Lenore Raphael
I sing her praises
as a jazz impresario and as a human being. Lenore Raphael, I am proud to say is
a Steinway jazz pianist without equal. She is a composer, music instructor,
recording artist and host of her own Jazz radio show. I have come to know her as a consummate
artist and a wonderful humanitarian. I chose her for this interview for these
reasons and because we have developed a rare friendship over the last couple of
years in which we talk about nearly everything from the business to our families,
to sports and our pets. I have grown to
love her as a fellow artist and friend.
We initially attempted to conduct the interview via email then both
agreed that the better way would be to connect by phone. Lenore is a resident
of New York City. I am a resident of
Chicago. Our schedules are often otherworldly. Lenore performs all over the
world. I alternate between school, performing and trying to run two totally
different companies. I am honored that she thought enough of our friendship to
take the time to partake in this interview. She is indeed a rare person, with
exceptional music abilities. She is a lover of traditional jazz. We share that
love in common along with the fact she loves cockatiels. She has one; Spike and
I have two; Bubba and Spanky.
Lenore Raphael was born Lenore Hyams June 01, 1942 in
New York City. She is a jazz pianist influenced by the likes of jazz greats,
Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans and George Shearing.
She began her foray into music at the age of four. According to Lenore,
she heard her brother playing the piano and although she did not yet know the
chords by name, began to replay them to near perfection by ear.
In her teens, as a prodigy, Lenore
performed classical music at Carnegie Hall.
She received her formal training in
classical music at the High School of Music & Art in Manhattan, later going
on to New York University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in
music. She has studied jazz piano under both
legendary Barry Harris and Michael “Mike” Longo.
She has performed with the late jazz
vibraphonist Lionel
Hampton, jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist, Ken Peplowski, American jazz
tenor saxophonist, Illinois Jacquet and trumpeter
and flugelhornist, Clark
Terry.
Today, she has a thriving musical
career. She literally performs across
the globe adding stints throughout the United States, South Africa and Europe.
Everywhere Lenore performs her performances draw spectacular accolades.
Her CDs include The Whole Truth, Reflections, Wingin' It, A Beautiful
Friendship and Class Act. Two of her
recordings “Invitation” (2006) and “Loverly” (2012) were nominated for
Grammys. Additionally, a series she helped
to create has become a model for teaching young students the fundamentals of
jazz in the curriculum of many schools.
From this interview, just when I thought I knew everything there was to
know about her, I discovered I had a great deal more to learn about the
extraordinarily accomplished Ms. Raphael.
1. Me: Lenore, this interview focuses on your
experiences with different negotiation techniques.
Typically, who handles setting up your bookings, promotions, online
presence etc.?
Lenore: Typically,
I do it all myself. I really do take of all of that. I have been doing it as
long as I have been in this business. As
you said before, nobody knows you as well as we do ourselves.
2. Me: And, aside from the issues you and I are
experiencing getting you booked here in Chicago at the Jazz Showcase, the club
of my childhood friends (laughing, but this is a true story), how difficult is
it for you to negotiate the type of music you will play, scheduling, salaries,
travel, hotels, incidentals etc.?
Lenore: Ok, well
each situation is different, you. What I do very often, if I know somebody is
playing in a venue already, I will ask him or her certain questions without
telling them me how much they paid you, how was the pay? Did they get you a
hotel? Did they make it part of the total amount? So, I sort of know what I am getting into even
before I get into it, I then have a good idea what I can ask for, what I might
ask for and what is going to be the hardest part of the negotiation?
3. Is there any average timeframe for you to get this
all done?
Lenore: Really, no there really is not. Some people get
back to me immediately, say when can you be here? Others say I’ve booked this so get back to me
in six months or a year. Others say were are book for the next year or so, I
can’t even talk to you. Each situation is different. So really there is no
average.
4. Me: How do you go about selecting the artists you
choose to perform with? Are you like me, in that when you are going to perform
you want to have the whole enchilada in place; scheduling, salary, hotel, and
travel expenses etc.? I am somewhat new
to the online side of the business although, I have actually been in the
business performing for years. You are not new. With all of the stuff you have
out there your websites, music, etc., do all of these things help you to set up
performances? Are the deals you set up
inclusive of the other artist or do they provide their own deals and
accommodations? Who provides the contract for each party involved in the deal?
Lenore: Absolutely! I think to a great extent you do have
to sound people out. This going to sound
strange, but you can get a pretty good idea of what they are going to do for
you by looking at other artists they have had there. So, if you see a big name
or a name you recognize you know the deal is going to be better, then if you
see a bunch of local performers on the website or wherever. And you then say oh
they’re booking locals with an occasional out-of -town artist performing there
so I can’t expect that much. That is a good way to do it, actually. Look who is
playing there. People do check
websites. They really do, they check
websites. Often again, it is a question of budget. I recently had an
experience, and I won’t tell you where, the budget was really nice, I got to
pick my own musicians who came with me. That’s kind of a rarity these
days. What I am finding more and more is
that they will book me and I will usually get some local players. What I am finding which is great, there are
great players everywhere these days. So I know there are certain cities I can
go to now and I just make a call. I know these people. I have played with them.
