Industry Profile: James Browne

— Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen

James Browne has been a concert producer, manager, radio personality and club manager during the past 25 years. In October 2002 James added club owner to his resume with the opening of Sweet Rhythm, a 130-person capacity club in New York's Greenwich Village.

A New York native James is the producer/co-founder of the Greenwich Village Jazz Festival (most recently known as Panasonic Village Jazz Festival) and has produced concert series at venues such as The Brooklyn Museum, Merkin Concert Hall, Museum of Modern Art and others. Internationally, he has produced or consulted on production throughout Europe, Asia and Africa: Muju Jazz Festival in South Korea with McCoy Tyner, Terence Blanchard and others; Dianne Reeves and Renee Rosnes at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London; and a world tour with Chilean vocalist Claudia Acuna to name a few.

James has been active primarily in jazz on the international music scene. His areas of achievement include 20 years in radio broadcasting with 17 years at WBGO-FM in New York His experience in artist management has included jazz musicians such as Renee Rosnes, Andrew Hill, Louis Hayes, Claudia Acuna and many others.

In the late 1970's, James had begun booking bands at Sweet Basil on a freelance basis, and was responsible for hiring Gil Evans for a regular Monday night slot, which Miles Davis occasionally attended. "He had a favorite spot, always grabbing a corner seat and pulling his hat down low because he thought that no one would recognize him, as he listened to his old friend," James remembers. Over the years, Sweet Basil presented Art Blakey, McCoy Tyner, Kenny Garrett, Regina Carter, Jon Lucien and Hank Jones and many others.

During its heyday, in the 1980's artists including Wynton Marsalis, David Murray and Henry Threadgill got early exposure there. In the late 1980's the club was sold to Japanese owners. According to James, "they bought it at a time when they were buying everything in New York, including Rockefeller Center. It was the height of the Japanese bubble economy and it was prestigious to own a jazz club."

In 1994, James became co-manager/music director of the nightspot until its closing in 2001. But by April 2001, when the Japanese owner's lease expired, James, who has also worked for 20 years as a jazz radio broadcaster, artist manager and producer of concerts and festivals, decided to take advantage of a unique opportunity. He and his partners Anne Saunier and Martha Baratz formed JAM Entertainment Group, LLC (James, Anne and Martha), and bought the building with the intention of opening a multi-faceted music venue/restaurant. They opened Sweet Rhythm at the site of the former Sweet Basil at 88 Seventh Avenue South, in September 2002. JAM Entertainment is a subsidiary of JAM Ventures, LLC, which owns the Sweet Rhythm property.

"Sweet Rhythm was slated to open in September 2001 but then Sept. 11 happened and the world changed," James muses. "My partners and I had wanted to own and operate the club, but not be under the helm of some owner's concept nor equally important, some landlord's whim. Our idea was simply to employ a flexible music format in a relaxed venue that emphasizes excellent customer service."

"We definitely didn't want to handcuff ourselves with featuring just one music style," he continues. "There are a number of jazz clubs currently doing a great job of presenting that music in all of its glorious variety. And at the same time, there are so many interesting musical things going on that we want to have access to. With so many different cultures and kinds of music available, we have decided to align ourselves with some things that would be fun for the owners, the musicians and above all the audiences. We think it makes sense, artistically and economically. So instead of calling it a jazz club or a world music club, we just want Sweet Rhythm to be known as a live music venue. If there's a performance artist or a spoken word artist or if we want to have a DJ spinning funk and world beat sounds in addition to music from any part of the world or any kind of hybrid or fusion, we want to be able to present that."

James only a criterion for booking music at Sweet Rhythm is that it has something distinctive. "One of the things I've had the pleasure of doing over the years in different situations, is going to musicians and proposing the option of them conceptualizing their presentations, as opposed to the rote promotion of a new CD release. I think musicians and fans alike want to be creatively challenged. I think those same audiences and musicians think beyond the segmentation of titles and styles," he says.

While Sweet Basil was a very well known jazz club for 26 years (1975-2001), Sweet Rhythm is not a reopening of the same venue. Sweet Rhythm will in many ways continue the legacy of Sweet Basil, but it will not be a shrine to die-hard jazz purists. What James and his partners hope Sweet Rhythm will do is uphold the commitment to quality and diversity of music programming that made its predecessor a New York landmark.

"Sweet Rhythm will appeal to people who have different sorts of music in their CD collections at home" says James. "When you look at New York's cultural scene, it's clear that we have an embarrassment of riches in terms of options. We hope to establish Sweet Rhythm as a microcosm of that reality."

Accommodating about 130 people in the main room, in addition to a small street level café lounge area, Sweet Rhythm is an intimate venue, open seven days a week from after work until "it's almost time to go back to work" as James puts it. The kitchen staff from Thailand offers an exciting and flavorful Pan - Asian menu. And there are a number of expanded ideas in the works related to the Sweet Rhythm brand, including an upcoming Rhythm Festival, which will bring together drummers and percussionists from around the world.

What happened to the Greenwich Village Jazz Festival?
The Greenwich Village Jazz Festival existed in different periods with different sponsors. I was involved in two periods. In the beginning, 1982-84 with Dewer's Scotch as the sponsor and again 1994-99 with Panasonic as sponsor. Some of the highlights I produced while serving as executive producer of the festival were free to the public concerts by Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Branford Marsalis and others.

Do you want to restore the Geenwich Village Jazz Festivals?
The Greenwich Village Jazz Festival was established to foster a sense of cooperation between what in 1982, was an "embarrassment of riches" in terms of the quality of artists appearing at The Village Vanguard, Village Gate, The Cookery, Bradley's, Sweet Basil, The Blue Note and other jazz clubs in the Village. In 1994 there was still ample justification for the festival. In 2002, I question whether there would be support for the festival. There are fewer venues, the press is so ambivalent and sponsors seem to be more inclined to support more "populist" events. My general sense is that I would not want to attempt to restore that festival. Although I might be interested in working on a broader based event, which would celebrate the Village's contribution to ALL of the arts!

Why open a club in New York in 2002 with all the competition?
I wanted to open Sweet Rhythm regardless of the competition because I think that there is a need for an intimate environment that will offer a variety in tasteful musical styles. There are a number of clubs in New York that I admire, like Joe's Pub and the Village Vanguard, that do what they do very well. I want to establish a place with an emphasis on quality customer service and good music. I know that it may sound trite, but the truth is that a lot of places make you feel as if they want your money first and then your comfort is not a big concern if it's of any concern at all. I want Sweet Rhythm to evolve into what ever it's going to evolve into. It's not just about my will or my ego, the interaction between the musicians and receptive audiences should ultimately determine the long-range direction of this club.

Why have you abandoned the booking philosophy of extended jazz runs at Sweet Rhythm that Sweet Basil was known for?
The extended runs at Sweet Basil were boring to me. There are enough clubs doing that and the duplication isn't needed. Besides there are only a handful of artists who can strongly draw audiences for a whole week! I have opted for a varied policy simply because I want contrasts in the club. Most people listen to different kinds of music, don't you? I mean I don't want jazz all the time or blues all the time or anything ALL the time. The cadre of jazz lovers (who actually go out and pay to get in clubs, not the industry heads who are comped anyway) are being well served by other venues. So I decided to try something else.

Is there room for another jazz club in New York?
There's room for a different kind of jazz club. One that could figure out how to appeal to people who don't know that they like jazz…Yet.

Why did you stop managing artists?
I don't miss producing concerts or managing artists. I got away from those things so that I could establish and maintain this club. I have my hands full with Sweet Rhythm. It's like a newborn baby who keeps you up all night and needs care and tending all day. At some point when the baby starts to walk and then run, I'll consider other options. But who knows, those options might be opening other clubs.

Why have you decided on a varied music policy for Sweet Rhythm?
I have opted for a varied policy simply because I want contrasts in the club. Most people listen to different kinds of music, don't you? I mean I don't want jazz all the time or blues all the time or anything ALL the time. The cadre of jazz lovers (who actually go out and pay to get in clubs, not the industry heads who are comped anyway) are being well served by other venues. So I decided to try something else.

First industry job
My first industry "job" was as an overnight host of a jazz radio program on WBAI-FM in 1977. The first time I was paid for something music related was a year later when I was made music director at 'BAI.

Career highlights
The highlights have been numerous; in the early '80's producing the first "Greenwich Village Jazz Festival" which started with a free concert in Washington Square Park featuring Dizzy Gillespie with an all-star big band and Tito Puente's group as the opening act. I can still recall how calm but excited I was sitting in Dizzy's car afterwards counting his pay out to him. When I first heard "Jazz at Massey Hall" I'd never envisioned that. Another highlight was being invited to the Northsea Jazz Festival to serve as guest Master of Ceremonies and sitting in the lobby of the hotel and watching B.B King and Ella Fitzgerald sitting around talking or Miles and Dexter Gordon laughing like two kids together. My heroes.

Disappointments have been few, maybe presenting some incredible music somewhere and having only a few people show up to hear it. That's happened a couple of times.

Greatest challenge
My greatest challenge at this point is maintaining my passion and enthusiasm in what is becoming an increasingly dull mainstream cultural environment. It's almost as if you have to constantly go the edges to find music and culture with integrity and at least some degree of commercial appeal.

Best business decision
My best business decision was to leave radio (WBGO at the time) and devote myself to presenting live music. And of course topping that is creating the partnership I have with Martha (Baratz) and Anne (Saunier) to create Sweet Rhythm.

Best advice you received
The best advice I've ever received was from my maternal grandfather who used to say to me every time he saw me; "Be particular".

Best advice to offer
Be persistent and particular.

Most memorable industry experience
My most memorable experience was sitting alone with one of my child /adult hood musical heroes; Ray Charles and talking about "nothing".

What friends would be surprised to learn about you
Most of my friends would be surprised to learn that I am a big Jethro Tull fan.

Industry pet peeve
My industry pet peeve is that we spend to much time and energy "preachin' to the converted". Everyone seems to be in a monkey see monkey do mode. Let's try something different, please.

Office paraphernalia
Simple; Dell computer, Fujitsu laptop, Palm, Panasonic Cell Phone and never enough pens and paper.

If I wasn't doing this, I would be...
I would be a chef.

Industry Mentors
I have many, many mentors. Most of them don't know that they are but I'll name a few. Art D'Lugoff , who when he owned the Village Gate would let me try my hand at promoting events. Through him I learned the awful pain of losing money on what you thought would work. Arthur Ashe, who I spent a little time with. He was such an incredible example of dignity and quiet strength. Andy Kaufman at Birdland, Lorraine Gordon of the Vanguard, countless musicians; Percy Heath, Clifford Jordan, Louis Hayes, all those Bop cats taught me a lot about life and business and what it means to believe in what you believe in.

James can be reached at 212-414-2667; e-mail: brownejb19@aol.com

.

.