[Dixielandjazz] NEA JAZZ STUDY

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

Subject: NEA JAZZ STUDY


  
http://www.tc.columbia.edu/centers/rcac/acrobat/Jazz_Artists_Exec_Summary
_2.pdf



As usual folks this information comes six years late, good for history 
buffs, but not too relevant for current working musicians who could 
have used the information in 2000 or 2001 maybe.


Perhaps Ken Burns and Wynton Marsalis got a preview copy of it  :))

The overall Jazz awareness and live music scene has shot upwards since 
the Ken Burns series came out which in itself no doubt drastically 
changed the NEA numbers substantially for many professional working 
Jazz bands if indeed they are going out and hustling gigs.   It should 
also be noted that the NEA no doubt interviewed a select group of 
Funded Jazz musicians and organizations which more than likely do not 
include many OKOM players at all since they remain substantially 
invisible to the general public in most areas.    I doubt seriously 
that they called many players on this list who live and work in New 
York area, or San Francisco,  He Romans, Ringwald, Mike Vax, Gunter, 
Williams, did they call you guys ???   They didn't call me :))

It would be interesting to see how many IAJE guys they interviewed, and 
how many of the Professional Jazz players they speak of are making 
their money as teachers rather than live performing artists.   A great 
number of the folks that participate in these surveys are the guys 
doing the clinics and workshops that are funded by the NEA and IAJE etc.

It is a much different world than the one out here for working 
musicians on the live performance circuit alone, just performing for a 
living.   Note the comment in the report about musicians not staying in 
one band long enough to build it a reputation as a touring professional 
act.   It claims that most musicians are playing in about four 
different bands.   That folks is why we have a great shortage of good 
promotable high drawing acts to promote these days,  many of them think 
or have at least been told that they are ALL STARS individually.    
Everybody is big on the collaboration game these days which translates 
into nothing more than high priced jam sessions, some work and some 
don't.    With all the best players sitting around waiting for the 
phone to ring and taking the first offer that comes, we now have a vast 
list of hot sidemen and not enough band leaders out organizing and 
touring and promoting themselves to higher plains of recognition and 
audience draw.

    It greatly narrows the playing field at least in my opinion wearing 
the Promoter hat,  there are simply not enough Top known acts to make a 
living as a Promoter these days, not only in Jazz, but in Major Concert 
acts as well.   As more and more of them hit the Big time and become 
wealthy they tend to take long overdue time off and many let the 
momentum of their career slip backwards and lose many of their former 
fans to other current acts and or death or any number of other reasons 
that make the Public so fickle.

Anyway  the current situation certainly is not represented accurately 
by these numbers by any means, especially since Katrina.

New most of those New Orleans Jazz musicians are not infiltrated into 
New York, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, Miami, Boston, etc, 
desperately looking for work and probably willing to play for New 
Orleans wages since that is what they know.

Unfortunately they will not be able to survive in many of the higher 
cost of living cities on New Orleans wages where many of them could 
walk to work, had cheap housing etc.    I have already seen some New 
Orleans players surfacing here in the low/no budget club scene around 
the Bay area.


Cheers,

Tom Wiggins

http://www.sonicbids.com/StGabrielscelestialbrassband