The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    How about this? I can only imagine this is what professional jazz musicians nowadays have to withstand...the "jazz brunch".

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  3. #27

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  4. #28

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    Great post, Peter!
    Two things: 1.) unless you're in a concert venue where patrons paid to see YOU perform, you can't expect politeness and consideration
    2.) If you have a loud and unruly crowd, the only justification is that you have been paid well. Never play for peanuts and
    NEVER PLAY FOR FREE!!! You hurt the rest of us who only play for fair compensation.

    Good playing . . . Marinero

  5. #29

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    YEAH, I mean bartender, turn up the TV so I can HEAR the GAME!!!

  6. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by dickbanks
    Sounds like every great club in America.

    I look at it this way. They could be anywhere else, and they have chosen to be where you are playing. And in no small part because of you, they are having a good time.

    So you should too. Slide up closer to the horn, or get some in-ear monitors, jam, and have some fun!

    ^^^^^^^^^ This. Well said, Sir.

  7. #31

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    Lennie Tristano with Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh at the Half Note in 1964: an audience of people talking, laughing, enjoying themselves; among them, some dedicated listeners.


  8. #32

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    I don't. I throw the guitar on the floor, smash the mic to one side, stride right up to them menacingly and scream 'WHY DON'T YOU B-------S SHUT THE ---- UP!'.

    Never fails

    I come out of hospital next week

  9. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bahnzo


    How about this? I can only imagine this is what professional jazz musicians nowadays have to withstand...the "jazz brunch".
    ‘These days?’ Holy shit have you heard the Charlie Christian Mintons tapes?

  10. #34

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    I've heard it said, that if you're playing a bar or if you're playing a restaurant you are basically musical wallpaper. If you're playing a Main Street gig, chances are you're basically musical shrubbery. If you're actually playing a concert indoor or outdoor public park gazebo... you might have an audience that is paying a bit of attention.

  11. #35

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    Ira Sullivan told me a story of a gig he did in Orlando. This was a gig at a "music venue" by an artist, but also served booze and lite food. He's in the middle of a solo and someone comes in with a birthday cake sits it down on the table right in front of him and the table all sing "Happy Birthday". Sorry but that's just over the line rude and obnoxious.

  12. #36

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    Just need to remember the difference between customers and employees....

  13. #37

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    A noisy audience is the sound of an audience enjoying itself. As long as they do, there's a better chance of getting a repeat gig at the place, so I kinda like it. I don't mind being the music to their fun night out rather than the center of everybody's attention. It's nice if somebody pays attention at all, but I don't need to be the focus of everything. Besides, the first 20+ years of my gigging "career" was playing pop and rock which was all about getting drunk people on the dance floor. A totally quiet crowd is somewhat unnerving to me.

  14. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by geogio
    I've heard it said, that if you're playing a bar or if you're playing a restaurant you are basically musical wallpaper. If you're playing a Main Street gig, chances are you're basically musical shrubbery. If you're actually playing a concert indoor or outdoor public park gazebo... you might have an audience that is paying a bit of attention.
    ‘Musical shrubbery.’ I should put that on my business card.

  15. #39

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    Musical broccoli in my case.

  16. #40

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    Quote Originally Posted by dickbanks
    Sounds like every great club in America.

    I look at it this way. They could be anywhere else, and they have chosen to be where you are playing. And in no small part because of you, they are having a good time.

    So you should too. Slide up closer to the horn, or get some in-ear monitors, jam, and have some fun!
    My thoughts exactly!

    I've gotten used to it, most jamsessions are like that (although there are always some people listening and paying more attention). Later when I grow up to be a famous musician I will ask the audience to be quiet and refuse to play when they are not quiet.

    I actually prefer a bit of noise. Makes me loosen up more and play more interesting stuff, so in the end it's ME having a better time than when the audience is dead quiet.

  17. #41

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    To give another example: I play with a singer (Eva La Voix) and this year we played the 'after party' in a bar after the last concert of the jazz festival in town. Placed was packed with people not ready to go home yet and most of them had already had quite a few alcoholic beverages (it's a cocktail-bar ;-), so you can imagine the audience to be very loud and noisy.

