Giving Jazz a Hand

In Bishop Arts, there’s a live music bar with its doors open, where on a good night every seat is filled as jazz bands perform in an intimate setting.

On this Wednesday night at Revelers Hall, people are enjoying bites and drinks as Dallas saxophone legend Shelley Carrol and his band set up for their 8 p.m. set, preparing to play a smooth jazz gig to get listeners over hump day. A new sign hanging at the bar reads: “Revelers Musicians Donation. $6 Per Person. *Can Be Waived Upon Request.”

Carrol starts to make his saxophone sing, taking over the room with a solo. The music spills out into the streets as people pass, and the scene is as close to New Orleans as you can get in Dallas.

A few are watching from the parklet outside. Others are contemplating coming in, lured by Carrol’s sweet sounds. Carrol plays through a song that has his bassist, drummer and keyboardist all in beautiful harmony. The atmosphere is one of improvisation.

After he introduces his band, he places his saxophone case at the front to encourage more donations, with a couple of bucks already in to entice more guests to tip.

Almost a month ago, people were outraged over the Night Entertainment Team (NET), a strike team housed under the city of Dallas’ Code Compliance department. The team had been cracking down on businesses that charged a cover fee for live music so they could pay the musicians. Revelers Hall and The Free Man in Deep Ellum had been charging cover fees to pay artists for more than half a decade when they were told to stop because the rules behind their restaurant permits didn’t allow it. 

They were understandably unhappy and took to social media to let the city and their customers know. In a city not known for being particularly friendly to entertainment venues, people from all over Dallas chimed in, worried the city was going to lose its live music.

The people banded together, and the city responded swiftly. So what happens next?

A Task Force Forms

On Oct. 31, a few days before Carrol’s show, Revelers Hall hosted a news conference that announced the Hospitality and Nightlife Task Force. City Council member Chad West said the 14-member task force will review the music fee issue and propose a new framework, re-examine the city’s noise ordinance and explore the creation of a new entertainment permit that supports innovation and flexibility. Led by Terry Lowery, former director of Dallas Water Utilities, the board comprises voting members who are business owners in Bishop Arts and Deep Ellum, as well as non-voting members from the offices of West and Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Moreno, along with representatives from other organizations. 

Josh Roberts, one of the owners of Revelers Hall, is part of the task force. The presence of City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert and other city officials was evidence of Dallas’ commitment to working with small businesses to resolve “pain points.”

The latest pain was announced on Oct. 9 when The Free Man’s Facebook account outlined “the massive, unnecessary challenges” hitting it from all sides. Already suffering from ongoing street reconstruction in Deep Ellum, scheduled to last until early 2027, The Free Man owner John Jay Myers called the end of the cover charge “the fatal blow.”

Myers said code compliance officers began visiting him around September. After calling out for support from the community, he said it’s been a “mixed bag” in terms of business growth. “We have actually seen a great deal of customers coming in during the week that normally would not, likely due to the cover,” Myers said. “On the weekends, traffic is about the same; the only difference is, no one is paying the cover, [and] weekend covers help us to pay for bands throughout the week.”

The Free Man charged $10. The cover guaranteed the bands got paid, it funded the ambiance, and it created a barrier distinguishing The Free Man from bad operators in a district where crime has risen. Without a dedicated income stream, live music at The Free Man is in jeopardy.

“It was enough to make it worth doing for musicians,” said Myers, who fronts the six-piece jazz band The Free Loaders. “It wasn’t great pay even with the cover, but it’s a good gig, especially for off days. We were bringing in roughly $45,000 a month in covers. We would also subsidize that with minimums in case it wasn’t great.”

Gaika James, a trombone player who leads the Rogues Gallery and has frequently performed at The Free Man, remembers the ’90s when bands were guaranteed $1,500 a night. The pay has dwindled for musicians, and he wonders why the city chose to do this now. “It’s just one of those things where is the city of Dallas really that hard up for money, and are our musicians just an easy target?”

