The Jimmy Bruno Thread

[pamosmusic]

You should not become a musician because you're in it for the money, you should be in it for LOVE. See my avatar. If you do what you love, the money will follow. You've really got to do some soul-searching, though, and ask yourself, "am I a good enough player? Do I have enough talent?" You need to be really honest with yourself about that. Personally, I wouldn't try to become a jazz musician unless I was not only "good," but really exceptionally good at it, a top "outlier" on the bell curve good.

This is not really how being a musician works.

You do need to be good, but the most talented musicians are definitely not always the musicians who get the most work.

Some other things that can get a person more gigs than being the best player in the area:

-versatility
-business acumen, or being the person willing to handle business
-having some skill as an arranger or composer
-having a voice

I do think it’s great for people to love what they do but it’s also unrealistic to expect the money to follow what you love. Often money comes from things that most people don’t love - which is why they pay well.

And if you do something you love, you can work to make it viable and even lucrative, but it’s complicated and it’s hard and the things that make it profitable are often the exact aspects of this whole thing that people don’t find enjoyable.

[Cunamara]

I just had a mental flash of Jimmy reading this thread and saying, "jeez, this is what these guys are doing instead of practicing? What a bunch of dumb****s!"

[pamosmusic]

For what it’s worth, I keep my phone in the other room and set a kitchen timer for twenty minutes. So I practice in twenty minute increments and don’t check my phone while I’m practicing.

But it also gives me a sobering picture of how distracted I get on my phone when I only get through an hour and a half of my practice routine in the two hours I gave myself to complete it.

Oops.

[AllanAllen]

This is not really how being a musician works.

You do need to be good, but the most talented musicians are definitely not always the musicians who get the most work.

Some other things that can get a person more gigs than being the best player in the area:

-versatility
-business acumen, or being the person willing to handle business
-having some skill as an arranger or composer
-having a voice

I do think it’s great for people to love what they do but it’s also unrealistic to expect the money to follow what you love. Often money comes from things that most people don’t love - which is why they pay well.

And if you do something you love, you can work to make it viable and even lucrative, but it’s complicated and it’s hard and the things that make it profitable are often the exact aspects of this whole thing that people don’t find enjoyable.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Talent is like 3rd important when I hire someone.

[AdroitMage]

If you're smart, you will only choose as your career something you are passionate about. Otherwise, you are short-changing yourself. And, if you're smart, you will only take career advice from people who are actually successful in that career, not people who failed at it.

Anyway, I came in here to appreciate the great jazz guitarist Jimmy Bruno, not this junk.

I love your playing Jimmy, it's outstanding.

Peace, love, and stay joyfully

[Al Haig]

^ Joins the thread aggressively then accuses others of dragging down the thread. Accuses others of being fem as an insult then admits to being fem. Signs post peace, love, and joy.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

You certainly give a lot of advice...

However, if you want to learn to play jazz at its highest level, the way to learn jazz is by learning how the masters did it, guys like Bird, Trane, Miles, etc, and our jazz guitar heroes too, like Benson, Wes, Martino, etc. That's how you do it.

That is why knowing how to play in any key is so important for a jazz musician. The ability to look at charts and analyze them quickly, being able to spot and navigate the cadences, where the key changes are, all that stuff is important for that.

You should not become a musician because you're in it for the money, you should be in it for LOVE. See my avatar. If you do what you love, the money will follow. You've really got to do some soul-searching, though, and ask yourself, "am I a good enough player? Do I have enough talent?" You need to be really honest with yourself about that. Personally, I wouldn't try to become a jazz musician unless I was not only "good," but really exceptionally good at it, a top "outlier" on the bell curve good.

If you're smart, you will only choose as your career something you are passionate about. Otherwise, you are short-changing yourself. And, if you're smart, you will only take career advice from people who are actually successful in that career, not people who failed at it.

But your profile's "About Me" page says nothing at all about you, and your posts are devoid of any info that might help us understand who you are. Referencing your own admonition to "...only take career advice from people who are actually successful in that career", why should we listen to you?

[pamosmusic]

And, if you're smart, you will only take career advice from people who are actually successful in that career, not people who failed at it.

So not from anonymous internet opinion-havers. Noted.

I love your playing Jimmy, it's outstanding.

Agreed.

Peace, love, and stay joyfully

Sure that too.