So If I know I am going to Denver I have four basses I love playing with there,
in Florida, I have a couple of bassists there and so forth. And so it also depends on the budget. If someone
is playing with me I just simply tell him or her, I have the contract this is
what you are going to get paid, here are the details. That is all they need to
know.
5. Me: Are there
times when your performance deals are difficult to execute? In such incidences,
how do you resolve this conflict? What do you do when you come across the other
party’s (e.g. the club owner or it could even be another member of the band, etc.)
difficult attitude? How do
you separate the people from the problem when you are negotiating? What tips do
you have for new negotiators who are trying to do this?
Lenore: Well, the
truth is thank goodness, I haven’t run into to that that much. Occasionally, I
run into someone who doesn’t want to pay me what I want so forth or so on. I think in certain situations it’s a value
added. In other words, I might say
something like yes I might negotiate, but I can bring in “x” amount of people,
I can guarantee the place is going to be full. I really have think carefully
how to negotiate on what I want, it is not always possible to get what you
want. I will say there is only one time I absolutely did walk away from
something. It wasn’t that they were a
problem. They did want me. They did not want to cover airfare. It would have
been totally impossible for me to cover the airfare and make any money at all.
I did unfortunately have to walk away from that. But, recently I had a
negotiations with somebody, whose name I won’t mention. And I was prepared to
walk away. And I wanted something and I essentially said, “Thank you very much,
but I think I will have to pass.” And he did get back to me. He called me back
and said, “Ok let’s do it” and he did agree. Evidently, somebody there said, “You gotta have her.” “She is great”. He thought it out and he said ah, She'll
bring people into the club and even if she doesn’t, it will bring the
reputation of the club up. He thought it
out. Because up until that time he had been booking mostly local people. He can
say now I have national artists here. I am booking a national artist now in
terms of the reputation the club had, right? That was a good negotiation, to get what I
wanted. It’s economics. Will it pay for
itself?
For new negotiators you have to know what you want, be
definite about it and be prepared to walk away if you have to. And don’t pay to
play! Do not let anyone tell you if you play you have to pay.
6. Me: How do you handle positional
bargaining tactics?
Lenore: You mean
you give me this I give you that? I really had to be honest; I have never had
to deal with that. I really haven’t.
Most of the dealings I have this days say, “This is what we pay.” “This
is the budget.” What a new person today
should ask immediately is, “What is your budget?” What do you cover? What do you take care of?
I really haven’t had too much haggling back and forth. Either, I have been
lucky or I don’t know. I find most of these days the contracts come, you look
at the amount, you say, “Okay that’s cool or not.”
7. Do you have an attorney to write
up and review your contractual agreements?
Lenore: I use to have an attorney to
take care of that. I don’t now because I am pretty much aware of all the little
things in in the middle that say in case of whether we cancel or in case its
acts of God kinds of things. So, haven
seen lots of contracts to this point I pretty much know what to look for and
what to watch out for. And, what I need
to put in of course, which is my own rider that says I want this, this and
this, which they usually will cooperate with. But As far as needing an attorney
at this point, I don’t bother. If it were an issue of signing with a record
label, then I would have an attorney look at that.
8. Me: Have you ever used objective criteria in an
effort to come to a mutual agreement with the person you were negotiating with?
Examples would include using statistics, past practice and data to shore up
your position.
Lenore: I don’t.
Well yes, actually, I guess I do in a way. In a sense, if you can call it that, I call
and say, “Hey, we have played at thus and
so and have sold out.” “ We sold the place out.” “They had to put up a sign
that said, “Sorry, no more people.” “We’re
sold out.” So you can use that as a negation to say look we can sell the place
out. You are going to make money. You are going to sell drinks. You’re gonna… Statistics? I don’t know.
9. Me: Have you
ever had to employ or resort to any so-called dirty tricks to get the other
party to see you point of view. You are so classy; I cannot fathom you using
such underhanded tactics.
Lenore: No, I can say that unequivocally. No. Some people might, but no. I do want to
add something it just occurred to me.
The reason that it is not really a great thing to do, club owners,
festival brokers, etc., they all talk to each other and what goes around comes
around. And, if a venue says thus and so
did that, they’re going to tell everybody, chances are you are not going to
wind up playing in too many places. You know word gets out. They all talk to each other. From a negative
standpoint, but from a positive standpoint too, they talk to each other. “Well,
how did Lenore do at your festival?”
“She sold the place out.” “They
loved it.” “She got a standing
ovation.” You have to watch what you do.
10. Me: I have a question I have been dying to ask. How accurate is your Wikipedia profile?
Lenore: Yes, I know the guy who wrote it. And he actually
ran it by me before he put it up. And it’s pretty accurate. Yeah. The only
thing I wish they would leave out is the year I was born. There are no secrets
on the Internet! (We both laugh).
Me: I tell Lenore not to worry, because of her
magnificence, the year of her birth, made
it a very good year indeed! (The interview has concluded).
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenore_Raphael
http://www.lenoreraphael.com/
Name and Contact
Information: Lenore Raphael,
http://www.lenoreraphael.com/
Email: swinginfox@swinginfox.com
Link:
http://rcmcltd1.tumblr.com/Nash_Sandy_Interview%20Blog%20Post%20Sun%2001%20Jun%2014%20%28Revised%29
