L.A. Jazz Club Owners Recount Trials, Triumphs

The most remarkableaspect of the jazz situation in the Los Angeles area is that nobody is complaining about an excess of clubs--58 by one count, more than twice as many as the New Yorker magazine lists in the Big Apple.

An informal survey of the region’s clubs underlined a fundamental principle of doing business that appears likely to hold through the coming year: Offer a good product and target it for a specific audience. Southern California’s current embarrassment of jazz riches--either for tonight’s New Year’s Eve blowout or a mellow midweek night out--regularly includes offerings of fusion and jazz/rock, of mainstream and hard bop, of soul jazz, vocal jazz, big bands, cocktail combos.

But there are also problems facing some of the area’s more notable clubs, . from seasonal concerns--like rainy weather--to more fundamental problems such as the state of the economy, Southern California’s ever-deteriorating traffic situation and the ever-increasing costs of booking talent. Some area clubs manage on a shoestring, using local musicians. A few--mainly Catalina Bar & Grill, Vine St. Bar & Grill, Birdland West and Concerts by the Sea--offer high-priced, world-class names.

And at least one of them is flirting with insolvency.

When Vine St. owner Ron Berinstein opened his popular Hollywood jazz room, he never dreamed that one day he’d end up operating it for the Internal Revenue Service.

“We owe a lot of money to the IRS,” Berinstein said. “We’ve worked out a deal (the club recently filing for bankruptcy under Chapter 11) so we can stay open and pay it off. We did have a couple of very bad months, and lately some of our midweek nights have been terrible, but the weekends are doing fine.”

Berinstein’s problems are symptomatic of the perils of operating a jazz-oriented nightclub in Los Angeles. He set his sights high, hiring acts that were expensive and charging proportionately high prices for admission, food and drinks. Unfortunately, the returns weren’t always as high as his expectations.

Around the corner from the Vine St., on Cahuenga Boulevard, Catalina Popescu, at her eponymous Bar & Grill, is bullish. “Things slowed down for a while--maybe because of the (stock) market--but business has picked up. We had Ahmad Jamal here recently; we put on a $12 cover and had great music and great business for all six nights.”

Al Williams opened his Birdland West in Long Beach only 13 months ago and reports that things are picking up. His handsome, spacious room (capacity 185) has hosted such major names as Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard and Poncho Sanchez, all of whom, Williams says, have done well. Williams’ cover charge varies from $5 to $15; he has paid up to $6,000 for a three-day big-name booking.

Like Catalina’s and an increasing number of jazz rooms, he serves quality food and does good dinner business.

Williams, who occasionally plays drums with his group in the club, is one of five musician-owners. The others are Howard Rumsey, of Concerts by the Sea, who no longer plays; the still-active pianist Don Randi, whose Baked Potato near Universal City has enjoyed consistent success with its fusion music policy; Charlie Chiarenza, a former guitarist who attracts to his room, Alfonse’s in Toluca Lake, the musicians and their friends who used to hang out at Donte’s, and bassist Ray Brown, a partner in the Loa.

Three other rooms are run by singers: Marla Gibbs, now better known as a TV actress, owner of Memory Lane; Linda Keetan of Linda’s, the Melrose Avenue restaurant where music is provided by pianists, bassists and Keetan, and Lois Boileau, who occasionally performs in the pleasantly intimate Room Upstairs at Le Cafe in Sherman Oaks, where much of the music now falls into the fusion or pop-jazz category.

Though it is doubtful that performer-owners are likely to be more successful at running a profitable club, it is true musicians tend to prefer working at a room where the operator, as a fellow artist, sympathizes with their problems. Aside from the Loa, all the rooms run by musicians or singers report doing relatively well.

Now in its 21st year, Donte’s in North Hollywood was the Southland’s flagship station in the 1970s. Today its theme could be “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be.”

Obviously in need of refurbishing, the club now draws erratically and no longer brings in major out-of-town attractions. Straight-ahead jazz often draws minimally, while the occasional fusion group does better.

“Things are lousy,” owner Carey Leverette admitted. “The rain killed us, off and on, for several weeks; it’s hard for a lot of people to drive here and get home. It’s not the stock market that has hurt us. We still do very well with people like (organist) Jimmy Smith and Poncho Sanchez, and now and then with a big band.”

