[Dixielandjazz] Where is the music going?

[Steve barbone]

LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing at sign.guy at charter.net wrote:

> Since you brought up BIAB, I personally made $675 for two gigs on valentines
> day and two gigs Fat Tuesday with BIAB.  Not bad for a total of 5 hours
> playing.  While it's not as much fun as playing with a group it does pay.  I
> have built a series of one hour "shows" that are really popular with the
> seniors from Dixie to 40's and 50's.  I have about 600 tunes and add more
> all the time.  Put it through a good amp and spkr system and it's a gold
> mine.  It's about the only way a sax player can go out and work duo's and
> singles.

Well, yeah, I suppose so. But the day I buy BIAB to play a clarinet or sax
single for Seniors is the day I will quit playing again.

I routinely get $100 in Philadelphia, per sideman, playing in trio format,
for seniors at small assisted living facilities, one hour gig. We do sextet
Dixieland gigs at the larger ones, same $100 per sideman for one hour. The
trio does Great American Songbook stuff and Sextet is usual Dixieland
set-up, except with amplified guitar as chord instrument.

Every once in a while we run across a single act in a senior facility and
while they may pay quite well, especially if you book two a day, they are
just not my thing.

Personally, I quit playing in 1962 when I could not make a living as a jazz
musician. While I could make a living as a musician, I did not want to be a
musician, I wanted to be a Jazz Musician. So I didn't play at all for 30
years. Now, I make a living as a jazz musician. Had it been this easy in
1962, I never would have quit.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone