[Dixielandjazz] Good unknown musicians - Why?

Thu Nov 13 10:27:49 PST 2008

In the last 50 years I have observed many fine musicians come and go. 
Personally, I have seen musicians who were far more talented than I just 
sort of go away or never do much. Talent is necessary but I think of it sort 
of like the ante in a poker game.  You have to have it but unless everyone 
else has a really bad hand you won't win.

There are a vast number of really good players out there but just why are 
they generally unknown and why do they just sort of go away?

I don't believe that raw talent buys a whole lot with some exceptions of 
course.  There is always the person who rises and becomes famous almost 
miraculously.  There is still the Hollywood myth that you can get discovered 
in a drug store.   It may have happened once but for almost everyone else it 
takes more.

If you look at the top stars you will find that they are almost all multi 
talented in some way.  A good example is Gene Autry.  He could act, sing, 
play guitar but most important of all he was an incredible businessman who 
ended up owning half of L.A.  Another factor was just plain hard work. 
Autry did two shows a day, seven days a week, for 65 to 85 days at a stretch 
and that was in addition to all the other things he was doing.

These people also put themselves in the right place at the right time to be 
"discovered".  This requires shameless self promotion.  I follow the six 
foot rule:  Everyone within six feet of you should know who you are and what 
you do.

Learn to write glowing advertising copy about yourself in the third person. 
If you want to know how to do that just read the back of some of those old 
33 rpm record albums.  Most of those were written by the guys on the album 
and not some third person who loved the band.  Too modest to blow your own 
horn?  That means you won't be blowing it long.  Remember that there's a 
pretty good chance that the civilians out there think you are something 
special and you are.  You get to go places and do things that they don't get 
to do.  On the other hand if you try to be terminally cool and over do it 
you can turn people off.

You may not play as well as others out there and you may not aspire to the 
big time but like beauty it's all in the eye of the beholder.  No matter who 
you are, there are some things that can improve your gigging and keep you in 
the business.  A lot of them have nothing to do with music for example your 
personal grooming.  Is your tux rumpled or getting seedy.  Is your haircut 
current?  How about your shoes, are they shined?

It can be as simple as smiling at someone.  I have sort of a scowl.  Age 
tends to do that.  I have to make sure that I am smiling at my audience or 
the people I do business with.  I have actually had people come up to me on 
gigs and wonder if there was something wrong or if I was bored.  You can't 
see yourself and you just can't ignore comments like that if you want to 
stay in business.  Take a lesson from the sports guys and next time you are 
on a job  video tape yourself and watch it a couple of times.  It will tell 
you if there is something you need to work on.

Multi talented is a lot more than singing and dancing it's things like being 
a good businessman, being able to write advertising copy, putting together a 
web site,  photography and using Photoshop, computer skills,  recording and 
making CD's and most importantly basic salesmanship.  If you don't have some 
of these skills then learn how, take classes.  That's how I learned how to 
do a web site.

You are the product.  You have to market and sell that product in exactly 
the same way that you would sell a car.

For some reason musicians don't want to think about all those things.  They 
think that people will somehow miraculously see their talent and flock to 
their door.  They wait for the call to come but what happens is that they 
sort of just go away.  Sometimes they become sidemen and just sort of go 
from gig to gig or end up in one of the many community groups.

In the current business climate you have to be proactive if you want to 
survive as a musician.
Larry
StL
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stephen G Barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2008 4:15 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Good unknown musicians

>> Marek Boym" <marekboym at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Good music is good music, with or without political message.  I have
>> never heard of any of those musicians, but the performace of that song
>> is among the best I have heard.
>
> Dear Marek:
>
> Yes, they are good. One of the neat things about living where I do is 
> that I get to hear musicians in NYC, Philadelphia and Baltimore- 
> Washington DC.  There are hundreds, if not thousands of good jazz 
> musicians in that corridor. Mostly unknown. How lucky I am, to still  get 
> out and listen to live music. So much good live music lout there,  so 
> little time.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve
>
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