Frequently asked questionS

We’ll be adding to this page a lot, because what we’re doing is new. Some of it we’re figuring out as we go. Which is par for the course for the improvising musician.
 

What are you doing?

We’re solving several problems, some of which are completely our fault. For example, we as musicians are pretty lame at marketing, usually. Some of us are better than others. But mostly we want to do music, which is highly technical, requires huge time commitments, and requires a kind of “music leadership” where we balance asking a lot of other musicians with not expecting too much. Marketing is not our main act.

But that’s one of the problems we need to solve, because, as they say, the number one problem a business (i.e., musicians) must solve is: How do you create a new customer?

The good news is that everyone — literally EVERYONE — wants us to solve that problem. Because it solves problems for them.

Venues like restaurants and clubs want people to show up, eat, drink, have fun, and (most importantly) come back.

People who love jazz want to go to a club, have fun, be richer in spirit and heart, and do it all again.

So, our main task — creating a new customer — helps pack venues with people who want the enrichment that comes from hearing smart, passionate, completely new music invented, every time, right in front of them.
 

HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?

It’s a three-legged stool. First, we’re organizing our lists and products so the lists help venues, and the products entertain and elevate jazz lovers. Second, we’re working with venues to create special offers for jazz lovers. Third, we’re offering existing and new products (like music and videos) for sale to jazz lovers … with every penny they spend earning them “points” good for discounts at venues in and around town.

Our philosophy on this is simple. We want people to show up at our shows who get more out of our music because they have been exposed to it, and to the stories we tell about it in video format.

The more you know, the more you love.

And when we do this, we are creating an audience of jazz lovers more willing to go out on a Wednesday night, more willing to recommend the musicians and venues that support jazz, and more willing to incorporate our music — and the venues we inhabit — into their lives.

In brief, marketing technologies like loyalty systems, video production, streaming audio, and how-to-listen web content all serve our common purpose.

We want you to go out to listen to jazz more often because you understand it better and love it more.
 

Why these twelve musicians?

This platform is the brainchild of a jazz musician who studied business all around the world (Shanghai, Sao Paolo, London, Paris, New York), and whose success — and passion — is rooted deeply in understanding how to create great experiences for people.

And people, need it be said, are complicated creatures. Our goal is to engage people with varying levels of experience and education in music around one of the most innovative, exciting musical forms known to humankind.

So, we need supremely accomplished musicians to advance this goal by being willing to share more than their music. They need to share their stories, ideas, approaches, values — all the things that make THEM human — to engage and advance a new audience into jazz.

And, we need musicians to be humble enough to ask one simple question: How can I find my own path forward by learning what turns people on nowadays?

As one of The Twelve said, “It’s not just about jazz, it’s about improvised music.” If the next generation of jazz lovers currently love hip-hop, or trance, or metal, what challenge does that pose to jazz musicians?

We pick The Twelve from a long list of musicians willing to answer that question.
 

What’s the deal with the paris jazz tours?

Glad you asked. We’re developing two tours to Paris that offer six nights and seven days of deep immersion into food and jazz. Sign up and you’ll get access to videos and tools to help you prepare for your trip. Learn more about jazz than you ever thought you’d know, and more about cooking techniques than the vast majority of other cooks, all from videos you access before the trip.

Then take the trip and be blown away.

And when you’re back, you’ll get even more immersion into jazz and food.

More details to come. Glad you asked about it.