Would you let a "better" player join you onstage for a song?

[monk]

Wasn't it Metheny that said "It's good to be the weakest member in your band" or something similar, the point being you will always be striving to better yourself.

LOTS of people have said that. That advice is as old as jazz.

[TH]

A lot of really good leaders hired youngsters who could show up anybody and the leaders would give them experience and they would give him youthful energy, genius and a great open minded band to work with. Miles, Blakey, Burton, Motian, Sco, all welcomed sidemen who challenged the leader and made everybody look good. I would argue that Miles knew there were places he could go musically but had no idea of how to get there. Part of his genius was not to be afraid of the cats who could have shown him up. The second great quintet was a formidable entity in its own right and Miles was a leader of course, but he was also along for the ride they provided. Look at the compositional output alone when Shorter joined the band. Just before that gig, Shorter was with Blakey and he and Lee Morgan made that band. You share the stand with great talent, it keeps you on your toes and makes you better for it. I know Paul Motian loved working with Joe Lovano and Bill Frisell because they were so great, and left alone they enabled him to do things nobody imagined.

It's not school out there, you become great by opening yourself up. No guarantees and lots of lessons to be learned. Sometimes you DO have to lose a job and there's a lesson to be learned about the job security that comes from knowing how to be the preferred call. THAT lesson is worth more than any strategies about second guessing a leader.

David

[jtizzle]

Man, if Ron Carter showed up to my gig, first thing I'd ask him is if he wants to play on a tune... or 6.

[mr. beaumont]

Im guessing Ron would be ok without a chart.

[Lionelsax]

A lot of really good leaders hired youngsters who could show up anybody and the leaders would give them experience and they would give him youthful energy, genius and a great open minded band to work with.

Where I live there used to be a strange tradition, I don't know if you've ever lived that. You play in a club for a jam session, nobody knows you but everybody says you stink, you play and it's worst, everybody wants you to get out but every week you come back until only one guy says you can play then you don't stink anymore and you are allowed to play. Then you've got connections even if you still think you stink.