[Dixielandjazz] Re: Amateurs and Pros

[Elazar Brandt]

Shalom Jazz Fans,

I just returned from Holland where I linked up with listmate Wim Mossel in the Hague for a delightful visit and tour, after which we
enjoyed Roefie Hueting and veterans of his Downtown Jazz Band at the jazz club in Delft. Thank you, Wim, for a memorable day. I
assure you all, anyone who wants to come visit Israel I will return the favor, show you around, try to find places to play if you
want -- not necessarily for pay, but who knows? Don't worry about safety. I haven't lost any jazz musicians or other tourists yet.

On the subject of amateurs and professionals, I have what to say. Being one of the ambitious amateurs trying to turn pro in my old
age, I have amassed some experience at being amateur AND making money at it. I was never a pro player in terms of my qualifications.
I learned a bit of piano as a kid, followed by trombone in school bands and with some private lessons. A friend got me started on
banjo in college and I mostly learned it myself with some pointers from players in various banjo bands along the way. I've carried
my banjo and bone or some such ax with me nearly everywhere I've gone in my life, and played wherever I had opportunity ... even got
paid now and then to fill in when needed in local bands or to get together with a friend or two and play music for a party.

Here in Israel I find versatility more profitable than virtuosity. I can make $100 blowing a few fanfares on a straight trumpet, and
I don't have to sound like Louis. I don't even need my own horn. They provide them, and can never find enough players. As for
working trad-jazz bands, they don't exist. If you can find half a dozen shows a year in the whole country we're doing well. So there
is no market for me to undercut. I play where I can, and charge what I can reasonably get for it.

I have found that I don't like playing with "professional" players. I have tried doing the make-up band thing to do a wedding or bar
mitzvah gig. The pros don't want to rehearse, they don't want to wear costumes or uniforms (and so far I don't even insist on
ties!), they just say "call me when you have a paying gig". Every time I do one of those, I am sorry. These pro guys watch the clock
like hawks, want to leave on the dot when they think the gig is over, and since I don't play with them regularly, I am never able to
relax about arrangements, beginnings and end of songs, and so on.

My students, on the other hand, are not nearly as good technically, but will show up eager to perform, in costume, smiling and
outgoing with the guests, cooperative with me, and since we play together all the time, we have a groove that works for us and
people enjoy it and will pay for it. If the party goes long, we'll keep playing, within reason, and we generally get a nice tip even
without asking for extra money for the extra time.

An "amateur", from the Latin root of the word, means someone who does something because he loves it (and therefore does not have to
be paid to perform). For OKOM, for my money, you can take your fancy technique and go play bebop if you're not going to put your
heart into pleasing the crowd and having a good time playing together.

Recently I attended a concert at the Jerusalem Theater that was promoted as "New Orleans Jazz". The band was a collection of musical
pros. I don't know how often they play together. Aside from it being terribly overamplified, these guys were technically so good
that the songs turned out to be mere excuses for their solos. True they could play circles around me and my group. But I felt the
whole time that I was at a modern jazz concert. The solos went on so long and got so esoteric that you could forget what song they
were playing -- even the Saints! Now that's a good trick. I couldn't help thinking that, despite their superior technical skill,
what we do is much closer to anything that used to happen in New Orleans 80 or 90 years ago than what they did.

One last point for this sermon, for us not quite ready for prime time players, PLAY THE STREETS! You can make SOME money on the
street while honing your skills, playing for audiences, and getting the music out where people can hear it. And how do you know when
you're ready for paying gigs? Well, people will come over and hire you to play at their parties and events. Be ready with the
appropriate rates when they ask how much you charge, and don't stand there stammering like, well, amateurs. I am honest with people
about what we can and cannot deliver. I find the old self-deprecating humor to be a useful tool to keep people's expectations in
line with what we do. For instance, when they ask where we play, I'll tell them we just returned from a world tour, and then name a
few local neighborhoods or nearby towns where we've had recent gigs. On-stage, I'll introduce my players as my students proudly and
without apology, and sometimes I even mention how long they've been playing. I might arrange with one of them, when we are about to
do the Saints or another Armstrong classic, to call out as I pick up my cornet, "Hey Elazar, play it like Louis!" To which I will
reply, "If I could play it like Louis, do you think I'd be playing in a dive like this?" Gets a laugh, and it cues people in to our
awareness that we are not yet up there with the great ones, but we're pouring our hearts into every performance, and putting smiles
on faces in the process.

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