[Dixielandjazz] Big Bands & Charts

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

Steve B.--> Larry and Mike talked about charts with big bands and that if 
you gig
> regularly, the need for the charts diminishes.
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I have played with several road bands that come through St. Louis and the 
regulars are like that.  Also the number of errors in the books are very 
high but the guys who have been playing the books just play what is supposed 
to be there.  It's the new guys that are left scratching their heads.

There is a guy here that wanted to revive a band and had an original book. 
The arrangements were awful and some of the parts didn't even go with the 
arrangements but the original band sounded great.  The new band sucked 
because of it and it lasted about two gigs.

There was a band for many years here in St. Louis that played for every big 
deal that came along.  It was usually a 10-12 pc band.  The leader was a 
piano man who had become really popular with an afternoon radio show.  I 
played with his band every so often.  His charts were awful and a lot of 
times they didn't even have all the pages.  The band sounded great because 
the guys had been together for so long.

There is a big plus to this in that you don't need the hottest sight 
readers.  After a while if you work often the band will jell and sound good. 
There is a certain comfortableness in bands like that.  The biggest danger 
is boredom.  Unless the book is kept fresh ... hard to do ... the band will 
get sloppy.  If I've played with a band too long  I get to where I almost 
scream when certain arrangements come up.  Some of the guys think that 
"Wonderful World" is the greatest thing since sliced bread but the guy I 
work for on Sat nights uses it as a closer and I'm pretty tired of it after 
7 or 8 years.  The saving grace is that it's the LAST tune.

There is a non pro band here that rehearses every week and plays very well. 
They are actually one of the better bands in town and yet individually for 
the most part they are just OK musicians that would never make it jobbing. 
They play for charity things mostly.  Their book never changes and they pay 
a pro to rehearse them.  They have some very nice CD's out.  I enjoy sitting 
in with them for the sight reading practice if they need a sub for rehearsal 
but I don't want to be a member of the band because I would get bored.
Larry
StL