[Dixielandjazz] Sitting in

[Elazar Brandt]

Shalom Jazz Fans,

I travel a lot, and have had the privilege (and I DO mean privilege) of sitting in with a number of listmates and their bands.
Usually this happens when the venue is such that a sit-in is appropriate, as in a recurring club or restaurant gig with a familiar
audience who is used to some audience participation anyway. I always figured sitting in was a sort of professional courtesy extended
to visiting musicians and other royalty, as I said, when the venue allows for it. I would never crash someone's stage performance in
front of a paying audience, unless there was a real good reason and it was arranged in advance.

I just happen to have had a couple experiences, though, that are unusual and may contribute to this conversation. One has been in my
travels to India for a recurring Bible translation gig. I always travel with a banjo, and usually a trumpet or cornet. I am sort of
new on the trumpet, but I can get some music out of it, and my more familiar bone and tuba are too big to travel with. Anyway, on my
first trip to India, I stayed in a hotel for 3 weeks, where there was an Indian house band in the main restaurant playing
traditional Indian music, which I would not touch with a 10 foot pole. One night they spotted me carrying my banjo as I was coming
for dinner after playing at an orphanage. We were all afraid to try something together, but they asked me to play a couple tunes
during their break, I suppose so their audience could hear the banjo. I did so, with a terribly high reverb setting left on the PA
from their set, and people liked it anyway, and we sort of agreed to quit while we're ahead and not try a tune together. But they
were very nice.to me.

Next night, I go up to the roof to a Chinese restaurant where unbeknownst to me there was a nightly 5 piece band (electric guitars,
bass, keyboard and drums, and they all sing) of Indian musicians playing American pop tunes from the 50s to 70s, and quite well. The
same hostess from downstairs the night before introduces me to the band, whereupon they send me back to my room to get me banjo and
proceed to invite me to sit in for a whole set. We manage to agree on tunes and keys, and it goes pretty well, and the audience
responds well, so I get a standing invitation that was more like an order -- really -- to bring my banjo whenever I come for dinner,
and I am welcome to sit in. Several times management gave me free or half price dinners in return. After several successful
sessions, I try bringing in the trumpet on a few tunes, and even a kazoo, which they had never seen before and didn't know what it
was. Now, 2 years and 4 trips later, I have become an institution there, and hotel staff remember me by name from year to year, even
when I'm not carrying my ax. I think part of the motivation there, aside from a good rapport with the band members, was that their
audiences rarely if ever get to hear a banjo or a trumpet.

In another story, I go to Prague a couple times a year for fun and to buy instruments. On my first trip I found a hotel restaurant
in town that features the same Dixieland band every night -- 7 nights a week. They rotate players and back-ups, but it's the same
band. In this case, I didn't have my banjo because I needed the luggage allowance to bring back whatever I bought. And I was not
always confident enough on the instruments I bought at the time to try to sit in with them, nor was I prepared to walk into a
restaurant with a Bb sousaphone or helicon just in case. So I contented myself with introducing myself to them during their break,
chatting a bit and buying a few of their CDs. By my third trip, the band recognized me on sight, and the leader asked me if I wanted
to sing (!) with the band. Not the shy type, I graciously accepted his invitation, and they kept me up there for 3 or 4 songs. On my
last visit, their tenor banjo player volunteered his banjo, for me to do a couple songs. I didn't ask, really. But of course I
accepted the offer and again they had me join them for 3-4 songs.

It's hard to put a definition on it. Sometimes it's fun for everyone. Sometimes it's an intrusion. I try to always remember it's not
my show, and leave it up to the band leader to decide whether and how much to have me sit in.

Thanks for listening.

Elazar
Ministry of Jazz
Doctor Jazz Band
Jerusalem, Israel
<www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz>
Tel: +972-2-679-2537