Bilbo's campaign for the elimination of bad jazz...

[Bilbo]

This isn't a response to your band, Jake, but I have a bit of an issue with the word 'entertainment' because it is often used as a justification for 'lowest common denominator' in terms content. Many musicians make decisions based on their [i]perception[/i] of 'what the people want' and fill their sets with old faithfuls like Midnight Hour, Lady Marmalade, Son Of A Preacher Man and so on. Jazz bands are no different and they fill their sets with the tried and true; Autumn Leaves, Fly Me To the M n, Bye Bye Blackbird, Fever, Moondance etc. What happens, whether it is rock or jazz, is that something vital is made bland and predictable and many of the people who want to be entertained are put off. When I look out at weddings, I see dozens of people dancing and hundreds of people not (the quality of the band has no real bearing on this). I did a recent wedding where my little Brazillian project had a field of people buzzing whilst a major London 12 piece with horns, backing vox etc doing 'those' tunes failed to ignite them (people kept coming up to us and saying, 'we wish you were playing, you were much better'. So what, says you? Well, the Brazillian band's set consisted entirely of tunes they didn't know sung in Brazillian Portuguese. The band always goes down really well wherever we play. It just escalates if there are any Brazillians in the audience

People want to be entertained not bored. Don't just give them what they want, give them something to get excited about, something they have not heard 1,000 times before (your Charleston gig would be a new experience to most people, Jake). A regular jazz gig I did for 5 years used to mostly act as background noise to an ambivalent audience (the drummer insisted on keeping the material 'familiar'; 'those' tunes again) but the audience (mostly 18-24) only ever sat up and listened when we took it out and did something a bit heavier: Coltrane, Monk, Ornette Coleman; something with some energy and vitality. I have no problem entertaining people and, like everyone else, I like to see people dance but it is a much better feeling when what you are doing is also a bit different, edgy, fresh and engaging. So many of us are no better than cheesy cabaret bands in wolf's clothing. Live music in the UK sometimes feels like Sky TV; every channel is pretty much the same as every other and, with 800+ options, you still can't find anything you actually want to watch. Jazz bands are just as guilty of this as function bands. Its sucking the life out of it.

Entertainment is like politics. Everyone heads for the middle gorund to get the most attention and, as a result, nobody gets what they want!

[peteb]

[quote name='Bilbo' post='924011' date='Aug 13 2010, 03:19 PM']This isn't a response to your band, Jake, but I have a bit of an issue with the word 'entertainment' because it is often used as a justification for 'lowest common denominator' in terms content. Many musicians make decisions based on their [i]perception[/i] of 'what the people want' and fill their sets with old faithfuls like Midnight Hour, Lady Marmalade, Son Of A Preacher Man and so on. Jazz bands are no different and they fill their sets with the tried and true; Autumn Leaves, Fly Me To the M n, Bye Bye Blackbird, Fever, Moondance etc. What happens, whether it is rock or jazz, is that something vital is made bland and predictable and many of the people who want to be entertained are put off. When I look out at weddings, I see dozens of people dancing and hundreds of people not (the quality of the band has no real bearing on this). I did a recent wedding where my little Brazillian project had a field of people buzzing whilst a major London 12 piece with horns, backing vox etc doing 'those' tunes failed to ignite them (people kept coming up to us and saying, 'we wish you were playing, you were much better'. So what, says you? Well, the Brazillian band's set consisted entirely of tunes they didn't know sung in Brazillian Portuguese. The band always goes down really well wherever we play. It just escalates if there are any Brazillians in the audience

People want to be entertained not bored. Don't just give them what they want, give them something to get excited about, something they have not heard 1,000 times before (your Charleston gig would be a new experience to most people, Jake). A regular jazz gig I did for 5 years used to mostly act as background noise to an ambivalent audience (the drummer insisted on keeping the material 'familiar'; 'those' tunes again) but the audience (mostly 18-24) only ever sat up and listened when we took it out and did something a bit heavier: Coltrane, Monk, Ornette Coleman; something with some energy and vitality. I have no problem entertaining people and, like everyone else, I like to see people dance but it is a much better feeling when what you are doing is also a bit different, edgy, fresh and engaging. So many of us are no better than cheesy cabaret bands in wolf's clothing. Live music in the UK sometimes feels like Sky TV; every channel is pretty much the same as every other and, with 800+ options, you still can't find anything you actually want to watch. Jazz bands are just as guilty of this as function bands. Its sucking the life out of it.

Entertainment is like politics. Everyone heads for the middle gorund to get the most attention and, as a result, nobody gets what they want![/quote]
Good post - pretty much hits the nail on the head and applies to any genre!

