Home » Jazz Articles » From Far and Wide » Smalls Jazz Club: Live and So Much More

Smalls Jazz Club: Live and So Much More

By Mark Corroto
December 28, 2010
View read count

After a few minutes talking with pianist

Spike Wilner

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Spike Wilner,

" data-original-title="" title="">Charlie Parker's quote about authenticity in music comes to mind: "If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn..." Actually, the entirety of Bird's thoughts best captures the art of Spike Wilner. Bird goes on to state: "They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art."

Wilner doesn't seem to have any boundary lines these days. The pianist-turned-club owner, jazz scholar, record label entrepreneur, and internet presenter has embarked on an ambitious concept to present jazz to a worldwide audience, from a club with a capacity of just fifty persons. Smalls Jazz Club, in New York City's West Village, opened in 1994, and quickly became a musician hangout and a place to find great music until first light of morning. A regular performer from the start, the pianist called the club, "a wild place, sometimes a free-for-all." Because it had no liquor license, customers toted their own, and often the place was "not an optimal performing experience."

Today, with an affordable cover ($20 before midnight and $10 after), Small's has become a go-to listening spot in New York—much like, Wilner explains, "the former Bradley's or Village Gate, because we maintain a comfortable and informal atmosphere." Since Wilner became a co-owner in 2007, the club has upgraded the piano to a Steinway and begun recording and archiving all performances. Consider for a moment, the depth and the breadth of such an archive. Like old-time radio broadcasts, Small's documents the live performances from hundreds of artists such as

JD Allen

saxophone, tenor
b.1972

" data-original-title="" title="">JD Allen,

Mark Turner

saxophone, tenor
b.1965

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Turner,

Fred Hersch

piano
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Fred Hersch, and

Jon Irabagon

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Jon Irabagon, captured nightly for the past three years, with plans to archive all future shows.

Wilner explains that he is "a scholar and an archivist by nature," and it appears the musicians—about 95% of whom have given him permission to record, archive, and live-stream their performances via the internet—understand that, in the 21st century, the rules for recording and presenting jazz have been blown away. Listeners from around the globe, something like 27,000 per month, tune in nightly to listen to (and watch) live jazz or to search for an individual musician's bio and performance dates. Others can search the extensive database and audio stream unedited, live recorded performances from the archive.

Wilner has also founded the Smalls Live label, to make physical CDs available from the archive. He approaches an artist, say drummer

Ari Hoenig

drums
b.1973

" data-original-title="" title="">Ari Hoenig (who led his group at the club in February 2010), and asks him to choose all the music from the date to be mastered by an engineer to a hard copy CD, or iTunes download. The 14 live discs produced so far—featuring artists like

Jimmy Greene

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Jimmy Greene,

Ben Wolfe

bass
b.1962

" data-original-title="" title="">Ben Wolfe,

Omer Avital

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Omer Avital,

Eric Alexander

saxophone, tenor
b.1968

" data-original-title="" title="">Eric Alexander,

Ethan Iverson

piano
b.1973

" data-original-title="" title="">Ethan Iverson,

Albert Tootie Heath

drums
1935 - 2024

" data-original-title="" title="">Albert Tootie Heath, and

Peter Bernstein

guitar
b.1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Bernstein—have received critical acclaim. There are several more in the works for 2011, including dates from

Chris Potter

saxophone, tenor
b.1971

" data-original-title="" title="">Chris Potter and

John Patitucci

bass
b.1959

" data-original-title="" title="">John Patitucci, and also

Louis Hayes

drums
b.1937

" data-original-title="" title="">Louis Hayes and

Jeremy Pelt

trumpet
b.1976

" data-original-title="" title="">Jeremy Pelt.

Interestingly enough though, and to his surprise, Wilner's own release, Solo Piano Live At Smalls (2010)—a recording culled from his performances this past summer—has been met with popular success. In fact, the first printing of the CD sold out. Wilner's performance is rooted in the stride piano tradition of

James P. Johnson

piano
1894 - 1955

" data-original-title="" title="">James P. Johnson,

Art Tatum

piano
1909 - 1956

" data-original-title="" title="">Art Tatum, and

Fats Waller

piano
1904 - 1943

" data-original-title="" title="">Fats Waller. He describes the CD as a recording "off the beaten track as a concept recording." Wilner chooses to play with old tunes and ideas in an ageless, yet modern "straightforward and melodic manner," to just, as he states, "swing." Indeed, it does. The disc has the feel of the wee small hours, when a player is playing more for himself than the small crowd left in the club.

While amassing, perhaps, the best and most complete catalog of working New York City jazz musicians, Wilner is also forging a new path for jazz. This fall he met with several major record companies, who admitted to him that "everything is falling apart," as far as the traditional approach to marketing jazz recordings. Perhaps Wilner's approach—a universal concept of club performance, video and audio streaming, and producing select music CDs—may be the best way to capture a new audience for jazz, while satisfying the needs of audiophile collectors.

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Koplant No
< Previous

Kellylee Evans: A Nod to Nina, Then ...
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.