James says venues such as The Free Man are a “learning facility,” where musicians can hone their craft with other players. The Free Man serves as an incubator for young talent, and silencing live music puts its future at risk. “Chances are, it may have to go underground or maybe some other sort of venue or organization will have to do some undertaking,” he said.

A trumpet player who asked to remain anonymous because of worry about ICE shares a personal connection to The Free Man after being welcomed by the Deep Ellum community. For the past 10 years, he was supported by other Deep Ellum jazz players as an international student, eventually playing in bands at The Free Man and Revelers Hall. He speaks highly of Myers’ generosity in charging covers for musicians of all skill levels, which keeps The Freeman’s doors open, allowing live jazz music to spill out onto the street and creating a positive atmosphere.

“I think it’s really good to cover those playgrounds for people who are eager to learn something,” the person said. “Sometimes that education happens in school, but it’s always about the people. Sometimes it needs some place, some sort of occasion to gather around.” 

Myers said The Free Man is a local music hub and a home base for Dallas’ most talented players. “We have been having live music seven nights a week on two stages from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. for the last seven years. And 14 years on our original stage. It’s like nothing else,” he said. “I feel like if we needed ‘donations,’ that’s the end of us. Eventually, you run out of donations, unless it’s Mark Cuban or Elon Musk. The place is great, we just need more people to be aware that we are keeping music alive, and the best way to keep us alive is just come out and eat, have a drink, tip the band.”   

The demand for change from the city was palpable, as evidenced by the strong community support that emerged in Facebook comments and tagging city officials. The Free Man let people know that “the combination of crime, construction and anti-business mandates is destroying Deep Ellum.”

On Oct. 20, Roberts shared an article on The Free Man’s struggles, stating Revelers Hall was in the same boat. He told people this was “effecting [sic] several venues right now,” and he wasn’t seeing any rapid response from the city at the time. “The best way you can help is to reach out to your council members and city staff so that they’re aware,” he wrote.

On the Facebook page of Amy Wallace Cowan, who opened Revelers Hall, she outlined the solutions she was pursuing but made it clear that a task force needed to rewrite Dallas’ code for the 21st century. “It’s time to get out a scalpel and create a broad spectrum of permits that allow us to operate like other vibrant cities.”

A New Orleans-Style Jazz Bar Concept in Dallas

Cowan opened Revelers Hall in 2019. Its first music director, Kevin Butler, was adamant about making sure musicians were paid well, setting the bar for Cowan.

“At Revelers, if you look around its footprint, it’s actually quite small,” Cowan said. “We can’t really be compared to The Free Man or any of the other music venues based on size; we’re extremely tiny.”

In New Orleans, Arnaud’s in the French Quarter charges $6, which is included in the price of a meal. Revelers Hall adopted the same model and has been charging a music fee for over six years, making it very transparent through signs inside, at the end of tabs and on its website. “We’ve had almost seven years of training our customer base,” Cowan said. 

She estimated that the music fee generated $240,000 per year. “Our total revenue is under two million, so it’s a very significant chunk of our revenue here at Revelers,” she said.

Code compliance officers visited Revelers Hall two months ago, and Cowan says staff were “completely blindsided” when told they had allegedly violated any code. Revelers Hall had to end its music fee, and it was also instructed to close its doors at all times because of concerns about noise violations. She wishes the Code Compliance Department had reached out to her first, so she would have had the opportunity to fix any violations. Instead, it caused a bit of a panic when officers came late at night, asking bartenders for personal information so they could be written up. 

“The code office was emphatic about the fact that they were not citations,” she said. “They were just a notice of a violation. So in their mind, they probably were checking that box of letting us know we weren’t compliant, we needed to make some changes. I think the way it comes across, it causes fear, and that’s not the kind of workplace we want to be for our staff.”

