[Dixielandjazz] Recording, live (was worms!)

[James Kashishian]

We have never, ever had any problem selling our live recordings to our
listeners.  We just tell them the truth that the sound & energy they just
heard can be heard on the recording, and that "yes" some of the songs we
played are on our 3 live recordings offered for sale.  "Buy all of 'em to
not miss a thing!"  That the listener is going to lay the CD back down &
walk off because it's not "that particular gig's" recording is stretching
the thing a bit. The impulse buying is still there, and they buy.

 

What really gets people up and buying is if they see the band signing the
CD's!  All it takes is one person to say "can you sign it for me", and the
line suddenly looks like a bunch of Brits queuing in London for a bus!

 

Nah!  I wouldn't sweat the "same concert" recording thing.  And, for
multiple concerts being the same. ???  Yuch!  As many times as I've seen
Pink Floyd live, I always thought what a drag it must be to have to play the
same note, stand on the exact spot (or get hit on the head by a falling
wall!), night after night.  

 

Club gigs:  we don't have any idea what we're going to play.  I'll go up on
the stand with the first 3 tunes in my head, and then fly from there.
Concerts:  I do a list, but often don't follow it too closely, preferring to
fly with the mood of the audience.  Same goes for soloing order.  We mix it
all up on purpose to keep fresh.  Same goes for tempos, sometimes changing a
tune from a fast tune to a slow one, or vice versa, or even in the middle of
a tune.  

 

Doesn't mean I can't add/merge/change things if it was a recording.  Oh, by
the way, Tom W. mistook my comment about removing applause as meaning I
would fade out, then leave a space & bring in a new tune.  I don't really
like that method, which is often heard.  No, I can chop your applause in the
middle somewhere, and leave the swell at the beginning, and the natural die
out, overlapping the next tune on that dieing out applause.  You get a great
concert, with the fade in of natural room noise, to the last "encore,
encore" (or in our case "otra, otra, otra") at the end.  Enough advertising,
JIM!

 

Jim