[Dixielandjazz] Sitting in

[Jim Kashishian]

The sitting in theme has been raked over & over on DJML, but I will add
another bit now.
 
It has been suggested before that sitting in with working bands is the way
to learn.  I'd like to add this to the subject Bob Ringwald just wrote
concerning practicing in front of an audience.....
 
........so, imagine there's a working, all together band honking away at a
pay gig, and in walks a sit-in with the usual entourage that they tend to
bring along with them (for morale support?).  
 
Then, it goes like this, "yeah, great...you got any favorites you want to
do?"  The answer is "no...just give me the key".  My immediate reaction is
"time to worry!"  The song begins, but the sit in finishes his solo after
the bridge (after honking through a half dozen choruses (when the guys in
the band do one or two).  
 
"Give a nice hand for....", etc., and back to the band as it should be, with
the sound that the band has worked hard to achieve (in private practice!),
and that the audience expects to listen to.
 
Is that the recommended way for the younger ones to "get their chops" in the
professional world as suggested in the past on DJML?  .......at the expense
of those working?
 
Granted, it doesn't always go that way, but more often than not, it
does....unfortunately.
 
Jim