On Oct. 22, Cowan posted responses to Facebook comments asking her why she didn’t get the proper permit to allow a cover charge. At the time, she wrote about pursuing a special use permit, but it didn’t feel like the right fit for Revelers. “Going back to Dallas’ code as a whole, it seems like there’s probably room for other uses to just be created,” she said. “If you like what Revelers is doing or if you like what The Free Man is doing, well, create a code that allows for that and let us apply for that permit. Use us as the model. If we have done a good job, if we’re not a nuisance and we are the direction you want the city to go, then let’s work together and make that possible for more people.”

In the meantime, the introduction of a music donation hasn’t yielded the same revenue as the music cover fee, although Cowan said Revelers has loyal customers who are happy to pay the fee and show their support. The hope is that the opportunity for people to support live music at their discretion will help sustain it at Revelers.

The concern over music fees and the future of live music drew the city’s attention. Cowan is optimistic about the partnership between the city, small business owners and operators coming together to keep arts and culture sustainable.

“I think it is going to take a lot of work,” she said. “I think it’s gonna take time to address the needs of every restaurant. I don’t think what Revelers needs addressed is also what LadyLove needs addressed. I think we’re fighting different issues. And so, hopefully, maybe our instance will allow us, The Free Man, places that are doing similar things to move onto the next level. Maybe the cycle will prove that the task force works, and it’ll give them a model that they can use to go on and continue to address these issues.”

“I think we’re gonna find a compromise … making sure that we don’t put some code in place that disrupts neighborhoods,” Roberts said. 

A New Framework for Restaurants and Bars

Council member Chad West got a call at 11:45 p.m. the night Cowan posted her story on Facebook. A friend who lived in Bishop Arts needed to let him know how bad the reaction was to Revelers Hall having a hard time staying open. West’s response to the number of calls and emails he received after Roberts instructed people to reach out was that he would fix it. 

“It felt like one of those situations where somebody had to, or it was going to be driven by the code department, and it would get real ugly, really fast between neighbors and the code office,” West said. “The pathway forward is very much driven by the music industry and by the restaurant industry.”

NET was formed to deal with after-hours issues related to problems in nightlife entertainment districts. It is intended to address concerns about crime and illegal pop-up vendors, which West said have occurred in several instances in Bishop Arts, where vendors block sidewalks and wheelchair ramps. This issue has been ongoing for two years, he noted.

West isn’t blaming code compliance; they’re doing their jobs. And, he doesn’t believe Revelers Hall was targeted.

“I heard this from the code officer who was on site,” he said. “One of the shop owners complained about a band that was performing at another establishment. They were performing outside and were apparently, at least according to the code officer, very loud and blocking the sidewalk a little bit. It was out on the sidewalk, and they complained.

“So the shop owner complained about them, and when code went over there and said, ‘You’re in violation of code and the noise ordinance.’ They then pointed to Revelers Hall and said, ‘Well, look at them. They’re also in violation of the noise ordinance and also charging a fee there.’ So it just became this tattletale situation. I totally believe the code officer because that’s just how she explained it to me.”

When West initially drafted the memo calling for the creation of a task force, it was reviewed by Tolbert, who gave some opinions on the parameters. The Hospitality and Nightlife Task Force will meet at least twice a month and will hold at least one public meeting to gather comments from residents. The task force will also complete its review of all ordinances by Feb. 28 and present its findings to the City Council’s Quality of Life Committee no later than March 2026, before Dallas hosts the World Cup games in the summer.

“Hopefully, we’ll have a recommendation for a short-term and a long-term plan, short-term being some type of permit like I referenced, long-term being zoning code issues that will take two years. And then we’ll take that recommendation forward to City Council for votes to either change, create a new permit process or facilitate the zoning changes needed over time,” he said.

From business owners and the community to city officials, everyone agrees on the need to modernize outdated codes. As is true with jazz, collaboration and creativity are key to getting it right. 

“We’re going to do it,” West said. “It’s going to happen. It’s the right thing to do. We call ourselves a business-friendly city. The right thing to do in this situation is to ensure we stay that way by supporting our operators.”