Thirty-five years ago, Fisher was still working on the docks as a Local 34 Clerk while playing at San Francisco jazz clubs, including three nights a week at Pasand’s on Union street that featured music in front and Indian food in the back. He recalls columnist
Herb Caen being a regular customer who sat by the window with a cocktail and listened to their band, called “Classax.”
Thanks to the ILWU, I’ve been able to pursue my passion as a jazz musician with performances in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the world.
Learning from jazz giants
My love for music – especially jazz – began at a young age. My Dad was a Local 34 Ship’s Clerk who drew cargo plans mostly at the Oakland Army Base in the 1950’s and 60’s. He would go down to Melrose Records in San Francisco’s Fillmore District and buy Jazz and Blues records. He loved Lionel Hampton’s Band. I remember learning to play jazz brushes to those old 78’s. The musicians who inspired me back then included Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Gene Krupa and Cozy Cole. I took lessons with some of the great musicians and studied music theory. I still practice on my drums every day. I remember how nervous I was when I first performed on stage, singing with the St. Dominic’s Boy’s Choir when I was 7 years old.
Unions helped musicians
In 1969, I became a registered member of Ship Clerks Local 34. I put a second union card in my wallet a year later when I joined Local 6 of the American Federation of Musicians. The good pay and flexible work schedule on the docks allowed me to perform and tour with bands in the U.S. and Europe. When we played Bay Area clubs in the 1970’s, most of those venues had union contracts with good wages. There were so many clubs then in San Francisco with great jazz, including The Blackhawk, Both And, the The Jazz Workshop, El Matador and Keystone Korner, just to name a few. My band was at the Starlight Roof of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel for over 2 years. One especially memorable performance was a gig with the legendary trumpeter, Chet Baker.
Change in wrong direction
When I retired from the ILWU in 2007, I couldn’t wait to get back into the music full-time and play in my favorite clubs again. What I found on the scene was far different from what I left behind a few decades before. A “race to the bottom” had turned the local music scene upside down for performers.
Collective Bargaining Agreements for musicians in nightclubs had mostly disappeared. I learned that members of the Musicians Union found themselves struggling on hard times, just like other union beginning in the 1980’s – when President Ronald Reagan declared war on unions by crushing a strike led by PATCO – the Professional Air Traffic Controller’s Union. Unlike steel factories and auto plants, our music clubs didn’t move to Mexico or China, but musicians faced working conditions that were sub-standard and non-union.
Musicians barely scrape by
Jazz is still being played today in San Francisco for audiences in bars, restaurants, and coffee houses. But instead of getting paid union scale, musicians have to beg with tip jars. You’re lucky today to get a free sandwich or an occasional meal and a beer.
It’s not unusual for good jazz musicians to leave a gig with $40 or $60 in their pocket – and on an exceptional night, it might be $100 bucks. The Musician’s Union is still maintaining good contracts at large city symphonies and opera houses, but most of the smaller clubs and venues no longer have union contracts. Even the famed S.F. Jazz Center in San Francisco is not yet a union house – despite spending $41 million on a new building and raising an impressive annual budget from many large and small donors.
New tech benefits big biz
Another difference today is the way new technology is impacting the music industry. We have the ability to share our music and interact with loyal fans through live-streaming, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and other social media platforms. We also have to contend with apps like Spotify that give away our music for free to the public with little or no compensation for musicians. Just like the rest of society, big corporations and Wall Street seem to be the ones who profit most from new technology.
Cool union project
One of the real bright spots that I’m excited about is an organization called “Jazz in the Neighborhood.” This group is lining-up local venues who promise to pay fair wages for musicians who perform there. The organization also raises funds to help underwrite those venues and ensure musicians will be paid fairly. It’s important to note that this project is endorsed and supported by the Musicians Union, because they recognize how important it is to help the larger group of unorganized musicians who extend beyond the narrow ranks of union members in the symphony and opera.
Fisher is now a veteran jazz drummer with five decades of performing under his belt. Flexible work on the docks allowed him and other artists to pursue multiple careers.
Jazz in the Neighborhood
In the Bay Area, you can support “fair wages for musicians” by patronizing clubs such as Bird and Becket in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights, the Marin Outdoor Market, and Boutiki in San Jose. The Jazz School in Berkeley also has performances that pay fair wages by cooperating with “Jazz in the Neighborhood.” Check out their website and go out to see some live music in your neighborhood that also provides fair wages to the performers.
Health care & pensions for all
Over the years, I can’t tell you how many fundraising concerts I’ve attended or performed at to help great jazz musicians who are facing serious illnesses and crushing medical bills without any health insurance. As an ILWU Longshore Division pensioner, I share the same medical benefits that the active ILWU members do, and give thanks every day for the rank-and-file struggles and sacrifices that made it possible. I’m also proud to belong to a union that believes everyone in America– the richest nation in the history of the world – has a right to good health care and a decent retirement.
Groovin’ high
Because I belonged to two unions, I sometimes joked that “my pocketbook was in Local 34, and my heart was in Musicians’ Local 6.” Now, more than ever, I appreciate how the ILWU made it possible for me to continue my lifelong passion for music. So next time you see me playing on the bandstand with my fellow musicians, you’ll know why I’m smiling when we hit a heavy groove.