[Dixielandjazz] Re Booking Your Band

[jazzfact]

Hi all,
There are many different people belonging to this mailing list, I write
this as a contribution to those band leaders / managers trying to book
gigs for their band. Disregard if you have plenty of work!

As president of the Noosa Heads Jazz Club, I am partly responsible for
booking bands and musicians. Here are some criteria we use.

Provide a professional CD. This is critical, particularly if you are
from out of town or just starting up. How can we book you without
knowing the band's "sound". Remember to use the CD as a calling card (My
own band's cost us around $3 AUD to make, no one throws a CD out!)

Provide a short but concise editorial style CV. Imagine you are a reader
of a newspaper scanning the entertainment section. The word JAZZ jumps
from any page so use it! This should include reference to experience of
the individual players and also some history of the band. Include here
also the style of jazz you play with some examples of material likely to
be played. Please provide this information in both digital and printed
form. Reason; The newsletter editor or the local newspaper scribe both
lack one thing; time! If you expect either to sit and re-type your press
release then you won't get your message across. Copy and paste! 

Photographs. Have some good posed photos taken of the band. Professional
photographers really do take a better photo so don't cut corners here.
The happy snap taken of the loitering band with Auntie's disposable
camera won't do! Have some landscape and some portrait layouts done all
in colour. Your pro photo may well end up on the front cover of the gig
guide in a local paper! The happy snap won't. Try wearing a uniform.
Whilst I know many musicians abhor this, what it actually does is
indicate to the promoter that you are a "band", not a pick up group! If
the band changes, redo the pics, make your rehearsal a DRESS rehearsal.
Like the CV provide them in digital form at about 300dpi (if you don't
know what to do have someone help)   

All newspapers now encourage the use of digital material. All of our
club's printing including posters newsletters flyers etc and our
publicity material to the press is sent out via email, so why send
scrappy stuff out for some one else to look after. 

Respectfully and regards,
Richard Stevens
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jazzfact/


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