First Paid Gig

[AllanAllen]

I had my first paid gig last night, I inherited a local jazz jam. After 2 years of blues jams, I found this jazz jam a month ago, and now I'm running it. The band was only available for the summer and the venue was looking for someone to fill the vacancy. Being the only person to speak up, I got the gig!

It took me a week to get the band together so the venue had to take a week off, but we kicked things off last night as a 4 piece with trumpet, upright bass, drums and guitar.

By all means we did fine. I called a Glide On, a basic blues in Bb, but started it in C. Mostly for solos I played it safe sticking to key centers for my melodies. I printed Autumn Leaves in G- but then called it in E- thinking I had it in the Real Book key, transposing on the fly went fine, probably because it's Autumn Leaves and I only really looked at the chart to track through the bass solo.

We had 3 jammers, a drummer first who played though my Bb but actually C blues and then Watermelon Man, then a guitarist came up for 2 songs, set break and then a real true bebop drummer played Oleo with the band, we had the other guitarist join us for the last 2 songs after break, Ipanema and Moanin' to end the night.

Very much looking forward to playing again in a week!

Turn off the chord highlighter on iReal guys, nothing highlights the song when you play on stage, the band just keeps going.

[DawgBone]

Congrats Allen, that's awesome.

Now you have a band. Work up a set list to cover 3 hours and book some shows. If there is money there will be players.

[Doublea A]

I had my first paid gig last night, I inherited a local jazz jam. After 2 years of blues jams, I found this jazz jam a month ago, and now I'm running it. The band was only available for the summer and the venue was looking for someone to fill the vacancy. Being the only person to speak up, I got the gig!

It took me a week to get the band together so the venue had to take a week off, but we kicked things off last night as a 4 piece with trumpet, upright bass, drums and guitar.

By all means we did fine. I called a Glide On, a basic blues in Bb, but started it in C. Mostly for solos I played it safe sticking to key centers for my melodies. I printed Autumn Leaves in G- but then called it in E- thinking I had it in the Real Book key, transposing on the fly went fine, probably because it's Autumn Leaves and I only really looked at the chart to track through the bass solo.

We had 3 jammers, a drummer first who played though my Bb but actually C blues and then Watermelon Man, then a guitarist came up for 2 songs, set break and then a real true bebop drummer played Oleo with the band, we had the other guitarist join us for the last 2 songs after break, Ipanema and Moanin' to end the night.

Very much looking forward to playing again in a week!

Turn off the chord highlighter on iReal guys, nothing highlights the song when you play on stage, the band just keeps going.

Great !!
Congratulations


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[digger]

Excellent! Well done. Not sure I could manage to follow a chart at a gig - I think I'd need to memorise the changes.

I had my regular gypsy jazz session with a buddy this morning and I think we're close to getting to a point where we might soon try and get a proper gig (we've done a few open-mics). My buddy has played many jazz gigs in his time, and I've done many country / blues / rock'n'roll / acoustic finger-picking gigs, but if we do get something this will be my first jazz gig. Whether or not we'll start off with a paying gig remains to be seen...

Derek

[DawgBone]

Whether or not we'll start off with a paying gig remains to be seen...

Never, ever play for free unless it's for a charity event or your music isn't worth anything.

[AllanAllen]

Excellent! Well done. Not sure I could manage to follow a chart at a gig - I think I'd need to memorise the changes.

I had my regular gypsy jazz session with a buddy this morning and I think we're close to getting to a point where we might soon try and get a proper gig (we've done a few open-mics). My buddy has played many jazz gigs in his time, and I've done many country / blues / rock'n'roll / acoustic finger-picking gigs, but if we do get something this will be my first jazz gig. Whether or not we'll start off with a paying gig remains to be seen...

Derek

I didn't think I could follow a chart on stage until I was presented with a choice between reading a chart or stop playing.

[AllanAllen]

Congrats Allen, that's awesome.

Now you have a band. Work up a set list to cover 3 hours and book some shows. If there is money there will be players.

I've got 3 hours covered, just need to start cold calling venues.

[DawgBone]

I've got 3 hours covered, just need to start cold calling venues.

