Local 802 has a long history of helping jazz musicians fight for the wages and benefits they deserve. It’s been a decades-long struggle that continues to this day. We pushed for legislation intended to fund better wages and benefits. We created a publicity and pressure campaign that was reported in the New York Times. We organized a jazz advisory committee that’s still strong and active. We produced a highly popular “Jazz Mentors” program that we plan to revive. We collaborated on live jam sessions with the Jazz Foundation and produced a separate jam series ourselves. And we won union contracts and double-digit wage increases at festivals like the Winter Jazzfest. All of this history is worth reviewing as we recharge our efforts and announce a new campaign.

A LEGISLATIVE EXPERIMENT

When we first started to think about how we could help jazz musicians using legislation, we immediately thought of Broadway. Broadway musicians earn excellent pensions as a result of an arbitration award issued in 1963 by Burton B. Turkus, which resulted in New York City’s repeal of an admission tax imposed upon theatres. The tax was redirected to provide benefits for Broadway artists.

So in 2005, Local 802 and other stakeholders tried a similar approach for jazz and club musicians. Legislation was introduced in the New York State Assembly and Senate to abolish the state sales tax on admission charges at jazz clubs and other venues. We wanted club owners to use the diverted tax money to pay for wages, benefits and pensions for musicians using union contracts. Local 802 and five other New York AFM locals (Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, Schenectady, Buffalo, Binghamton and Oneonta) supported this legislation, which was introduced by Denny Farrell, chair of the State Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

In the first round of legislation, Governor Pataki vetoed the bill, claiming that it imposed too much of an administrative burden. However, a second version of this bill that eliminated this burden ultimately passed in 2006. Local 802 celebrated this as a victory. It indeed gave tax breaks to jazz clubs by eliminating the state sales tax on club admission charges. However it did not actually compel club owners to contribute the forgiven tax to musicians’ benefits, as the Turkus award had accomplished for Broadway artists. There was no enforcement or distribution mechanism written into the bill. This was a deeply disappointing result for such a hard fought effort.

JUSTICE FOR JAZZ ARTISTS

There have been subsequent efforts to achieve meaningful contracts for jazz musicians through organizing and collective bargaining. Local 802 has engaged in numerous demonstrations as part of its “Justice for Jazz Artists” campaign to pressure jazz clubs into providing pension benefits to jazz musicians. Our campaign even received coverage in the New York Times, and NYC Council passed a resolution in favor of our efforts. Updates in Allegro appeared many times, including here.

JAZZ MENTORS

Separate from our advocacy efforts, Local 802 and the Council for Living Music began a highly successful series called Jazz Mentors in 2016. All in all, 20 events were organized over a span of three years, until the pandemic put the series on pause. Jazz Mentors connected up-and-coming musicians with some of New York City’s premier artists and industry people to discuss the business of jazz. Each forum featured discussions with preeminent Local 802 members and leaders in the jazz community about ways to build and maintain a successful music career. We hope to revive the series very soon.

JAM SESSIONS

For decades, Local 802 co-hosted Monday night jam sessions with the Jazz Foundation. Later, the union began producing its own jams as well, filling our club room with live music and even poetry twice a month. Local 802’s current building renovation has put the series on pause. Stay posted for updates, because this pause is a temporary one.

JAZZ ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Local 802’s Jazz Advisory Committee is still strong and active. As I reported in my December column, the jazz committee has just launched a podcast series. The committee has many ideas for additional podcast topics and interviewees. To get more info or to join the jazz committee, contact David Stern at dsternmusic@gmail.com.

ORGANIZING CLUBS AND FESTIVALS

No doubt, organizing jazz clubs is decidedly difficult. This is due to a confluence of factors such as the short-term employment of musicians performing in the clubs and the question of whether these musicians are employees of the club or of the bandleader. Many of these musicians don’t have history with the union and may not be members yet. Furthermore, assessment of club ownership is often complex. Some clubs are owned by foreign companies. Nonetheless, Local 802 has achieved meaningful agreements with the Winter Jazzfest (which is spread out over many venues) as well as the club 54 Below. These agreements have been nurtured and renegotiated several times, including recent double-digit wage increases. The continued existence of these agreements demonstrates that negotiation of venue-wide agreements is possible.

WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW

Now I’m happy to report that efforts are underway to continue the union’s effort to organize jazz venues. Presently, Local 802 is involved in a joint organizing project with AFM Local 77 (Philadelphia) to organize a jazz venue called Cellar Dog that has an established location in New York City and a newly-opened satellite venue in Philadelphia right across the street from Local 77’s union hall. Both locations are owned by the Bakal Group, a major corporation specializing in entertainment and hospitality. Presently, our focus is on the Philadelphia location, since it just opened, and publicity should be more potent there. Prominent musicians from both cities have petitioned the owner to come to the table, and local politicians are also becoming involved in this effort. Local 802 is canvassing the New York location and meeting with musicians who perform at both venues. The expectation is that once a venue agreement is achieved in Philadelphia, it will provide a template for other jurisdictions.

We’ll keep you posted on the status of these efforts as they develop. But what I want to emphasize is that the fight for jazz musicians cannot be limited to one jurisdiction and one venue at a time. We must find ways that AFM locals can support one another, just as New York and Philadelphia are doing right now. Collaborative approaches should be forged to establish prevailing wages and benefits for all jazz musicians. That is the pathway for success.

CONTACT US!

If you play jazz in New York or Philadelphia jazz clubs and are interested in winning the wages, benefits and respect you deserve, contact my office at hmars@local802afm.org . You can also contact the Local 802 hotline anonymously here: www.local802afm.org/hotline