Fly by night
Jazz studies supplements the long-suffering scene and its players
Halfway through a Thursday-night opening set, only a handful of tables at Churchill Grounds are occupied. Two friends sit near the stage drinking bottles of Newcastle, and a group of six spreads across two tables a few feet to the left. Couples of twentysomethings are sprinkled throughout the room. At a quarter to 10, trumpeter Russell Gunn and his band take a break. When they return later to play a handful of standards, the audience’s size is about the same as before.
The crowd, or lack thereof, is owner Sam Yi’s focus. During the set break, he talks about the meager enthusiasm for Atlanta jazz. “There are a few guys that always come out and support,” he says. “To have a thriving jazz scene, that’s just not enough.”
Fledgling audiences for jazz – a genre mourned more often than celebrated – has been a concern since the early ’80s. In Atlanta, the musicians are here, but clubs can’t sell music the public isn’t buying. Through educational outreach, area universities have found a way to support the music. Programs at the major institutions also house professional talent and a cadre of jazz-studies majors, and this, in turn, helps the scene limp along.
“Most of the university teachers and professors come and play here,” Yi says. That’s true for a lot of the clubs, including Café 290, the Blue Room and Studio 281. A few weeks ago, Mace Hibbard, a saxophone instructor at Georgia State University, spent two nights performing at Churchill Grounds, and a number of other professors gig at clubs and restaurants on weekends. “During the day I’ll go teach,” Hibbard says, “and at night, I’ll go play.”
Academia is a necessity, because it’s nearly impossible for lesser-known musicians such as Hibbard to support themselves by playing jazz exclusively. “Most of them have day jobs,” Yi says of the musicians who play Churchill Grounds. “At nighttime, because they have passion for the music, they play.”
Hibbard frequently runs into students watching his concerts. At Studio 281, night manager Henry Davenporte often fields calls from jazz history students looking to study in real time. “They called on the phone, ‘Look, we’re not old enough to be there, but we’re taking this class.’ I said, ‘I don’t mind, come on and listen to the music,’” he says. Students who start as listeners can graduate to performers; Eric Fontaine plays saxophone when not studying physics at Georgia Tech. Students fill the void left by musicians who leave Atlanta looking for steadier gigs.
“You’ve got a lot of good musicians in Atlanta, but they can’t work in Atlanta,” Fontaine says. “There’s not any place for them to work.”
Davenporte and other club owners can’t afford to bring established artists such as pianist Geri Allen, guitarist Pat Metheny or saxophonist Jimmy Heath to Atlanta, so many area universities shoulder the responsibility. As director of the Ferst Center for the Arts on the Georgia Tech campus, Jay Constantz communicates with his counterparts at the Rialto Center for Performing Arts and Spivey Hall to make sure jazz gigs aren’t booked on the same nights.
“The jazz clubs really aren’t for families, so I think the universities can play an important role in helping to develop future audiences,” Constantz says. “People come to see jazz here and then they check out the listings or radio stations to see what else is going on.”
Constantz charts his goal as educating Atlanta audiences about jazz, a surefire way to keep the music scene breathing. The Ferst Center sponsors an arts education program that brings musicians to area schools and subsidizes ticket sales to events. At Georgia State, Gordon Vernick, coordinator of the jazz-studies program, journeys to area schools, connecting kids with jazz.
“We’re not playing silly songs; we’re playing good music, and it’s swinging,” he says.
Davenporte also keeps an eye on the larger venues, because sometimes those artists come down to Studio 281 at the end of the night. When singer Barbara Morrison was in town for a show at the Ferst Center, she dropped by. Harry Connick Jr.’s band paid Davenporte a visit as well. He says support from acts like this help generate interest in what’s happening in the city.
Bringing a young generation to jazz, especially in Atlanta, sometimes seems impossible. Jaspects, a band of current and former Morehouse College students, is establishing cred as a group of legitimate jazz players steeped in a hip-hop tradition. Jaspects bassist Jon-Christopher Sowells says booking older acts into the bigger venues does nothing to help the music evolve. “One thing about a lot of the jazz artists,” he says, “is that they are some of the most conservative people that you’ll find when it comes to music. And there’s nothing wrong with being conservative, but when it prevents growth, to me, it’s not healthy.”
It’s a common pitfall, echoes Vernick, but one that can be avoided. As a performer, he sees a need for more jazz clubs; but as a professor, he believes the universities are playing a huge role in educating future players who will keep the Atlanta jazz scene healthy.
“Universities have academicized jazz, but we have to be careful we don’t museumify it,” he says. “You find dead, old stuff in museums, and jazz is alive.”