I can tell you what cold calling via phone in the 21st century generally will net you. Wish in one hand, shit in the other and see which one fills faster. I mean, you might get lucky but most of the time clubs don't even answer the phone and when they do it's some ignorant bartender who tells you "so and so who does the booking isn't here until 2, try then". You call at 2 and they still aren't there. So here is what I would recommend:

Create a dedicated facebook artist page and use a dedicated email for whatever you decide on for a group/artist name. This way you can template a generic message and send out mass emails/facebook messages and contact a lot of clubs quickly. If you get one gig for every 50 messages sent you are doing real well. If you get one response for every 10 sent messages, gig or not, you are doing well. If a venue tells you "not our format" that is actually good so you don't waste their time or yours down the line.

Get photos and videos of your group at the jam for the facebook site and get them uploaded ASAP before trying to book. People love the damn photos, I don't know why, it just is. You and your guitar. You and your band all smiles. It doesn't matter. If you are planning on being the boss/booker then I would avoid a band name and just use your name, or create a stage name that way no one can torpedo your forward progress by breaking up the band. "Allen's jazz revue". Then it doesn't matter who the sidemen are as long as Allen is there.

Find out other jazz groups working in your area and prowl their facebook and web pages to find venues in your area booking actual jazz. Then you can poach some gigs by sending those venues messages as well. It will help if you have an actual website with photos, show dates, some music etc on it because you now appear more professional. Venues see "oh he's hosting a weekly jam" he must be legit let's book. Gigs booked equate to more gigs getting booked. He has gigs, he must be good. Otherwise you are another throw together just using facebook. Every band has that. A website is about $300 or so for the year, not cheap, but part of the cost of doing business and is a tax write off when you file taxes on the big bucks you make being a bandleader. Good luck Allen!

[AllanAllen]

Thanks DB. This will all be very helpful. We completely biffed it not taking pictures last night. But at least next week I can suggest they dress to have pictures taken.

[DawgBone]

Thanks DB. This will all be very helpful. We completely biffed it not taking pictures last night. But at least next week I can suggest they dress to have pictures taken.

Hey you are welcome! A few other things I should mention: Be an unthinking, unfeeling machine when it comes to booking gigs. Don't take a lack of response or getting turned down personally. Clubs constantly change hands, clubs constantly change the booking person. One day they say no and the next someone else is running it and wants to book you so message clubs every 2-3 weeks unless they flat tell you "not our format". Personnel move from club to club and word of mouth is still the best way to getting good gigs. "Allen is a killer jazz guitarist he played at such and such when I worked there and was always smokin". It's great when a club reaches out to you first! Keep track of the last time you messaged a given club. Be persistent but don't be annoying, a fine line to walk, lol. Never rest on your laurels. Constantly be hunting down new venues because today you are booked solid the next day a couple clubs close or are sold and you are left with few dates on the books.

One thing that can really work into getting into venues that otherwise won't book you is to mention that you can be "available for short notice gigs if your club has a last minute cancellation." I would include that in your messages and tell them to text you if they are in a bind. I have gotten into more than a few places on that alone. Running a group you need to have your cell phone close by at all times because it pays, literally.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I've got 3 hours covered, just need to start cold calling venues.

DawgBone's right about cold calling. But cold visits are very productive if you arrive with the right promotional material in hand and a professional look. In the old days, I took a CD with the right info about the band on the package and insert, plus a phone #. For my jazz trio, I now have business cards with the website's URL and contact info (email and phone #). The website has half a dozen full tracks on it plus good pictures, band bios, and a timeline of the band's last 15 years of experience.

DB is also right about pictures. Selfies and inexpert images mark you as an amateur - you need high quality shots. Here's one of my blues band's promo shots:



and here's one of my own:

[rpjazzguitar]

A lot of good advice here.

I'd add this.

Around here (Northern Cal), there are some pretty good bands doing "tips gigs". There's a discussion to be had about whether or not it's a good idea for the profession, but the fact is that a lot of very good players play them.

It isn't all that difficult to get a tips gig. You walk into a venue that has music and ask to speak to someone about bringing in a band.

You're better off with promotional materials. I did my website with bandzoogle, $10/month. You need some pictures and, especially, some mp3s (EDIT: nevershouldetc recommended lossless formats, which I think is a good idea). Then it takes some time to figure out how to make the site, although it's designed to be easy for amateurs. If you get stuck, they have phone help and they'll actually do things for you.

