The jazz concert series Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares recently announced the lineup for its 14th season.
“Our programming is diverse,” said Jazz Shares co-founder Glenn Siegel. “It’s stuff that you wouldn’t hear at [larger jazz festivals]; it’s more adventurous. It’s more outside-the-box, so if you are comfortable with the unfamiliar, you should check out a Jazz Shares concert.”
Jazz Shares takes its name from its unique shareholder model, which is based on a farm share or Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) setup. Shareholders purchase tickets in advance (much like CSA members pay for produce deliveries in advance without knowing what they’ll get), which guarantees that the artists and venues will get paid, no matter the turnout.
“The advantage is, unlike most presenters, I don’t really have to sweat how many people are coming,” Siegel said. “We want a healthy-sized audience so there’s energy in the room, but, financially, if two people show up to a concert, we don’t lose our shirt, because we already have the money in the bank, so to speak.”
A full-share is $125, which allows the purchaser admission to 10 shows; a half-share is $63 and allows admission to five. The shows are also available to the general public, but the per-show price, $20.50, is slightly higher than the per-show price for a shareholder. (Shareholders are guaranteed admission to any show, though; the percentage of tickets available to the general public is capped – or, when necessary for very popular shows, kept at zero.)
Another advantage of the shareholder model is the sense of community it fosters, Siegel said: shareholders invest in Jazz Shares in more ways than just financially. Their contributions include offering up their homes to the artists to stay in, cooking food for the musicians, driving the musicians to and from airports and train stations, and, at times, loaning the organization musical equipment.
“This model is less about entertainment and more about nurturing community and culture,” said Amherst College music professor and Jazz Shares board member Jason Robinson. “It’s amazing what can happen when you take away the profit-driven pressures of local music venues, driven in part by high commercial real estate prices, and the ups-and-downs of institutional funding, and encourage people to invest in imaginative culture and community building around music.”
Likewise, the series moves around to a variety of venues in Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden Counties, not only to bring concerts close to home for its shareholders, but also to “spread the wealth,” so to speak, among venues and to encourage concertgoers to venture out for shows, to visit new restaurants and the like. (“It’s part of the adventure,” Siegel said.)
Siegel co-runs Jazz Shares with his wife, Priscilla María Page, a theater professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who he met while organizing a concert at the school. (Their love story even got a writeup in the New York Times under the headline “A Nice Riff on Love.”)
“It’s a joy to work with her,” Siegel said, “and we work very well together.”
Page said running Jazz Shares with her husband is “one of our best collaborations”: “Hosting together is probably our superpower.” Even the planning process is easier than it would be if the two were merely business associates because they can brainstorm and hash out concert logistics at home, over dinner. (In fact, the idea for the series started more than a decade ago on their back porch.)
“We can think through questions and problems very easily,” she said. “It means that things just happen. I don’t have to wait for an email response from him because he’s literally right across from me at the table,” she laughed.
Of course, all of the work that goes into building and running a Jazz Shares season is driven by a pure love of jazz.
“Like music more broadly, I often say that jazz reveals the human experience,” Robinson said. “The music reflects our hopes and dreams, fears and worries. And it has a great capacity to build community and help us all feel like we belong. It’s an interpretation of life and reality.”
“I’ve been involved in jazz since I was in my 20s. I love the fact that it constantly surprises me. I love being surprised,” Siegel said. “All the emotions that one has as a human being are reflected in music, from sorrow to joy, anger, and energy, so I love that the music comes from the African-American experience and that it’s a triumph of the human spirit.”
The first concerts of the upcoming season include the Darius Jones Trio at the Shea Theater on Saturday, Sept. 13; Phillip Greenlief/Trevor Dunn/Scott Amendola Trio on Thursday, Sept. 18, at the Parlor Room; Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri on Wednesday, Oct. 1, at the Northampton Center for the Arts.
For more information about Jazz Shares, including the full season lineup and ticket links for each show, visit jazzshares.org.
Carolyn Brown can be reached at cbrown@gazettenet.com.