You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Gig Etiquette - #26

Episode Date: February 25, 2018

In this episode, Peter and Adam discuss some things to do and things to don't do on a gig. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I'm Peter Martin and I'm Adam Anus. Welcome to the You'll Hear It podcast. Today we're going to talk about something very important and that is gig etiquette. What do I mean by gig etiquette? Well, let's see, I know what a gig is and I know what etiquette is, but it sounds French. So I guess this is like how to play a gig in France. We. No, a gig etiquette, these are just simple things you can do,

polite things you can do to be a good pro on a gig. Well, you say simple. If they're so simple, how come they're so rarely adhered to? People don't get raised right sometimes. Okay, all right. Can we solve all that in this podcast? We're going to try. Okay. So the first thing we're going to talk about is to let the leader lead.

Now, this is applicable if it's not your gig. If you've been called for a gig and you get on the gig and then you start calling every tune and then you ask the club manager for the check, you might be overstepping your bounds a little bit. You know what I mean? But I've seen it happen. Oh, yeah. So that's my first tip is to let the leader lead. You're a side man, you're a side player, let it happen.

Let whoever book the game. Let it happen, Captain? Please do it. Okay, well along those lines for the next gig etiquette tip, I would say if you're a leader, you should lead though. Flip side of the corner. Yeah, if you're supposed to be picking up the check and calling the tunes and letting folks know what's happening, you need to do that. You can't be like, oh, this is a group thing. Yeah, of course, when you're playing, it's a group thing.

But you need to really be there as a leader. That's why you're making more money or have your name up there or whatever. whatever. I mean, the actual reality of being the leader of the gig, you usually make less money or something. But it doesn't matter. You're leading the thing. Part of leading it is not only taking care of business, that's the etiquette of it, but it's also trying to put everybody the best, most comfortable position to be able to play great and execute and for the whole thing to look great. And your name's up there as the leader, so you're going to be the beneficiary of all the glory. And then kind of side-chaining on that, if it is your gig, you know, speaking of the business,

If it is your gig, be prepared with the music and the money. Don't show up and expect everybody to know your arrangements because you have them. Make sure that the people that you hired, that you give them the opportunity to excel. And if you have complicated arrangements, maybe bring a charter, at least try to walk them through it beforehand. And then be prepared with the money. You would be surprised, even as you get higher up the jazz hierarchy, how this still doesn't happen, even with some pretty big names. But, you know, if it's your gig and you're promising some money,

be at front with the money. Right, right, right. Don't get funny with the money? Does that another way to put it? Okay. Now, I'm going to just push back a little bit on what you say. I mean, I agree with that in terms of, you know, if you're a leader, be prepared with the music and all that.

But I would just say as a sideman, or especially for younger musicians, or, you know, almost like you're coming up and you get an opportunity to play on a gig that maybe you're ready for, but you're not totally, maybe your name isn't that big, and somebody's, you don't want to say, doing a favor, but they're putting you in a position

for you to possibly succeed. I would say, as a sideman, you know, do what you can't. Don't just totally be like, I'm a cog in the wheel. Everything has to be presented to me. Like, you know, if you're getting a chance to play with somebody, you know,

go and see if there's some YouTube videos of them playing recently and maybe learn some of this stuff and kind of reach out to them to say, hey, I saw you've been doing such and such on these things, and I learned those tunes. Is there anything else you were thinking about doing? Yeah, ideally, the leader is going to have everything organized and laid out.

But be proactive, I guess, would be a good thing as a side man. Because then, you know, you're going to be seen as a good player, but someone that's prepared, someone that if, you know, as a leader you kind of lose track of or forget something, they're going to be there for you. That's great. Our next point is to be present and to put your phone away on the gig. Whether you're in a concert hall or a jazz club or the restaurant on the corner, there's nothing more frustrating than calling a tune and turning around.

someone is checking Facebook on their phone. Right. Things we thought we never would have to actually say about a gig. Honestly, there's nothing more professional than having your phone out, I think, on the bandstand, and I see it way too often. Wait, so more professional or more unprofessional? More unprofessional. Because some might say, oh, that's very professional. I'm booking my next gig.

I'm checking, you know, other situations. Get your head in the game. Get your head in the game. We're playing music here. That's right, right. Yeah, and I mean, this sounds like a silly thing, but we have seen this. And I'm sure many of you have seen this. And, I mean, just think about from the audience standpoint.

I mean, you know, it's not like, okay, if you're going in and you've got grandma and you're helping her out, you're taking to the hospital for surgery and you're looking through the window. We love grandma so much. We wanted her to have successful surgery. And you see the surgeon checking Facebook while he's got one hand stitching up grandma. Okay, that's life or death, of course. But it really is the same kind of thing. Like you want to know and we want to treat things as like just as special as that.

People are coming to see us play. like they have their jobs or their life or whatever. They're coming to be entertained. Absolutely. And we want the audience to be in the moment. So we have to be, we have to set the pace for that. We have to play great music, of course, and look nice, whatever. But most importantly, like, we have to set the table of this being a special, safe place.

Yeah. minutes or 60 minutes or 75 minutes of a set. Yeah. Without being able to concentrate a little bit, you should maybe think about work. Well, and I mean, this is really base level. Like when we're saying the minimum level is don't be playing with your phone. I mean, even a higher level of presence might be nice too, right? I'm realizing that this episode of this podcast might just be how to be somewhat of a responsible adult.

