Jazz is for everyone

The nonprofit Livermore Jazz Society was created with two primary beliefs — that musicians should be paid a fair, livable wage, and that jazz music deserves to be documented.

Founder Tom Reynolds sought to implement these ideas locally with the intention that quality live music should never be difficult to find. So his organization, established in 2021, hosts a diverse calendar of house shows year-round, with a primary focus on jazz.

“One of the main goals was to create a place where the local community could grow an appreciation for jazz and other underserved genres of music,” Reynolds told the Weekly. “We wanted a place where people could come and have a positive experience.”

A native of Berkeley, Reynolds had a strong interest in music from a young age. Throughout high school and college, he was involved in various music groups and was able to travel abroad with some fellow musicians.

“I had a really, really great music teacher that was very enthusiastic and had us all playing in the jazz band. I played the trumpet,” Reynolds said. “He had us go to various festivals and stuff. He had really good connections.”

“Fast forward, I got a degree in music at U.C. Berkeley. I played in the jazz band there, and we got to go to Japan. That was a lot of fun,” he added.

A few years after graduating from university, Reynolds relocated to Portland for 21 years to work in engineering. He came back to the Bay Area in 2010 after being offered a job at a startup solar company in Livermore. He later retired and decided to reignite his dedication to the local music scene.

After experiencing a lack of musical opportunities in the area, Reynolds thought of organizing a group that addressed the problem right at home.

“I retired in 2021 from doing engineering work and started to get more serious about playing music. I started thinking deeply about how to revitalize the local scene because there really isn’t a lot close to home. We had to go into Oakland, Berkeley or San Francisco for a lot of the opportunities,” Reynolds said. “I thought, how about starting your own venue and doing house concerts?”

Reynolds and several other founding members began searching for an optimal venue. Once the perfect location was found, they hit the ground running.

“We found this house in North Livermore that had a dining room, a raised floor and a wide entrance — and then, the Livermore Jazz Society was founded in June of 2021,” he said.

“The Livermore Jazz Society deserves renown — it’s a real treasure for audiences and performers alike. It’s a special place for music,” said Kurt Ribak of the Kurt Ribak Band.

Ribak and his band have performed with LJS twice before. He recalled his experience with the organization during the intimate house shows.

“I am really impressed with LJS,” Ribak said. “As the founder of LJS, you can really see Tom Reynolds’ background both as a musician and as an engineer. The piano is meticulously maintained — on a level that puts almost every other venue in the greater Bay Area to shame. The sound system is excellent and all the equipment is high-quality and well-maintained.”

“It’s such a pleasure to play in a room where you can really hear each other well. Where you’re not having a lot of frustrations or distractions — where you are respected and valued,” added Ribak.

As to why the focus on jazz, besides a deep personal connection and history with the style of music, Reynolds said he wanted to help preserve the significance of the genre.

“The problem is that things disappear or are not remembered or preserved in some way. We don’t want this with jazz; I don’t want that richness to go away,” he said. “It must be respected and preserved because it too will be forgotten if it’s not.”

The organization also showcases other music genres in which it deems “underserved”.

According to LJS, jazz is among the least-played musical genres in the U.S., with hip-hop taking up 21.7% and pop at 20.1% of playtime. Genres like jazz and reggae take up just 1.1% and 1%, respectively.

By highlighting these underrepresented styles, LJS hopes to preserve the lesser-circulated genres of music and keep them alive.

“Another really important aspect for us is that we have a guaranteed fair wage policy. We make no exceptions and pay every musician a dignified minimum rate,” Reynolds said. “That’s something that we didn’t want to scrimp on because it’s really about respect and dignity and being paid for professional service.”

The house show venue is built to best serve musicians, as Reynolds keeps important — and heavy — gear on hand for each performer to use. He said by offering the tools to musicians at the venue, it makes their job a little bit easier.

“Things are set up and when groups get here, they don’t have to change too much. It’s pretty easy. It’s not like when you play in an outside venue and you have to set everything up from the ground up then tear everything down,” Reynolds said. “I offer a house drum kit, a bass bass amp, monitors and things like that.”

Accommodation — for performers and audience members — is a priority to LJS, according to Reynolds.

“The performers all love playing here, and the community members that come here really enjoy it. It’s very intimate. It’s the best chance to form connections with live local music,” he said. “We have an air filter and we keep the doors open so there’s really good airflow — that keeps people happy.”

As for the future, the organization hopes to continue expanding and welcome more audience members.

“We’ve almost completed our second year. This year things have really started rolling, we received our first grant in June of this year from Alameda County Arts Commission. We’re set for a really spectacular year next year too,” Reynolds said. “We’re certainly hoping we have more success stories of local community members bonding with the music through these concerts.”

While the venue welcomes artists from across the wider Bay Area, they try to focus on hyper-local acts first.

“Generally, it’s for the Bay Area local groups. It’s not for international national touring groups because they don’t really … they’re not underserved in the same way,” Reynolds said. “Our calendar tends to be a little biased more towards artists in Livermore and the Tri-Valley area.”

“We hope to keep on improving our attendance and grow our visibility,” he added. “We’re looking at partnering with other local arts groups and ways to get corporate sponsorship. There are a lot of avenues to explore.”

The organization’s next concert takes place this Sunday (Dec. 10) with Shanna Carlson, Larry Smith and Friends. To learn more, visit www.livermorejazzsociety.org.