    Somehow at some point we got the whole club to be dead quiet by playing an intense balad - a jazzed-up cover of Amy Winehouse's "Love Is A Losing Game". That was a great experience! Fact is that Eva really puts her whole soul and a lot of emotion into this balad and apperently the audience picked that up.

    My point is, that as an artist you need to devellop the skill to grab the audience and make them listen to you. Even in a jamsession this is possible, when you really make something happen on stage. Give everything! Turn those heads!

    (And if it doesn't work out that night, at least YOU had a good time as well.)

  18. #42

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    An audience that’s too well-behaved disturbes me more than a noisy one. It’s a nightmare to start wondering if I’m playing for an audience or a wall. The audience is a natural part of a performance. Why not let them make noise?

    Remember, a great live album is worth nothing without a noisy audience.

  19. #43

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    Sorry, Carnegie Hall did not call you for the concert.

    You got a gig in a bar or restaurant (or better yet a wedding or corporate party)? People are going to make noise. Get over it.

  20. #44

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    Quote Originally Posted by Average Joe
    A noisy audience is the sound of an audience enjoying itself. As long as they do, there's a better chance of getting a repeat gig at the place, so I kinda like it. I don't mind being the music to their fun night out rather than the center of everybody's attention. It's nice if somebody pays attention at all, but I don't need to be the focus of everything. Besides, the first 20+ years of my gigging "career" was playing pop and rock which was all about getting drunk people on the dance floor. A totally quiet crowd is somewhat unnerving to me.
    Actually, I think you're absolutely right. It's not a concert hall. I used, infrequently, to frequent the odd folk club or two and they sit there, like they're in church, staring at you in silence. Utterly ghastly.

    And then you get (no matter how good you are) a sort of pitter-patter of half-hearted, spiritless clapping... not my scene. So, yes, let's have some life! Mind you, I did do a gig once and some girl came up half-way through and said 'Where's the party, then?'.

    Oh, well :-)

  21. #45

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    Most "jazz jams" in my area are at coffeehouses or bars, and like others have said, people go to those venues to hang out and socialize (or study/read, at the coffeehouses). The people who are there for the jam are sitting close to the music and probably listening, but everyone else is chatting it up. This does not make for a "musical" vibe, and often the dynamic range is "forte to fortissimo!"

  22. #46

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    I did a solo (first in a long time) gig recently and cool venue, small room, packed house, (not for me, cool venue) and I told my wife after, no one was listening. She said, you're wrong, just because they're not staring at you silently doesn't mean they're not listening.

  23. #47

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    The Bill Evans Trio was so good that nearly 60 years on I continue to be gobsmacked by their performance at Village Vanguard. Audience was noisy. How can I possibly expect more cooperation from an audience than it would show Evans?
    Last edited by Greentone; 10-28-2019 at 08:11 AM.

  24. #48

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    It’s always fun to use dynamics in these situations, but hard. Sometimes it has an effect on the room.

  25. #49

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    My city is very big and during last years the jazz scene here bacame very solid...

    there si one place - jam club - they only play jams there so they start at 22:00 earliest, it is very small... only bar, no menu.. but the drinks are high quality, they can make any cocktail too on your request...
    often local or foreign stars make guest appearance there.

    there is no place for amateur - or semi-amateurs... also the owner has some problems with guitars.. only some gutarists have exclusive right to play there.

    But as for your question... - it is usually very much crowded... it has big windows and in summetime - they are open and people sit or stand outside... also the street is (sometimes I think today the whole downtown is) restaurant, bar territory...

    People speak very loundly - mostly it is not listening, it is more like a process of communicating... musicians are mixed with audience, some horn players sit right at the bar sometimes... when not soloing musicians talk or come out to smoke and so on... so this all is a crowd and in my opinion it is quite regular situation for a jam like that - it is non-stop playing, talking, socialization...

    There is another place where the jammers are more separated from the audience... and the jam has more regulated order, there it looks more like they do background music just jamming...

  26. #50

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    Quote Originally Posted by jaco
    I did a solo (first in a long time) gig recently and cool venue, small room, packed house, (not for me, cool venue) and I told my wife after, no one was listening. She said, you're wrong, just because they're not staring at you silently doesn't mean they're not listening.
    My wife says that too.. most wives do I believe...