[jameslovestal]

Probably depends. Everyone is different but older musicians will have had time to find their niche, establish some regular gigs, initiate some other revenue streams, increase their value in their market etc. So I’d imagine an older musician would be making more than a younger one, all else equal. Though it would probably be a much smaller increase than that of a white collar worker moving from entry level to upper-middle management or something.

Yea, it depends is on target. Note I was comparing the income from "younger" to "older" for each individual (and not a comparison of generations).

I was only talking about the last 8 years or so of one's income years (e.g. 58 - 66) and now that I think more about it, musicians that made, say, at least 200K a year during their peak years (the 200K is rather arbitrary, but I didn't wish to use "a lot"). E.g. income from touring, recording sales, and other gigs is less than their peak years (which was mostly when they were 30 - 55). The few pro musicians\singers I know fit that pattern.

During their leading-up-to-retirement years, they toured a lot less frequently, released few, if any recordings, and made most of their income from teaching. But these guys planned well and were able to live off investment income until SSO kicked in.

[pamosmusic]

What's most mystifying about this thread are the numerous expressions of the brilliance of Bruno.
What a joke. He's an ok player at best.
As usual, hobbyists/amateurs/no-nothings praise mediocrity to the skies since they can't discriminate
true excellence from work-a-day competence. Which is what Bruno is and has always been.
True excellence is sidelined/obscured by the flood of praise given to mediocrity by the mass of amateurs/hobbyists.
It's all well-meaning, of course, but it's the public display of pure ignorance.
Well-meaning morons remain morons with their ignorant opinions and praise.
Thus it has ever been.

Thus spake jazzyfan

[pamosmusic]

As usual, hobbyists/amateurs/no-nothings

I’m guessing your genius is just confined to the musical arts — so hopefully I can be of some service by pointing out that, when you’re calling people stupid, you should be sure to spell your insults correctly.

I believe you were looking for “know-nothing”

as you were

[Cunamara]

Yes, jazzyfan, we mediocre hacks love Jimmy's playing. Dumb us, huh?

Too bad people like Frank Sinatra, Buddy Rich, Frank Vignola, Pasquale Grasso, Joe Beck, Howard Alden, Joey DeFrancesco, etc., didn't agree with us and refused to play with Jimmy time and again. Or that he can't get into any of the prime New York City clubs to play. Or that major jazz labels like Concord wouldn't put out his music. So sad.

But I am sure they call you, jazzyfan, for gigs all the time.

[jazzyfan]

I’m guessing your genius is just confined to the musical arts — so hopefully I can be of some service by pointing out that, when you’re calling people stupid, you should be sure to spell your insults correctly.

I believe you were looking for “know-nothing”

as you were

Sorry, yes it should be "know-nothing".
People aren't stupid.
They are just woefully ignorant on a topic that they have scant discrimination for. On a page where
discrimination might be assumed.
Clearly I have scant discrimination when it comes to spelling, which is why I don't
give my asinine opinions on that particular topic.


Thanks

[pamosmusic]

Sorry, yes it should be "know-nothing".
People aren't stupid.
They are just woefully ignorant on a topic that they have scant discrimination for. On a page where
discrimination might be assumed.
Clearly I have scant discrimination when it comes to spelling, which is why I don't
give my asinine opinions on that particular topic.


Thanks

You're very welcome. And thank goodness you're still free to give your asinine opinions on other topics.

[Al Haig]

Now JB is a mediocre player? And anyone who thinks otherwise sux? This is quite a thread. As my no longer active friend Blille once said: the jazz forum is prone to drama. Truer words have not been spoken lol!

[Stringswinger]

Anyone who thinks JB is a mediocre player clearly knows little about jazz guitar.

Thus spake Stringswinger.

[pamosmusic]

Thus spake Jimmy Bruno:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aJuBUORWDHM

[nyc chaz]

So far by my memory on this forum shade has been thrown on Larry Carlton,Frank Vignola,Tim Lerch and now Jimmy Bruno like somehow they are hacks.If you can't recognize these guys as fine top of the line players then you really don't know much about guitar playing.My grandmother used to say "empty barrels make the most noise".

[starjasmine]

I don't understand why Jimmy says he doesn't enjoy playing jazz the way he plays it and "doesn't like guitar music at all." This seems sad to me. