We recently connected with Aaron Jacobs and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Aaron thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about your team building process? How did you recruit and train your team and knowing what you know now would you have done anything differently?
Aaron Jacobs Productions and all of my shows, groups and creations, started with a thought before a single employee. Sometimes the though happened to me organically and sometimes the thought was a suggestion from someone else. I always listen to suggestions of others, though sometimes it’s hard to put them all aside then and focus on my own voice.
To get back to topic though, ultimately my company started with myself. That being said, I have always been a strong collaborator. My company starts and ends with Aaron Jacobs since I sign the checks, and it has a large team behind me. Since we’re a music company, when I created my newest band The Swing Tones, I needed to build a creative team. Luckily in the creative world we’re always working and meeting new artists that share similar visions, so an interview process isn’t always a creatively.
I began with myself, a pianist/musical director, a couple close friend advisors and a choreographer. We all started at $0.00, however my fellow creators did get paid once our first gigs were established.
Once the vision and concepts were established there was a lot of interviewing taking place. The process for me though is simple. When someone is interested in my company and a particular position my first question is why and what they are able to bring to the table. If we like each other I’ll hire them, however I watch carefully to see if someone is a self thinker or if they need a lot of hand holding. Will this person bring new and refreshing ideas and concepts to my projects or do I need to give them directions every time? Are they good communicators or do they surprise me last minute with things that change my day!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Firstly, I am a Southern California born and raised boy. Arts, namely music and performance, have been in my DNA since birth. More directly, I have been producing productions for really close to 24 years. Beginning in 2000 I was running a modern dance company, Donlavy Dance Company, which grew to have a 2700 sq ft dance studio and children’s artistic education center. Theh in 2004 that I ran events for Outfest Film Festival for 4 years, which gave me a lot of on hand events production experience. From that experience, as well as regularly singing in local piano bars, it also opened the doors to meeting many restaurants which lead to Spotlight Cabaret, which I created and produced for 4 years.
It always amazes me how one thing will lead to another. It was from that cabaret show that I started producing Andrews Sisters tribute groups. Between the piano bars and the cabaret show, jazz and swing grew to be my number 1 interest, which just became more complex as I grew. At some point it seemed pertinent to modernize things and so my band The Swing Tones was born. Mixing the sounds of the Andrews Sisters / 40s jazz with Manhattan Transfer style tight harmonics, with our own modern twists, we grew to a 13-member, 7-vocalist strong group.
Within this period, I started producing the 6-year running series, Summer Swing Nights. Now in its sixth year, the swingafied music series features a seven-piece band, swing dancing and The Swing Tones. The Swing Tones bring you back to the days of vocal jazz by blending big band sounds and nostalgic tunes of the swing era, with tight vocal harmonies and postmodern twists. We are keeping high quality musical experiences, interactive dance concerts of a former era, alive, For me, SSN is the flagship show with our Swing Tones sound, unadulterated. For more information on Summer Swing Nights please check out ssn2023.com.
All of this work has also landed me on the 90.7 KPFK, featuring a weekly segment dedicated to LA’s swing scene called “The Swing Scene.” The segment airs alongside the 20-year running radio hour, “Soul Rebel Radio,” every Friday night at 7PM.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Many of my past projects did not grow to the large success points that I was hoping for. They did lead me however to what was coming next. I had no vision that i would be on the radio, or that my interest in jazz harmonics would lead to such interesting material that has been gaining a lot of traction and attention, when I was just starting out. All along the way, I had rough relationships ending, business partnerships (with friends) dissolving into non-friends or businesses and needed to regroup and start all over again. However it is never starting all over again. I was able to take what I had, the good parts, the best parts, and turn it into something better.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Check in with the people you work with. Always be kind, always find genuine appreciation for what you are receiving. Even if it’s not as much or as great as you had envisioned. Good relationships with your clients will lead to good, strong referrals. Doing 100% of good quality work and effort has always brought me new business, no matter how small the budget.
Needless to say, keeping a constant presence on social media and keeping a strong database helps. Also networking. Go to as many networking events as you can and join as many networking groups as you can.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://aaronjacobsproductions.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/summerswingnights
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/summerswingnights
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theaaronjacobs/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/nightsswing
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/aaronjacobsproductions
- Other: https://instagram.com/theoriginalswingtones https://instagram.com/aaronjacobsprod https://instagram.com/ratpackholidaytribute