[Dixielandjazz] Getting tired of popular songs

[LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing]

Sounds like you have things going in the right way.  There was a guy when I
was in high school that did more or less the same thing.  He had a music
school and played a lot of gigs and used his students.  He got a lot of
criticism from people because he paid his musicians almost nothing.  He
pulled it off because he was a piano player and if things fell apart he
could always take a long solo.  His bands were pretty bad also for the most
part.

You can't have a street band here because of city ordinances.  The laws vary
(we have 150 municipalities in the county) but you generally need to get a
permit - then of course you can't make any money then.  These ordinances
cleared out all the street beggars but got rid of the street musicians too.

You sound like you have an overall plan and you have already thought a lot
about depth.  Most businesses start off slow so I wouldn't worry about that.
If you have a quality fun product you will do well.
Larry
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Elazar Brandt" <jazzmin at actcom.net.il>
To: "DJML" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 2:55 AM
Subject: RE: [Dixielandjazz] Getting tired of popular songs


> Hi Larry,
>
> I suppose you could call us a garage band, although I don't think of us
that
> way. I moved to Israel almost 10 years ago, and one of my goals was to
find a
> few young Israelis and teach them to play OKOM, and from this group to
form a
> working band. It took 5 years of playing on the street to find the first 2
> students, who are now my primary partners in Dr Jazz. They each took about
a
> year of learning their instruments before we started to perform together.
My
> barometer has always been the street. I take students out there to get
them used
> to playing for an audience in a relatively low pressure situation. When we
get
> good enough, we start getting gigs. I am proud of the fact that most of
our
> customers are native Israeli, middle eastern types, and religious Jews,
and not
> so much from the aging Anglo expatriate population that the conventional
wisdom
> tells me to cater to.
>
> Until I came top Israel, I never tried to make a living playing music.
I've been
> playing all my life, and have been paid here and there both to work in
bands and
> to do solo gigs, and I did some street work in California. I do have a
degree
> that includes music as my minor subject. Here in Israel I teach privately,
and
> have a campaign going to get kids interested in traditional band
instruments and
> music. Most kids here can't figure out how a horn can make music when
there is
> no place to plug it in.
>
> Now that Dr Jazz is in our third year of operation and starting to get a
more
> steady flow of gigs, we're running into the problem that you mention: that
not
> all the guys want to work that much, and we need back-up players. In the
past
> I've tried to put make-up bands together from pro players, and have not
found
> this a good way to go. We could play the music, but the band had no
identity, no
> personality. The players didn't want to rehearse, only to come when
there's
> money. They didn't want to wear, never mind buy, costumes or uniforms.
Worst of
> all, they had no vested interest in the band, because the "band" was
virtual. It
> existed only when there were jobs. I opted instead to find and train a
crew that
> would be a more coherent band.
>
> At this point we have the best of both. We have our 3 core players, and
are
> training another couple to add to the core, and we have a couple of pro
players
> who we call when we need them, but they're on our CD and the additional
players
> are usually the same 2 guys. We find that, as long as we have me and one
other
> core player and a couple side men, the band is still Dr Jazz. I'm working
on
> having a back-up for me, since there are times when I can't make it to a
gig
> that I'd like the band to take anyway.
>
> My two main partners are recent university graduates, about to get
married, and
> I am not expecting them to dive into a career of full time music, even if
the
> band succeeds and that were to be possible. They arrange their jobs so
they can
> have some flexibility to take gigs, and as I said, and as you suggested,
we have
> to build up a back-up crew. They don't want to and cannot work every day,
while
> I gladly would. So I take a lot of solo, duo and trio gigs that don't tie
up all
> the guys, but we still fly under the Dr Jazz flag.
>
> Finally, another solution for me is to start another and different kind of
band,
> which I am in process of doing. I suddenly have a lot of trumpet students,
so
> we're forming a trumpet ensemble which I hope will eventually be a more
diverse
> brass ensemble. Different style, different repertoire, but with a little
> overlap, and a couple of these guys are also learning the Dr Jazz
repertoire and
> style.
>
> So it's taken awhile, but I feel like I'm getting into the best of all
worlds.
> Thanks for your advice and thoughts.
>
> Elazar
> Doctor Jazz Band
> Tekiya Trumpet Ensemble
> Jerusalem, Israel
> <www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz>
> Tel: +972-2-679-2537
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing
[mailto:sign.guy at charter.net]
> > Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 12:04 AM
> > To: larryb at actcom.co.il; DJML
> > Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Getting tired of popular songs
> >
> >
> > It sounds like you have what is called here "a garage (basement) band"
>
>
>
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