[Dixielandjazz] Re: Ted Lewis & Woody Herman

[TCASHWIGG at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/31/03 2:25:54 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
barbonestreet at earthlink.net writes:

> 
> Really?  Perhaps it's a generational thing. My contemporaries are all in 
> their
> 70s and there seems to be general agreement among them that Woody Herman was
> not one of the better musicians around. They also agree that his genius lay 
> in
> forming great bands composed of some pretty damn fine musicians and those
> Burn's arrangements were terrific. Hence the "joke".
> 
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
> 
> 
This could very well be true, if you indeed take great stock in the opinions 
of other musicians, and or critics.   Being a band leader is no easy task, and 
quite often the individual musicianship of a good bandleader is forced to 
take a back seat to all the other duties and work associated with operating a 
successful band.  

I personally have never had a problem with that, and having once been offered 
a tour job with Woody I was faltered but declined since I was making more 
money promoting him than I could playing for him.

I make it a point to hire the best players I can for my band, and hopefully 
all of them are better than I am, however I have never met one of them yet who 
can do the bandleader and booking and management functions that I do not only 
for my own band but several others.

I usually have a band full of bandleaders who can't find any work, and the 
reason most of them can't is because they hire the cheapest mediocre players 
they can get to make themselves look and sound better and then they all run 
around all over the marketplace cutting each others throats for gigs by seeing who 
can work the cheapest, to the club owners delight I might add.   Same band 
every night, different leader.  : )   Another reason I don't play clubs.

I have often heard club owners make the statement that if it were not for 
them and their meager club gig these musicians would have no place to play.  
Sometimes they are correct, and some guys should not complain about what they are 
paid, because they are being overpaid.

Any bandleader who wants to operate a great band needs to hire the BEST 
Players he/she can and try to build a super group that will please the audiences, 
sell tickets and be real professionals who can earn a decent living in the 
business.  I would stress however that one of the prerequisites for this success 
is to keep moving, and touring, sitting around in one club all the time at home 
may be convenient, but you will eventually stagnate and your fan base will 
start to deteriorate and hence the gig will evaporate right out from under you.

The public is indeed a fickle bunch, demanding change and something new all 
the time, if you don't change with the times at least partially you will end up 
in the yesteryear bins and faint memories of what used to be popular.  It has 
been said before. "Familiarity breeds contempt" and that also equates to 
apathy in music circles.

Just my opinion of the day mates.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins
Saint Gabriel's Celestial Brass Band