[Dixielandjazz] TIPS

[Stephen Barbone]

Well, a little different from what Jazz Jerry said. In any event glad to know
that I needn't offer to buy the band or a fellow player a drink because it
would be insulting. Now that would be gauche, to insult a fellow musician who
might be playing for next to nothing.

Glad also to hear that British musos are altruists. Actually, probably all jazz
musos play for love of the music. The money is merely a way of keeping score.
Most that I know feel that that they should be well compensated for what they
do.

That makes the tip jar very different from the "begging bowl" at which you
sniff. Actually, American audiences are very generous people and enjoy the
experience of showing it in that fashion.

I have found during my life, that generally, you get what you pay for. That
includes the quality of the music. Admittedly, as a choke . .  businessman and
. . choke , , American jazz musician. . I may be jaded, but that is my
experience.

Bessie Smith sang it beautifully about 75 years ago: "I Got What It Takes But
It Breaks My Heart To Give It Away."  And neither she, nor the greatest jazz
influence of the 20th century, Louis Armstrong, ever gave it away either. A pox
on them for being grubby beggars.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


John Farrell wrote:

> Steve Barbone said :
>
> " Like all those underpaid bands in England. Should we
>  not tip because we think management should pay you an adequate wage? Not
>  bloody likely. There would be no OKOM in England if management had to
>  pay a decent wage to all those Dixieland Bands working in clubs."
>
> Tipping bands in the UK is simply not done, thank goodness. They do not have
> the begging bowl mindset which, according to recent posts on the subject,
> appears to be the normal thing with American outfits. Here in England a gig
> is offered and if the money is acceptable to the bandleader the gig is
> taken, if the money is not acceptable the gig is turned down. Apart from CD
> sales no attempt to extract further financial reward in respect of that gig
> is made, indeed the proprietor of the venue would probably be very annoyed
> if the musicians he hired solicited his customers for money. The band
> concerned would probably never work there again.
>
> England does not have a monopoly on underpaid bands, they exist all over the
> world.
>
> The notion that "there would be no OKOM in England if management had to pay
> a decent wage to all those Dixieland bands working in clubs" is nonsense. It
> suggests that the survival of OKOM here is dependent upon bands being poorly
> paid, which taken to its logical conclusion means that if management could
> not pay a decent wage (whatever that is) and as a consequence all British
> jazz clubs closed down tomorrow, OKOM would disappear from our shores. Next
> we shall be hearing that the moon is made of green cheese.
>
> Practically all the British jazz musicians I know play primarily because
> they love their music, money is of secondary importance to them, they do not
> allow the acquisition of money to become their reason for living. Long may
> it remain so.