I feel like this may be geared towards a younger. How to stay out of jail, you know. I mean, I wish that I wish we didn't have to have this podcast. I know, I know. Well, like we're saying gig etiquette. We want to say this is gig etiquette 1-0-0-0-1, but this is more like gig etiquette point O'O-O-O-1, you know, beta. Yeah. But, I mean, you got to start somewhere.

You got to start something. Yeah, that's right. Okay, next, since we're very basic. Yeah, we are very basic. We're going to stick with that and talk about, make sure you got your gear together. Oh, please. Like, you know, if you show up, don't be like, oh, I thought they were going to have symbols here and drum clutch, you know. Or we don't want to pick on the drummers.

But, you know, you know. Secure your gear and you... It's a drummer. It is. Yeah, sometimes. I mean, the piano is either there, it's not, or we're going to bring a keyboard. But, like, that's part of your whole thing. You got to, you know, you got to have the gear or have checked that out. But I would just say that, yeah, this would seem like on really rinky dink gigs,

but it's all the way from, like, the things that we learn and that we do. I mean, I remember we had my first little band in seventh grade, and we had to, like, worry about how we're going to get the bass there and all this different things. And you do that, and you think as you move up that you leave those things. But it's, but I mean, I'm talking about, like, some really good drummers and stuff. I just played at the Village Vanguard with Carl Allen on drums. And like he, we came in to rehearse the first

day. Actually, it was just sound check before the gig with Christian McBride and like when we sat down to play, I didn't even think about this until later, but like Carl came in about the same time I did. Like we got there just a couple minutes before the rehearsal. And he just sort of sat down and I'm

sitting down to play. I'm thinking we're going to go through this process of fixing everything. He had already either come earlier or it turns out I think he had somebody set him up the day before or whatever. But he took care of it. And some people are like, well, he's got someone to do that. Well, he has to get them and pay them to do it. It still doesn't magically happen.

But that kind of level of professionalism, you learn that when you're younger. And I think that, yeah, it gets easier because you can afford to hire people or that becomes part of the gig. But regardless, you've got to secure it and make sure it happens. You really do. And the last one we're going to talk about here, and this sounds, again, kind of a baseline thing. But this is actually pretty important, I think, referring back to an early episode of this podcast, we're talking about how to get and retain.

gigs is dressed for the gig and I know this sounds a little silly but honestly if you get called for a gig with someone who you admire it's worth like checking out what they wear how how casually or or formally they're dressed on their gigs and try to like match that level of formality or or casualness you don't want to show up in in jeans when everybody's in suits you don't want to show up in a suit when everybody's wearing shorts right you know what I mean over eager much Yeah, exactly. So it's worth actually asking or doing some research about where you're playing, who you're playing with, and the appropriate attire for the gig. Right. And again, this is an area as a leader you want to kind of set the tone in, maybe even let people know that would be a good thing. But if you're a side man or it's like a group thing or whatever, it definitely deserves discussion. And I think it actually is very important because we are playing this music for an audience. We're not playing it for each other. We have the understanding of this music that when we get up on the bandstand and play, we can hear and understand.

so many intricacies of the music before, the audience even gets to that. And so we could be like, oh yeah, he's a serious player based upon just how he plays. It doesn't matter what that person, how they dress. But to an audience, like, those things matter.

And you know what? It matters to me when I go to hear jazz. Big time. Like when I see, you know, and it's not to be a tirade against all these young kids now are wearing jeans and flannel shirts and stuff. But I mean, but I mean, and... Watch out.

No, you know what? If that matches the music and a lot of times it does, that's great. And everybody's in sync. I think that's what it is. It's like have it match the situation and the vibe and make it authentic, but make it match. Yeah, it'd be weird if the bad plus were all wearing white tuxes. Yeah, I mean, unless it was like their vibe that night or whatever, but it wouldn't fit the vibe of the music. But, you know, all this stuff, like we kind of joke that this is like baseline stuff or not to sound preachy, but these are all very important things, I think, for being a professional.

And you can actually get hired based on some of these things. Yeah. You know, if there's another musician who's in the same circle and sounds around the same, you know, as good as you do, if you have more of this kind of stuff together, if you're more reliable and you're more prepared, you're probably going to get the gig. Right. You know what I mean? Exactly. I mean, because this is like, don't be fooled. And basically every city where live music is played all around the world, and I've seen this a lot, like, it is very competitive for gigs.

This is not a field playing jazz music that there's a supply. demand, like there's more demand for good playing than there is a supply of players. It's the opposite. I mean, there's a demand for the music, absolutely. And in fact, there's so much of a demand. That's why I never believe this like jazz is dead. Nobody cares about it. I'm like, well, why are there's still so many people wanting to play because it's so fun to play? But so few gigs in comparison to that, you know? Wait, did I just contradict myself? You might have just in one sentence. That was amazing. No, but I'm saying that there is, because there is a demand for it that help me out here a little bit. Yeah, no, I get what you're saying, that there is at least a demand to play it.

And so there's enough people that if you don't have some things besides the playing together, some professional things together, you're probably not going to get called as much. Yeah, and there's people that want to hear it. And so that if you think that, oh, nobody wants to hear it, I can act however, whatever, you're going to be very quickly, but you're just not going to have any gigs. That's true. Yeah, the market will speak to you. So, you know, get your professional game going.

Yeah, get your shit together. Come on. You'll hear it, maybe. That's it for today's episode of the You'll Hear It Podcast. For more information or to hear more of these podcasts, go to openstudio network.com slash podcast.