[Dixielandjazz] Re: Art vs. $$$

[Patrick Cooke]

     As someone said, you have to make choices.  Does who your audience is 
decide what/how you will play?  Or does what/how you play decide who your 
audience will be?  Or if you'll have an audience at all.
     I was once one a 'steady' gig in Bismarck, ND.  The club owner was 
caught violating curfew, and they shut him down for a week.  During that 
week I had an offer to do a gig with a 15 piece band in just over the border 
in Montana.  We were to play for the gate.  Having nothing else to do, I 
said OK.
      Well, we got there , got set up, and ran through a couple of tunes. 
The band was really good, but there were no paying customers there yet.  We 
played for a half hour...still no customers.  Someone went out and came back 
with the information that everyone in town was down the street listening and 
dancing to a C&W group.
We packed up and went home.
       Would I have taken the gig if it were a C&W band? I don't know.  What 
would you have done?

     If you're going to play strictly for your art, you'd better be damn 
good at it.   The really top pure jazz players do draw enough people to fill 
a room, if they're in the right venue.  If you're going to switch to pop 
music, be prepared to have some (or most) of your aficianados abandon you. 
They are a picky bunch, but won't pay to see you week after week for the 
rest of your life.  They'll want to hear other players after a while.
     How many of your non-musician acquaintances have ever heard of Scott 
Hamilton, Oscar Peterson, Wayne Bergeron, Warren Vache, Irving Fazola, Monty 
Alexander, John Patitucci, Jeff Hamilton, Bob McChesney, Andy Martin, Carl 
Saunders, etc,?  These are all world class players...the best of the best!
      Like someone said....you have to make choices.
        Pat Cooke