Anyway, you give the owner/booker the info and call back a week later to check up on things.

A business card with the url is typical and I'd recommend it, even though I didn't do it.

To get repeat gigs you have to impress the owner/booker. Bringing in business is highly desireable. If the place has its own following then you need to enhance the atmosphere.
So it helps to be a good band with some performance skills.

Easiest, most efficient, way to lose a gig: play too loud.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

You need some pictures and, especially, some mp3s.

Here's another tip. Almost every web or device player will now play lossless files. You can debate the difference in sound quality between 48k and 96k recordings all day, but there's absolutely a clear difference between a standard mp3 and a decent lossless file (e.g. FLAC or ALAC). And that difference is audible on any decent phone or tablet. It's quite dramatic on good audio systems. Audacity and most similar recording programs and DAWs offer you the option of exporting your files (which are recorded as wav files) in a number of formats.

When a music promoter, producer, or investor checks out a prospect, they usually only listen to the first few bars before deciding to reject a track. First impressions are critical, so you have to have a "hook" to engage them (and your audience). The crisper, cleaner sound of a good lossless audio file is just one more little advantage you can give yourself. Cloud audio servers like Soundcloud do transcode your files to "optimize them for streaming", which means that they degrade the quality of whatever you upload by transcoding your files (to AAC, in the case of Soundcloud). But the better the sound quality of your upload, the better the sound of the bastardized version your service streams. And at least in the case of Soundcloud, your files are downloaded by listeners in the same format they were uploaded by you.

So I strongly suggest using FLAC or ALAC rather than mp3. The first time I sent a FLAC of my trio's show to our drummer and bass player, they both responded immediately that it was the best sound they'd ever heard. If you're concerned that your target may not be able to play a FLAC, you can put both "standard" and "high quality" files on your website, audio server, etc. Just be sure you label them clearly and make the high quality option the first and most visible they see, with the lower alternative clearly a secondary option.

[JazzPadd]

I had my first paid gig last night, I inherited a local jazz jam. After 2 years of blues jams, I found this jazz jam a month ago, and now I'm running it.

Congratulations! Sounds like that jam’s now in good hands. Keep us posted on how it’s going.

I appreciate the details on tunes, players and format. Thank you!

[AllanAllen]

We had the second jam last night. Let's say it was, lightly attended. But still there were two people who came up and played with the band, a drummer and a sax player.

I was way out of my comfort zone this time. Lots of songs I've never played and was only vaguely familiar with like Lets Fall In Love, I Fall In Love To Easy as well as a few I want to learn but haven't worked though, Out of Nowhere and Caravan.

With attendance low we are switching from weekly to a less frequent schedule TBD.

I'm still having trouble tracking tunes while I'm soloing, but you know, it's only my second gig and only a week since I turned off the chord highlighter.

I recorded a lot of it with my phone, I have little things to iron out, comping too many things or indecisive playing, but I feel like I'm playing music.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yjrym...w383wnqgr&dl=0

[pamosmusic]

Nice! The recording sounds good!

With attendance low we are switching from weekly to a less frequent schedule TBD.

Welcome. Yeah that’s a bummer. I have a friend who always names his gigs. So it won’t be like “that session at that restaurant” or whatever but he’ll call it something like “Townville Jazz Jam” or whatever. He’s good at giving things snappy names, but the point is that when the venue gives him the boot or cuts back and he finds another place to play, he can advertise it as the same session. Like Hey we’ve moved. Rather than, Hey we got cut but now I’m running this other session at this other place. I always thought that was a pretty good idea.

I'm still having trouble tracking tunes while I'm soloing, but you know, it's only my second gig and only a week since I turned off the chord highlighter.

Do you mind if I ask what you work on when you sit down to learn a tune? Like to solo over it or whatever?

I recorded a lot of it with my phone, I have little things to iron out, comping too many things or indecisive playing, but I feel like I'm playing music.

Yeah it sounds good!

[AllanAllen]

Do you mind if I ask what you work on when you sit down to learn a tune? Like to solo over it or whatever?

My process is always changing. Right now I try to learn the melody by ear with a recording, then I'll make a rough guess at the changes but quickly move onto a lead sheet or ireal changes. From there I was doing Barry Harris scale outlines, but that's getting me too far from the tune on stage and I lose track so now I'm trying to improvise by embellishing the melody so I can keep track.

