PERLOT’s PASSING AND JAZZ IN PORTLAND

Causes. Effects. Tasks ahead for us.

portland jazz and Perlot

When I got to town, I was happy to hear that my old friend Ken Anoe, a double-bass and tuba player I worked with in Washington DC, was in town and staying busy. Indeed, he has been busy here on the scene for two decades. While I wasn’t at the time driven to enter the scene as a jazz pianist (I had done jazz and society gigs in DC, Florida, Hawaii, New York, Shanghai, etc., in the past), I was really eager to know whether the scene here was vibrant — so I could listen.

One night, after hearing a group play at Perlot, I sat with the pianist and asked about the scene. “It’s not what it used to be,” he said.

Nice work if you can get it

If both observations are true — and I’m sure they are — good musicians can always work. But the scene may be at risk.

The closing of Perlot probably wasn’t caused by its commitment to jazz. It had a host of issues, several of which I know well as I’ve been working alongside management for a few months to see what changes could be made to turn it around.

But certainly the closing of Perlot will shrink the number of active musicians able to play on any given night. And with Perlot’s attendance for its shows generally going up in the last six months, audiences will have less opportunity to hear great music in a comfortable setting (with great food).

INCREASING VS DIMINISHING RETURNS

Both facts should trouble us. Fewer gigs of course is not good for the working musician in the short run.

But fewer places for audiences to visit is even worse. Building your following is an “increasing returns” proposition: the more people who see you and love you, the more they spend money in your direction, and the more their word-of-mouth builds a bigger audience.

With fewer venues, fewer people see you, fewer people spend money in your direction, and word-of-mouth gets squelched.

That means you’re not only losing income opportunity today, it also means that your ability to make money in the future plummets.

LESSONS

The mission of TheTwelvePDX is to create listeners. The reason is simple: If we have discerning listeners, they will notice, know, and love what you do, and they’ll show up to watch it. They’ll buy what you have to sell. They’ll bring friends.

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And when they’re profitable, they survive. Even thrive. Their increased returns lead to yours.

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