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

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

The better players in the S.F. market for what I NEED and want, are too 
deeply engaged in teaching jobs and private lessons and playing post 
time at the local race tracks (3 ) and Taps at Military cemeteries to 
engage in a serious full time career as a player, not to mention that 
they are also into the me me me My BIG band ( that might get two paid 
gigs a year if they are lucky) no marketing and no promotion and nobody 
would ever know they even have a big band unless they told you at a gig.

They are fine people and have their own dream of MAKING it as a 
Professional Musician,  other sidemen run out and do every low paid 
club gig they can find, score a fat wedding once a month and plow all 
the money into a solo CD of smooth jazz and think they are going to be 
the next Coltrane turned Kenny G. or Miles Davis turned  Chris Bodi :)) 
  Again no promotion, no marketing, and no business plan beyond where am 
I gonna get a gig for next Saturday night.   Around and around in 
circles year in and year out.   I book a tour and half of them can't 
get off their day gigs to go fulfill it, so I have to go looking for 
adequate subs again.  It's Bull Shit I tell you there are simply VERY 
FEW real Pros LEFT INTHE BAY AREA.   If I were to build the band of Bay 
Area Players that I really want to tour I would have to break up seven 
other bands with one good player as the leader and leave all the 
sidemen on their own with nobody to book them gigs.

That's why I have  excellent sidemen in Montreal, Los Angeles, Las 
Vegas, New Orleans, Florida, Switzerland, France , Italy and Germany, 
and often pull tour players from other major Artists who are not 
touring at the same time.   The Hired Guns can get on a plane and meet 
me anywhere in the world and walk on stage and cut the gig as if they 
had been there forever.

Many players dream of gong on tours and being on the road 
internationally, but you would be real surprised at how many of them 
when given the opportunity just can't deal with it for more than two 
weeks. :))   They are very disillusioned to find out that it is really 
a job and they have to work.   They have often become so complacent 
with the BS here at home that they simply don't have a clue what it 
takes to be a real touring musician and make a living doing it.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Sat, 07 Jan 2006 00:29:28 -0500
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Finding Jazz Musicians - Was Dixieland Bone 
Player Wanted

    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.