The Greater Seattle Amateur Jazz Community

There are about a thousand amateur jazz players in the greater Seattle are, and many venues where those players can get together as well. In 2011, steve originally organized the original Seattle Area Jazz Musicians Meetup, now with over 800 amateur jazz musicians. Although it is still going strong, its capabilities are limited to scheduling events and hoping people show up. Our community members want a way to find other players with specific instruments to form bands, and venues want ways of finding bands to play in their spaces.

The NEW Seattle Area Jazz Musicians Community

Version 2.0 of the community is here! It's not Meetup; it's more tailored to our needs. When you join us, you gain the ability to find players in your area who want to play, organize and learn about jam sessions, and find commercial venues who are looking for talent. You can also ask to be notified when other community members need someone with your talents.

How Does It Work?

Suppose you're a piano player and want to form a trio. Maybe you've got a drummer but need an upright bass player. First, JOIN for free. Just supply your email to identify yourself and choose a password to protect your profile. Select instruments you play (and at what levels), or let the system know that you operate house jams, a recording studio, or maybe a commercial establishment or performance space.

Now when you login to www.stevejonesjazz.com, you've got access. Click FIND TALENT & VENUES from the COMMUNITY tab and describe what you're looking for. Select the instruments you want. Send off your invitation, and the system does the rest-- automatically sending an email to other members who have the talents you're looking for. When they see the invitation in their email, they'll have a look at your profile and tell the system if they're interested. The system shows you the profiles of the interested responders, letting you choose the people you want to work with. You can control what contact information is available to others in your profile.

Is My Contact Info Made Public?

No, it isn't. We've all seen the directories of bass players, drummers, and pianists just posted to the internet, free for the harvesting by hackers, who ultimately sell that data as lists for spammers. Our community doesn't have that problem, because it's not a simple open directory. Instead it only enables its members to post their needs to the community members who want to receive those kinds of requests, and those members can indicate their interest through the system without people giving away their contact info.

Does It Cost Money? What's The Catch?

This community is free to join. There is no spamming, no ads, no selling information, no dues, no spooky Facebook or Google harvesting your interests. According to Steve Jones, who created the Community website as an extension of his own, it was "a way of giving back to the greater Seattle jazz community and enabling amateur players to plug in and collaborate." Steve is a retired technologist, and enjoys this programming as a hobby. Since 2011, Steve has absorbed the costs, but is asking for donations via the Ko-Fi mechanism.

How Can I Get Involved?

There are lots of ways to get involved. Join the Community of course. Invite members to new jams and events that need talent. Spread the word and tell your friends and venues about the site as well. If you operate a commercial venue and are looking for entertainment, Join, and then invite the community to find people to play at your establishment-- you'll build excitement at your venue and gain a following of faithful (and often thirsty musicians). Commercial recording studios can invite band leaders who need to know you're open for business. Restaurant and nightclub operators know that hosting bands that run jam sessions make it possible for patrons to enjoy listening to a lot of exciting musicians, without paying for the people who come to play in the jam.

Reach out to Steve through the Contact tab to let him know how the how the Community is working, or how it can be improved.

Of course, it doesn't hurt to buy Steve a Coffee (Ko-Fi) once in a while. The SAJM Meetup site costs him personally $600/yr, and the Steve Jones Jazz website including the Community support costs about $10-$20/mo plus Steve's time to keep it humming. He will surely notice and appreciate your support when you donate to the cause. If you want to send him a token of your support for the Community feature and for the SAJM meetup, just click the little floating "Donate" button at the bottom of the page, and thank you!