[Dixielandjazz] Finding Jazz Musicians - Was Dixieland Bone Player Wanted

[Steve barbone]

Both Larry in St . Louis and Tom in Lafayette CA (Bay Area) point out the
difficulties of getting good jazz musicians who improvise, and read, to play
OKOM and or jazz generally.

Because jazz = low pay, or the good ones are working in non jazz bands and
do not want to work OKOM, etc.

I used to believe that also until I started gigging regularly, both as a
sideman, and as a leader in the "working" musician world, rather than the
occasional, just for fun jazzy job world.

Bear in mind that every gig I do is primarily jazz. e.g. swinging beat and
improvisation, American Songbook and/or Dixieland and or mainstream and/or
bop.

As a leader, I found that if you were going to do 160 gigs a year, you
needed to have a multiple name call book because no 5 musicians are going to
be available ALL of the time for ALL of the gigs. Especially if one tours
with Liza Minelli and another might want to teach in Sweden for 2 weeks,
etc. And last year with over 200 gigs, I found it necessary to be at least 6
deep in each instrument because you get these last minute gigs, e.g. N.O.
Funerals, and they can be tough to fill with a one or two day notice.

In the beginning it was hard because guys did not want to work cheap and the
guys I was after don't leave their house for less than $100 for a one hour
gig, close by or $150-$200 for a longer gig further away, $300 on a Saturday
night or $400-$500 on NYE, etc., etc. And I was not yet smart enough to get
that kind of money for Dixieland.

BUT, once I figured out how to get paid a fair amount for the band, I was
able to raise the sideman pay to ABOVE the going musical wage in my area.
And so I was able to get the TOP musicians because:

Barbone Street pays more than most regular musical work in Philly.
Barbone Street offers sidemen more gigs than any other band in Philly.
So Barbone Street is the top yearly income source for most sidemen regulars.
All Jazz Musicians LOVE to play jazz.
Our gigs are IMMENSE FUN, what with beads, college girls, college dates,
    young kids at street gigs, Mardi Gras at Sydney's Jazz Club in eclectic
    Rehoboth, old folks in hospitals, Swing Dancers, sexy presence, etc.,
Barbone Street does not work from charts. Head arrangements only which we
    learn by ear. Like if you can't play jazz, you can't gig with us.

And mostly what we do is DIXIELAND. It doesn't get any better than that. Oh
yeah, I did more than 230 jazz gigs in 2005. And I'm 72, the current band
average age. Imagine if we still had some fire in the belly. :-) VBG

The result of networking and asking new subs who they play with, has
expanded my call book to 50 musicians for 5 slots. Some as far away as 3
hours drive, who clamor to sub when one of the regulars can't make it. If
I've learned one thing, it is that there are many more excellent musicians
out there looking for work then there is work.

This in a nutshell is why I preach "business" to musicians. What Barbone
Street does is simple enough to do, but largely ignored or even disparaged
by many. That in a nutshell is also why I get so exasperated with people who
give their talent, and/or hard earned musical expertise away and/or
otherwise undercut the marketplace.

Cheers,
Steve

PS. In 2005/6 there are at least 6 bands worldwide that are now practicing
what I preach in one form or another. All 6 have written me over the Holiday
season about their successes with increased gig counts and monetary rewards.
Look around for that secret smile and check out that working band near you.
I'm sworn to secrecy as they haven't yet learned that you don't really have
a viable product marketplace until you have competitors. The more the
merrier, because that's what increases the audience. (That's my agenda.)