Donte’s, contrary to popular belief, is not the oldest surviving jazz club. Marla’s Memory Lane on Martin Luther King Boulevard has been around under other ownership since the 1940s and has had a jazz policy for most of that time. Under the guidance of actress Gibbs it has emerged from a fallow period to establish itself as a popular rendezvous. Gibbs herself sang there recently and was sold out for two four-day stands.

Though the talent at Marla’s is almost exclusively black, the club does attract some white business; the shows have a broad appeal. Elsewhere, the San Fernando Valley clubs tend to be predominantly white, both off and on the bandstand.

More diversified in racial make-up are the shows and customers at the Alleycat Bistro in Culver City, Catalina’s, Birdland West and Concerts by the Sea in Redondo Beach.

Concerts by the Sea, open since bassist Howard Rumsey (now retired but still financially involved) founded it in 1972, moved away from straight jazz several years ago to concentrate, profitably, on fusion and pop-jazz. The club is unusual in that no food is served, which leaves it accessible only to customers over 21. But its strong appeal to the 21-to-35 crowd, many from the nearby beach areas, has established it solidly.

“Nothing affects us adversely,” said manager Chris Regan. “Our crowd wants fusion music, and the format is doing well for us. When we had Najee here we were sold out in advance for every night. The Rippingtons also did terrific business. We’re now open five nights a week instead of four. We added a Wednesday-night series with local bands and a half-price policy. Our average admission is $15.”

At the opposite end of the policy pole is Charlie Chiarenza at Alfonse’s: “Our policy is no cover, no minimum, straight-ahead music, and no superstars. Our bar business alone is not enough; we have to sell food, and people know they have a bargain here, with dinners from $7.95 and drinks $2.75. We were a little bit hurt by the market, but it’s coming back. The tribute to Chuck Niles of KKGO, which we held here Dec. 7, drew a terrific crowd; dozens of musicians came, and a lot of them sat in. We like to feel that we’re a part of the local music community.”

Union scale at Alfonse’s, and at most of the other rooms, is around $49 for a sideman and $66 for the leader, of which $5 is taken out for tax, pension and welfare fund contributions. It’s a daunting jump from these figures to the $10,000 reportedly paid by Catalina for just three nights with Dizzy Gillespie’s group. The door charge had to be raised to $20, but augmented by dinner and liquor sales, it proved enough to turn a profit for the room.

Mainstream jazz and bebop attract a somewhat younger element than Dixieland. Latin jazz has a strong following that is by no means limited to Latinos. Fridays are Latin nights at the Biltmore’s Grand Avenue Bar.

The Biltmore is a maverick phenomenon, since its music ends around the hour most others begin. Former singer Diane Varga, who books the talent, has succeeded with a schedule that brings in businessmen who drop by after work for a drink (and snack buffet) during the 5-to-9 p.m. music hours. Local performers such as Clare Fischer, Plas Johnson, Buddy Childers and Milcho Leviev have proved popular with the crowds who fill the room Mondays through Fridays.

“We were less affected by the stock market,” says Varga, “than we were by the World Series and then by the earthquake, a power outage and rainy weather. Still, in general we can’t complain.”

Like most of the clubs, the Grand Avenue Bar relies heavily on liquor sales for revenue. When the Loa in Santa Monica opened last February without the liquor license it had been expecting, the going was rough.

“We had a very hard time for several months,” said Mariko Omura, a partner in the Loa. “When we finally obtained a license it was limited to beer and wine, and only until midnight. We had cut down operations from six nights a week to three or four; we have had some very good weekends with people like Dudley Moore, Benny Carter, J. J. Johnson and of course Ray Brown, but it’s still an uphill struggle. Maybe we’ll have a better license situation next year.”

While the Loa depends on mainstream jazz, a few rooms have dabbled successfully in the avant garde. At the Comeback Inn, in Venice, Will Raabe has recently presented James Newton and Charlie Haden. “A couple of months ago,” he said, “business dropped off by about 50%; it may have been partly due to the economy, but it could be just seasonal; also, the rain didn’t help. But things have begun to look up in the past two or three weeks.”

Matt Kramer, at the Santa Monica club known as At My Place, diversifies his talent roster more than most owners, leaning to fusion and pop groups. He declares: “The jazz audiences don’t turn out here. We did well with (keyboard player) Keiko Matsui, who played four sold-out shows, but business was not so good for the singer Dianne Reeves. We were not affected by the stock market; our business is almost entirely dependent on the artists we book.”