, and also to bring our message that musicians are workers too, and we deserve fair pay and retirement benefits!
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).
Text by Lionelle Hamanaka
Jazz musicians and fans gathered on Feb. 1 to express their enthusiasm, solidarity and support for Local 802’s Justice for Jazz Artists campaign.
The panel, entitled “Coming Together as One: Fighting for Your Rights on the NYC Club Scene,” kicked off the evening and was followed by a performance by the Lou Donaldson Quartet with special guest Keisha St. Joan.
Date: Friday, February 1, 2013
Time: 7 p.m.
Venue: St. Peter’s Church (619 Lexington Avenue at 54th Street, NYC)
Ticket: free
The National Endowment for the Arts ( NEA ) – the nation’s highest honor in jazz – announced Lou Donaldson to one of the four 2013 NEA Jazz Masters. He’s recognized for “his lifetime achievements and significant contributions to the development and performance of jazz. His distinctive blues-drenched alto saxophone has been a bopping force in jazz for more than six decades.” And he will receive a one-time award of $25,000.
This concert will open up with a special guest appearance by the vocalist Keisha St. Joan ! It will also include a panel discussion: “Coming Together as One: Fighting for Your Rights on the NYC Club Scene,” featuring a distinguished group of players, writers and activists.
