Interesting Boo. And BTW, most of you are right. People don't go ANYwhere for the music anymore, they go for the ILLUSION of 'partying', having a good time. That usually involves loud music (source be damned), many, many watered-down drinks, and the right 'optics' ('club' atmosphere). There are several notable exceptions, however (where people actually go to hear the music). One is the classical concert (in any of it's forms - Pipe Organ, Piano, Symphony Orchestra or any of it's scaled-down offshoots, etc.). The other is the predominantly-Black Jazz club. Although, like most other music venues, it is a dying breed, it may be one of the last places left to hear really good music played by really good musicians. These VERY demanding audiences will weed out the 'wannabe's' and 'not quite ready for prime time' players but, in their own unique way, will definitely acknowledge the exceptional player.....and believe me, they know the difference. Definitely not an ideal place to bring Arranger KB-type entertainment.

At these venues, you can be sure of several things:
1. Bad food.
2. Overpriced, watered-down drinks.
3. Supportive and respectful audience if you're good, but you won't get a pass if you're not.
4. A Cover charge.
5. Lousy pay if you're the musician and damn few tips from a jazz audience.
6. An impending club closure (few NEW jazz clubs make it past the first year).

All sad but true. The few that do make it tend to be things like micro-breweries and the like, that feature jazz exclusively.
Luckily, Atlanta has probably more than it's share of Jazz venues but it also has more than it's share of really good jazz musicians, so it's sort of a wash. There are a number of organized jazz listening groups that patronize and support these venues. Odd, I know, but Atlanta is a very strange city where you're either on the inside or you have no clue of what the music/club scene is REALLY like.

Interesting topic, though.

chas