[derrenleepoole]

[quote name='Bilbo' post='924011' date='Aug 13 2010, 03:19 PM']This isn't a response to your band, Jake, but I have a bit of an issue with the word 'entertainment' because it is often used as a justification for 'lowest common denominator' in terms content. Many musicians make decisions based on their [i]perception[/i] of 'what the people want' and fill their sets with old faithfuls like Midnight Hour, Lady Marmalade, Son Of A Preacher Man and so on. Jazz bands are no different and they fill their sets with the tried and true; Autumn Leaves, Fly Me To the M n, Bye Bye Blackbird, Fever, Moondance etc. What happens, whether it is rock or jazz, is that something vital is made bland and predictable and many of the people who want to be entertained are put off. When I look out at weddings, I see dozens of people dancing and hundreds of people not (the quality of the band has no real bearing on this). I did a recent wedding where my little Brazillian project had a field of people buzzing whilst a major London 12 piece with horns, backing vox etc doing 'those' tunes failed to ignite them (people kept coming up to us and saying, 'we wish you were playing, you were much better'. So what, says you? Well, the Brazillian band's set consisted entirely of tunes they didn't know sung in Brazillian Portuguese. The band always goes down really well wherever we play. It just escalates if there are any Brazillians in the audience

People want to be entertained not bored. Don't just give them what they want, give them something to get excited about, something they have not heard 1,000 times before (your Charleston gig would be a new experience to most people, Jake). A regular jazz gig I did for 5 years used to mostly act as background noise to an ambivalent audience (the drummer insisted on keeping the material 'familiar'; 'those' tunes again) but the audience (mostly 18-24) only ever sat up and listened when we took it out and did something a bit heavier: Coltrane, Monk, Ornette Coleman; something with some energy and vitality. I have no problem entertaining people and, like everyone else, I like to see people dance but it is a much better feeling when what you are doing is also a bit different, edgy, fresh and engaging. So many of us are no better than cheesy cabaret bands in wolf's clothing. Live music in the UK sometimes feels like Sky TV; every channel is pretty much the same as every other and, with 800+ options, you still can't find anything you actually want to watch. Jazz bands are just as guilty of this as function bands. Its sucking the life out of it.

Entertainment is like politics. Everyone heads for the middle gorund to get the most attention and, as a result, nobody gets what they want![/quote]

I couldn't agree more with this. I play in a blues band that does the odd bit of jazz and some rock and roll, and we only play tunes that we like and most of them are unfamiliar slightly more obscure tracks. Any that are familiar we try to arrange in interesting ways so that it's interesting not only for us to play, but also for the audience. If we're bored playing the set, how must the audience feel?

[lowdown]

[quote name='Bilbo' post='920047' date='Aug 9 2010, 08:50 PM']The piano solo at 1.00 is a doozy.


[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnrhE5ARc_w&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnrhE5ARc_w...feature=related[/url]

This is even better...

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2fl1_kqsas&NR=1"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2fl1_kqsas&NR=1[/url][/quote]


Love the remarks..
1st Video[b]...".Nicely done, Sax player looks cool in the Panama, but the pianist appears to have a large insect on her head, I wonder if she knows..." [/b]

2nd Video[b]..."That rocks along nicely but the drummer and bassist are strangely absent."... [/b]
Were you actually loading up your car in not so Proud mary?

Welcome to the business of show, Bilbo...


Garry

[Bilbo]

[quote name='lowdown' post='925839' date='Aug 15 2010, 08:57 PM']Love the remarks..
1st Video[b]...".Nicely done, Sax player looks cool in the Panama, but the pianist appears to have a large insect on her head, I wonder if she knows..." [/b]

2nd Video[b]..."That rocks along nicely but the drummer and bassist are strangely absent."... [/b]
Were you actually loading up your car in not so Proud mary?
Garry[/quote]

The first was at a function with a Hollywood theme and everyone had to dress like a film part so some bright spark thought we should dress with a Bond theme - we all had bow ties and the pianist had one of those nearly hats women wear to weddings.

As for not being [i]in[/i] the video, just take that as evidence that there is a God and he has not abandoned me yet.....

[Bilbo]

Did my gig with 'Whither Then'? on Sunday. I posted about it in the 'last night's gig' thread but, in short, it was everything I hoped it would be (except it wasn't original music). It was one of those gigs where I was the weakest player but held my own enough to keep the standard up. Everyone was buzzing at the end (even the audience) and we have been asked back. Real strong blowing, great grooves.... and I am there again this Sunday with the Brazilliance, the Latin band I play in.