A popular metro Atlanta jazz venue that attracts local and national musicians is being accused of not paying performers on time, or at all.
The Velvet Note in Alpharetta has become increasingly important to local musicians since opening in 2012, as the number of live jazz clubs has dwindled in recent years.
Owner Tamara Fuller says she has struggled to stay open since the 2020 pandemic, and her financial woes are coming to light in the public eye.
“I have tried everything I can think of to honor artist contracts, even when their shows don’t sell seats,” Fuller said.
Last week, many musicians began to post on social media that they are owed money from Fuller after not being paid for performances at the club.
It has been a closely-guarded secret in the jazz community, musicians told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, due to fears of being blacklisted by other music club owners if they are viewed as problematic artists.
Credit: Jason Getz
Credit: Jason Getz
Musicians say they, or their bandmates, are owed months or years of back pay by The Velvet Note.
Saxophonist Mike Walton said he expected to be paid after the last set of four sold-out shows during a weekend last May when he performed in a quintet. Walton said the band leader has so far received only half the musicians’ pay for those shows.
“You can’t sell out these shows night after night and not be able to pay anybody, including cooks and other staff of workers,” Walton said.
Last week, New York saxophonist Billy Harper started a social media firestorm when he posted on Instagram and Facebook that he was not immediately paid $3,000 for two nights of his quintet performances in early June.
“I thought if I spoke out maybe others wouldn’t have to go through what I did,” Harper told the AJC. “I know clubs all over the world have problems but this (situation) was quite a surprise for me.”
Harper hired local bassist David Penn to perform in the quintet for the Alpharetta performance.
Penn says The Velvet Note owes him money from previous sold-out sets in March, and said he felt misled but thought his experience was a one-time incident.
“It was my new album release party,” Penn said. “I trusted her word that she would give me half the door, that was our agreement and at the end of the night I thought I was going to get paid. And the thing is she didn’t even give me a down payment. She didn’t even give me $500. I’ve gotten zip.”
He only told Harper recently when he learned the saxophonist had not been paid for the June shows.
“I don’t like throwing people under the bus, but I just feel like this is really foul,” Penn said.
The funds for the June shows were paid in total by the end of July through a series of digital payments, said Morana Mesic, the Billy Harper Quintet’s manager. Mesic added that the band was not informed that the club would livestream the shows, which is always an additional payment.
“If we ever do livestreams the venue tells you,” Mesic said. “We did it at Dizzy’s (Club at Lincoln Center) in September. It’s a separate cost of $1,000.”
The music of Harper, 81, has been compared to John Coltrane. Early in his career, he recorded with the likes of Art Blakey, Lee Morgan and Max Roach, according to his website.
Fuller, who describes Harper as a music legend, said in a statement to the AJC: “The experience with Billy Harper shed light on a problem we have needed to fix for quite some time, and brought to the forefront the fact that our current efforts to fix the problem were insufficient.”
Fuller said fans’ habits have changed since the pandemic, and she borrowed money in a failed attempt to address club finances: “We have given away thousands of dollars in complimentary seats to make sure we can fill the room and bring a reasonable service team for each event.”
Fuller said she has worked 100 hours per week to keep the club operating.
“I firmly believe we can and will turn this situation around,” she said.
The outpouring of responses to Harper’s social media posts include an upset server from his Velvet Note show who wrote that he and staff have also been unpaid for months and are also owed thousands of dollars.
Musicians who have performed at The Velvet Note for years expressed a range of emotions to the AJC, from angry and disgruntled to empathetic and supportive. Some said they refuse to perform at the venue again.
Others, such as pianist Louis Heriveaux, describe the music club as the “lone beacon” for traditional jazz in the Atlanta metro area.
“In my heart of hearts, I believe this woman is just trying to stay open and made some bad decisions,” he said, “And people who aren’t connected to the scene, from New York or wherever they are from, have experienced some of those bad decisions.
“But this place has a service that it provides to the jazz community. It’s one of its kind right now. It helps young musicians get exposure in the area.”
Pianist Kevin Bales has performed at The Velvet Note since it first opened in 2012, and says the club is essential to the Atlanta jazz community. He and others continue to perform there, despite not being paid for previous shows.
“I want the club to survive,” Bales said. “I’ve never known Tamara to not pay a musician” eventually, Bales said. “If (the club) folds, people won’t get paid and we’ll lose this amazing resource where so many people play — so many out of town musicians come that we get to hear.”
Harper and Mesic said it’s concerning that Atlanta’s community of jazz musicians would believe that performing without payment is acceptable.
“We have a musicians union” in New York City, Mesic said. “This is impossible to pull off in New York.”
Fuller said she plans to keep the club open, and fans can help by continuing to come to the shows. She plans to use September shows featuring American Idol winner Ruben Studdard as a fundraiser.
“Because we know if (the doors) close, we’re not coming back,” she said.
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