On Wednesday, 9 August 2017 07:43:15 UTC+3, Don Pearce wrote:
On Tue, 8 Aug 2017 12:34:33 -0700 (PDT), Iain
wrote:

On Friday, 28 July 2017 17:43:48 UTC+3, ~misfit~ wrote:
Once upon a time on usenet Iain Churches wrote:
On Wednesday, 26 July 2017 15:38:06 UTC+3, ~misfit~ wrote:
Once upon a time on usenet Iain Churches wrote:
maanantai 24. heinäkuuta 2017 15.49.33 UTC+3 ~misfit~ kirjoitti:
Once upon a time on usenet Iain Churches wrote:

Were you involved with the admin of the band you were with?
Musicians are notoriously bad in business matters, and anyone who
can add up the gig fees on a table napkin and deduct the agent and
taxman, and divide the result by the number of band and crew, is
usually welcome in any ba

Actually the keyboard player / synths / trumpet / 2nd rythm
guitarist / sometime lead-vocalist (all one person) was also the
electronics whizz *and* admin. He was a very clever bloke, not your
typical 'muso' at all. Even after I joined and took over the mixing
duties he was the guy who ran all the wiring and set up the amps -
it's something he just didn't want to let go of.

He was also chief solderer and was always fixing the guitarists
effects pedals etc.

Every band needs at least one "dynamo" to keep things going. Being in
a band is not just about turning up on time (and sober) for the
gig:-))


He's the one guy who never gave in to any of the temptations that were
abundant in that environment.


Ah yes. "The destructive recreational substances" (as described by Duke Ellington). They have been abundant, and a part of the music scene since the 1920's. Long before it was a dance, the word "jive" referred to hashish. Andy Kirk had a song entitled "All the Jive Is Gone". Lyric: "Come on in and have some gin, 'cos all the jive is gone".

Illinois Jacquet (One of my favourite saxophone players) who had the most amazing band, had a title called: Three Buckets of Jive" We play it often. The meaning is lost to most.

We don't have a "substance" problem in our band: the back row are all policemen:-) We once had a stand-in guitar player, who sometimes turned up wide-eyed. He was totally unaware of the backgrounds of the other players. He used to slip out for a "drag" during the break, but played really well. The role of guitar player in a big band is a demanding one, he has to play rhythm guitar like Freddy Green, (and read the chords - not just simple, three-chord changes but all the dominant chords, ,9,11,13 dims and + chords and much more) and play written single line tutti with saxes or muted brass, and then solo like Wes Mongtgomery !!

The worst thing that can happen to any band is that a festival timetable starts to run late. The organiser, with the best if intentions, sets up a bar tab for the band. In two hours,a twenty-piece big band can down a lot of vodka!

Iain

Things don't have to run late. I went to see the Moscow Philharmonic
at the Barbican years ago. The two double bass players came on stage
and each carefully placed a bottle of vodka by his stand. By the end
of the evening both bottles were empty.


I have been to Moscow Philharmonic concerts on their home ground. There were six orchestral basses, so two bottles among by six players in not so bad:-))

Iain