As far as a practice session, I set up the ireal to loop the tune 3x first is melody, second is chords, third is improv. Since I'm trying to stay fresh on 30+ tunes I just run through them like this and any troublesome ones I'll go back to. I'm thinking of adding an arpeggio run to this, just to get a mapping in my head after the chords and before the improv.

This is aside from my technical practice where I'll run scale, arpeggio or chord inversion exercises.

I also need to make playing along with records part of my practice, but there's only so much time.

[pamosmusic]

My process is always changing. Right now I try to learn the melody by ear with a recording, then I'll make a rough guess at the changes but quickly move onto a lead sheet or ireal changes. From there I was doing Barry Harris scale outlines, but that's getting me too far from the tune on stage and I lose track so now I'm trying to improvise by embellishing the melody so I can keep track.

As far as a practice session, I set up the ireal to loop the tune 3x first is melody, second is chords, third is improv. Since I'm trying to stay fresh on 30+ tunes I just run through them like this and any troublesome ones I'll go back to. I'm thinking of adding an arpeggio run to this, just to get a mapping in my head after the chords and before the improv.

This is aside from my technical practice where I'll run scale, arpeggio or chord inversion exercises.

I also need to make playing along with records part of my practice, but there's only so much time.

Right on. Something else that always helped me is playing stuff specific to the changes. Really simple stuff is great. Like just a single chord tone through everything. The root of every chord or the third or fifth. Usually just those, but sevenths or extensions I guess are cool too. The root is a big one though. Mere mortals like myself have a hard time hearing every little thing, so when I’m tracking changes in real time, it’s usually the bass motion that I’m hanging on to.

The other thing is that changes tend to outline the form better than something like key centers. And the melody is awesome too, but as you embellish, you’re almost necessarily disrupting it rhythmically. So the form is obscured. Tracking the changes just using one note per chord can be helpful and also a door to trickier stuff. It could be ear training and you stick to single notes but transpose the tune or something. It can help me hear patterns or something where I can make it root and third on each chord or a triad, or inverted triad, or add a chromatic embellishment. Or maybe I start voiceleading through changes.

I don’t know. I always had trouble with forms and then I had some lessons where a guy threw that kind of thing at me and it really helped.

[Liarspoker]

Hey AllenAllen, great stuff!

Great to hear. I got a big smile on my face when I saw that someone had their first paying gig. It's a milestone

Keep going, you're getting paid to improve. I actually got half decent at that fingerstyle improv thing I did with Tim Lerch.

There's a gig where I got paid and I could busk as well. A guy tipped me while I was playing an improv over Misty and he said that it sounded good. The set was only a small bit of jazz though, I think 3 or 4 tunes.

My last gig was October last year out in the open when the heavens suddenly opened. Gear got wet etc.

Focusing on the MGH stuff now but funnily enough I found out this summer that I could do a load of gigs next summer if I want.

Anyway, keep posting your sessions. Will be a joy to track your progress.

[AllanAllen]

Booked again for the 31st. Honestly, it’ll be nice to have a week off.

[DawgBone]

Booked again for the 31st. Honestly, it’ll be nice to have a week off.

A week is too long between gigs. Off this weekend myself. I could use the money!

[AllanAllen]

I'm fortunate to be a gigging hobbyist. I won't play for free, but I don't need the money. Also, as soon as it stops being fun I can quit and go back to watching movies every night.

[AllanAllen]

The venue that hosts my jam has announced they will be closing end of year. So I have 2 sessions left, this Thursday and 12/21. The hunt for a new venue begins.

It's a shame, I think I was just starting to get regulars.

[Liarspoker]

The venue that hosts my jam has announced they will be closing end of year. So I have 2 sessions left, this Thursday and 12/21. The hunt for a new venue begins.

It's a shame, I think I was just starting to get regulars.

Sorry to hear. Fingers crossed going forward.

[wintermoon]

Booked again for the 31st. Honestly, it’ll be nice to have a week off.

I never turn gigs down unless it's a lousy band or the pay doesn't warrant me loading gear in my ride. Never know when you'll be sitting around just practicing in your crib again waiting for the phone to ring, and you'll learn a lot more on the bandstand anyway.