Calgary's Home for Jazz Is a House
BuckingJam Palace is a house concert venue in a 1910 home in Mount Royal, named by the young musicians who rehearsed in the basement and filled our lives with music. It is also a registered Canadian charity, the BJP Music Foundation, and the two have never been separable.
How It Started
Calgary's only jazz club at the time had folded, and the Buck family had a house with a big living room and a lot of musician friends. Tom and Lisa were not jazz fans to begin with. They loved the community of musicians they had come to know through their son, John, and together with daughters Emily and Katie they decided to light a candle rather than curse the darkness and outfitted the house as a venue.
The original idea was simple: host a few house concerts, charge admission, and pay the artists a fair performance fee, worthy of their skill and their years of work. The kids took tickets and poured wine and set up chairs. There was no mailing list and no ticketing platform. The first couple of years, friends showed up even when it was not their kind of music, and then word got out. Tom and Lisa knew they had rounded a corner when they no longer had to pay to attend concerts in their own living room.
Now, in social settings, someone will say, "Wait a minute. Are you those people…with that house…who do that jazz thing?" Yes. That is us.
What a House Concert Is
Fifty-five chairs in a living room, a grand piano, and a band a few feet away. There is an intermission where you can talk to the musicians, and most nights people stay after the last tune. Patrons tell us this is the reason they keep coming back, and touring musicians tell us it is why they ask to fit a Calgary date into their schedule.
We are a listening venue. The room is set up for the music rather than around it, which means no bar chatter over a ballad and no one checking their phone in the front row. That sounds strict on a webpage and feels natural in the room.
We do not publish the address. Ticket holders are sent directions after they buy.
- 55 seats
- September to May
- Fair performance fees
- A registered Canadian charity
Getting Out of the House
Ten shows a year sold out quickly without advertising, and demand kept growing, so we started presenting some concerts out of the house: Festival Hall, cSpace Marda Loop, Lougheed House, Establishment Brewing and the King Eddy. A larger room lets us book an octet, or say yes to more of you, or reach a neighbourhood that has never heard of us. It also brings venue rental, instrument rental, front-of-house labour and sound and technical support, which is a large part of why the Support pages exist.
House concerts remain the heart of it. We know we need to stay true to the intimate, personal concert experience that we have become known for, in or out of the house.
What We Are For
- MissionTo present artistic programming rooted in jazz and championing equity, diversity and inclusion. We create opportunities to pay artists fairly and treat them with love and respect.
- VisionTo advance BJP as a collaborative leader in the performing arts in Canada and beyond. We build community and maintain a steadfast commitment to artistic integrity and innovation.
- ValuesBJP strives to achieve the best possible treatment of everyone we work with through equity, service and authenticity.
How We Choose the Music
Our through-line is excellence, and within that we look for a predominance of Canadian artists, gender balance, opportunities for emerging artists, and a diversity of jazz styles. Most seasons that means a mix of touring bandleaders releasing new records, Calgary and Alberta artists, and at least one collaboration, such as our annual concert with Women Band Directors International.
The Money Part, Plainly
We pay out some of the highest club-gig fees in North America and we say so out loud, because the alternative in this country is a musician quietly subsidizing your evening. Everything around the musicians, the piano tuning, the insurance, the dinner, the transportation and the front-of-house labour, is paid for by donors, members, sponsors and public funders, and by a committed team of volunteers who make BJP run so that every dollar goes further.
Support BJPWho Does the Work
Staff
Lisa Buck
Founder and Artistic Director
Lisa co-founded BuckingJam Palace with her husband Tom and has led its programming since the first house concert. She also sits on the board of the BJP Music Foundation.
Aimee-Jo Benoit
Executive Director
Wendy Lomnes
Volunteer Coordinator
Board of Directors
Jodi Lucas
President
Tiro Clarke
Vice-President
Megan Freeman
Secretary
Céline Peterson
Director
Lisa Buck
Director
Nathaniel Chiang
Director
Jim Doxas
Director
The Best Jazz Audience in Canada
That is what touring musicians call you, and we pass it on every chance we get. Volunteers, board members, music fans, newsletter subscribers and Nica's Circle members: your generosity and goodwill have seeped into the walls of the house.