[Dixielandjazz] Musicians on cruise ships

[jim at kashprod.com]

As usual with spam of this type, there were various wrong spellings or poor English to give you the hint the Carnival ad wasn’t real.  Another thing, as far as I know, the big cruise conglomerates (Carnival owns gobs of different lines) don’t directly hire musicians.  Musicians are hired by, and are paid by, agencies.  So, Carnival wouldn’t actually be looking for musicians or other workers.  They farm all of that out, thereby having many less actual “employees” on the ships themselves.

 

There are also small groups hired as a group to entertain in the lounges, for example, on larger ships.  Those musicians, also hired by agencies, will only work in their own band.  That is in contrast with the individual musicians hired to work in the show band, which may break up into smaller groups for occasions other than the main showroom shows.  There can be up to 12 or 13 musicians in the show band on larger ships, and sometimes that is augmented by a string quartet that would be normally used for afternoon tea, etc.

 

Although it is difficult to actually have a chat with one of those band members (they disappear backstage & aren’t allowed to mingle), you will sometimes see the band leader around the ship.  They quite often end up being trombone players (which reminds me of the wonderful joke:  Why do trombonists often have their own band?  Because no one will hire them, so they start up a band!   :>  )

 

On U.S. ship lines, the leader is normally American, although you will find the odd Brit.  The bulk of the musicians tend to be from the old Soviet Union countries.

They are “monster” readers, which doesn’t always lend itself to being also a good improviser, which may have inspired Les to mention in an earlier post to djml that he wasn’t all that impressed with a Saints version he heard onboard once.

 

I was told that they normally get a half hour rehearsal for a brand new 45 minute show.  That would mean they top & tail each number…..looking at the beginning and the end, and any important breaks or changes.  The shows are often new, as the entertainers are rotated between various ships all the time.  Not an easy gig for the musician, and you often see some very bored looking members in the bands, which is a shame.  My travelling mates never, ever notice, but I spot it right off, and it puts me off quickly (even though I understand why!).

 

These are all inputs taken from my 15 cruises on many different oceans around the world.  Hope to make that number larger soon.

 

Jim

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