[Dixielandjazz] Sittin-in and Practice

[Marty Nichols]

Larry and list,
  The dissatisfaction that I feel about "sitting in" I believe comes from having to "expose" one's abilities in the worst possible situation, i.e., "sitting in" with musicians who may or may not provide one with an accompaniment that will provide a suitable presentation for you. And not getting paid just emphasizes  this disadvantage. At least on a paying gig,
  it is made worth the effort and the "exposure."
   
  Marty Nichols
  http://myspace.com/freemarty
"Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis" <larrys.bands at charter.net> wrote: 
  Marty: I have personally found playing for free to be unsatisfying,

Me too -

Occasionally around here some bar will feature a sit in night and hire a 
piano player. Some even have trios or just a drum set setting there. I 
usually find out about these things about four months late but the couple 
that I have gone to have been OK but not really worth the drive of sometimes 
a lot of miles. I think bars miss a good bet by doing that. The couple 
that I have gone to were well attended and it looked like everyone was 
having a good time. The last one was standing room only.

It's a win for the bar because it brings in more customers. It's a win for 
the background musicians because they attract a bigger crowd and they get 
paid and it's a win for the wannabee to get to play with some good 
musicians. I also think there may be a bigger entertainment pay off for the 
club too. People just like to see people play instruments especially in 
this canned society that we live in.
Larry
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marty Nichols" 
To: "Larry Walton" 
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" 
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 6:59 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Sittin-in and Practice


>I enjoy posts by fellow trombonist David Dustin.
> Around here (East Central Florida) If there were a professional OKOM jazz 
> band to "sit- in " with, I would most likely be in it myself, since on the 
> few occasions in the last several years the local "Jazz Society" has 
> featured dixie style OKOM I was in the band., There are exceptions of 
> course like the presentation of the Allred band once in a great while. 
> Nowadays, if I get "horny enough" to go "sit-in somewhere" it has to be in 
> trios or duos playing what can be described as mainstream 
> swing/bop/standards etc. I have personally found playing for free to be 
> unsatisfying, so I go to my "music room" where I can play along with Jamey 
> Aebersold recordings and whatever else I feel like playing. I even record 
> my own CDs and listen to them in my car when I can stand them.
> Marty Nichols
> Some of my music is on: http://myspace.com/freemarty
>
>
>
>
> Message: 12
> Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:08:13 -0400
> From: David Dustin 

> Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Sitting in and Practice
> To: DJML 
> Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List 
> Message-ID: 
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"
> Steve wrote:
> No, I said exactly what I meant. Practice is/was, a different subject.
> IMO
> practice by oneself, or with jazz musicians who are not competent, will
> not
> help make one a competent jazz musician anymore than performing live
> with a
> professional band will, without prior practicing. They are both
> important.
> By the same token, however, again IMO, if one wants to become a
> competent
> jazz musician, one must perform, live, with professional jazz bands. I
> would
> call that "paying dues", simple as that.
> ====================
> I?m simple enough to get it: someone who is not a competent jazz
> musician
> but desires to become one must find a professional jazz band
> unprofessional
> enough to allow an incompetent jazz musician to pay dues in live
> performances and achieve jazz competency. The proverbial self-eating
> watermelon.
> If the incompetent jazz musician possessed sufficient means, could
> hiring
> professional jazz sidemen and forming one?s own (largely) professional
> jazz
> band serve the same purpose, and without the risk to the jazz
> incompetent of
> being voted off the stand after one chorus? That would be my choice,
> if I
> had the means, as I don?t know any professional jazz bands likely to
> let me
> within a bargepole of one of their hard-won live performances with
> anything
> more musical than a beer ?n a brat.
> Or you could simply enroll in any of the vibrant community college jazz
> programs scattered around this country, led and populated by some
> highly
> competent jazz musicians from diverse walks of life, and pay dues that
> way.
> I will never have the chops of Russ Phillips Jr or Sr, but I sure
> learned a
> lot about jazz (and improvisation) performing live for years with
> non-professional jazz bands in those environments. One community
> college
> band I played in was directed by a Maynard Ferguson prot?g? (I got to
> share
> the stage briefly with Maynard through that association), and another
> by a
> man who had played with Stan Kenton and remained close to him for
> decades.
> (It?s not OKOM, but it sure felt like jazz to me.)
> David Dustin
>
>
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