[Dixielandjazz] Where are the musical jobs?

[Donald Mopsick]

This is in response to Dan Barrett's well-conceived post:

In my 19 years working at The Landing in San Antonio with the Jim
Cullum Jazz Band, I heard the question "What do you guys do for your
day jobs?" almost on a daily basis. I agree with Dan that these
innocent queries seem to arise mainly from ignorance. When millions of
Americans experience the wide world outside of their homes only
through a television, how could we expect any more of them?

I would ask them to guess "what we really were." The guesses would
follow an interesting pattern--the occupation guessed, be it lawyer,
accountant, doctor, college professor (the Cullum band is always
dressed in tie and jacket) would almost always be closely related to
the occupation of the guesser.

For example, if there were a physician's conference in San Antonio,
and the docs, nurses or health care administrators were in the club,
they would assume us to be docs or admins. If the college math
professors or high school principals were in town, we'd all be profs
or educators of some kind. It got to the point where if a customer
would, without my prompting, volunteer a guess that we were lawyers, I
could ask him in return, "why do you ask, do you happen to be a
lawyer?" and the answer, more often than not, would  be "Yes, how did
you know?"

This guessing game was mildly interesting for a few years, but
eventually it became boring and, frankly, a little disturbing. By the
end of my tenure my response had evolved to a direct but polite, "No,
all the guys are full-time professional musicians and have made their
life's work the study and performance of music and early jazz. A few
are graduates of prestigious conservatories and have held down major
jobs in the music business, etc."  A few of them refused to believe
me, and a few others had the good taste to apologize for the question.

But a little knowledge can be fatal. One gentleman, after sitting
through an entire set of the JCJB playing music by Armstrong, Bechet,
Morton, Bob Cats, etc, asked me, "Don't you guys play any Coltrane?" I
responded that it was highly unlikely, the band concentrated on
earlier forms, blah, blah blah.

His response: "You're kidding, right?"

mopo