by Harold McMillan

Marc Katz is a long time friend of mine. We don't hang out and drink whiskey together. We don't live in the same part of town. We are happy to see each other when we meet, and we talk openly and honestly with each other about most things that come up. This is true now and has been true for the last fifteen or more years.

Mr. Katz happens to own Katz's Deli. And, yes, I am a patron. I like a good ruben now and then. I like a shot of Irish whiskey now and then, too. I keep going back. Most of my "Up All Night" columns get written while drinking Katz's koffee. But, before you assume too much about our relationship, let me tell you a little more about my friend Marc, and why his sponsorship of this year's festival is more than an isolated act of generosity from a successful business and its owner.

First of all, know the space I have this issue is not enough to tell the full story. I will condense details, make generalizations. But I want you to get this. In fact, "getting it, understanding it, appreciating the importance of relationships, understanding how commerce and culture support each other" is really the major point I somehow hope to arrive at before I complete this ramble. Marc Katz gets it.

In the mid-eighties I had a regular gig downstairs at Katz's. I played bass for my pianist friend Ernest Needom. We played late night, sometimes into the early morning. It was a fun gig. More than that, it was Marc providing work for my friend Ernest. It was Marc carving out a place in the middle of his busy deli/bar, giving up space, so his friend Ernest could have a gig. It was about Ernest, I was just the added bass player. A lot of local folks, touring players, symphony players came in after their gigs to sit with us. Very casual, very laid back, as was Ernest and his style of playing.

One Christmas season, Ernest went home to Detroit to visit his folks, we were to have a couple of weeks off from the gig. Ernest didn't come back at the appointed time. He stayed in Detroit for some mysterious reason. Marc held his gig for him, no question.

Ernest finally, after a few weeks, told us what was up. He had cancer and was going into the hospital. Ernest kept telling us he should be getting out of the hospital and heading back to Austin. Truth is Ernest was gravely ill. He was my friend and bandmate. He had no insurance, so I put together a couple of benefits to send Ernest money to help out. A lot of mutual friends and musicians pulled together and did shows to benefit Ernest. Marc was the largest contributor. I think Marc's individual contribution was more than the money collected at the shows from cover charges and donations.

Earnest's time in the hospital, his time in Detroit extended long past several weeks. Marc held his gig for him, kept in touch with him, kept telling him to get well and come back. Ernest never returned to Austin. He died at the young age of 45.

That was a couple of years before the opening of Top of the Marc and the first Clarksville Jazz Festival. I like to think that I actually, albeit indirectly, gave Marc the idea of opening a jazz room above his Deli. Marc and I have a mutual friend, a lawyer guy. One late night Gary, the lawyer guy, and I were talking and I passed on my concept for a jazz bar above Katz's. A year later Top of the Marc opened. Gary swears it's all coincidence. The point of telling the story is, although Marc too found that selling jazz in Austin requires more than a notion, he recognized in 1989 that Austin needed a nice listening room for local and touring jazz shows. He tried to provide a venue to fit that notion. That same year I began the Clarksville Jazz Fest. Marc opened his club with the Basie Band (or was it the Ellington band...no fact checking here, just poor memory). That led to Frank Lacy, regular gigs by Kyle Turner, a residency for Elias Haslanger, gigs for Pam Hart, the introduction of Juliana Sheffield, a night with Cedar Walton. Heart in the right place, Marc experienced how Austin can be such a hard market for a genre that thrives in his native New York City.

That first year, and each year hence, Marc Katz has supported the Clarksville -- and subsequently -- the Austin Jazz Fest. Top of the Marc hosted the first several kickoff events for the annual Clarksville Fests. Katz's Deli always, always sponsored advertising in our program books. Katz' Deli helped cater artists' receptions and such. Marc, I think, was always intrigued with my continued to work to keep a Jazz Fest alive in Austin. We speak honestly, so he knew I wasn't doing it for the money. He experienced with his commercial jazz venture how fickle Austin jazz supporters are. He knew the Jazz Fest was not about making money for me or the organization. But being the successful businessman and involved community leader, he also understood that without support local businesses such non-commercial ventures are doomed to perpetual struggle. He wanted to help.

Understanding the need for diversity in the local arts/music scene? I gotta tell ya, Marc gets it. He recently made the joke, regarding the whole cultural diversity issue and Austin's progress in that direction, " Our partnership on this thing is all about diversity. It's in the name of your organization, Diverse...Arts,. And look at us, I'm a New York Jew running a kosher deli in Austin, Texas. You are a Black man running a jazz fest in a country and western town. How much more diverse can you get?" Marc has a sense of humor, but there is more to his understanding of these issues than his comedic statement.

So, over the years we have continued to have this ongoing conversation about support of the arts and charities. Over the years I have gained some insight and learned a few things from Marc. I think he too has learned some from me in this relationship. Perhaps the most important thing that Marc has learned about me is that I am hard working, consistent, persistent, and passionate about the work (and that I have a hard time with the traditional profit motive for doing business). The biggest lesson I've gotten from Marc -- not just from Marc really, experience mostly -- is that it takes more than heart to make a business work. This is true about selling bagels or jazz shows. Marc is passionate about his bagels. He is passionate about his causes. He is passionate about making money.

But here's the kicker, Marc is also passionate about civic responsibility, his ability to show support and share resources. Like anyone, he has his biases. He supports those causes with which he can personally relate. Does it matter that I spend money fairly regularly at his Deli? Probably. But that is part of the understanding thing that I mentioned earlier. Katz's has been one of our supporters for the past 14 years. Why wouldn't I want to also support his business? It makes sense, it's a choice I gladly make. I get it, too.

The point to "get" is that there should be a symbiotic relationship between successful businesses in our community and the non-commercial world of charities and public art and culture projects and organizations in Austin. Those are the organizations that make Austin the place it is, provide added value, quality of life.

Businesses are only successful when they have the support of their communities. Once they are successful, really, the right thing for those business to do is re-invest that success back into the communities that provided the support in the first place.

Get this. In many communities there are thriving jazz programs, festivals, and educational programs that count on, and benefit from, that same model for support: it's called underwriting. Doesn't Austin also deserve a well supported group of presenters who keep America's homegrown art music alive? I happen to think the work we attempt here is important, no less important than the work of the European classical organizations. I likewise think that Austin would not be nearly as cool a place to live if we didn't have the work of our collaborators Epistrophy Arts, Women In Jazz, ProArts and the Creative Opportunity Orchestra. This is not about commercial radio play and presenting rock and roll stars. This ain't no disco, this ain't no fooling around. That's not how we approach this work.

Thank you, Marc, for showing some leadership here. And, he's not the only one. Many of the other names you see associated here have been there for us for years. They too get it. Please support these businesses. Every ad you see in this issue, all of the sponsor logos indicate, every volunteer, musician, and underpaid crew and intern working this festival also points to this belief. We're just trying again and some more to spread the word.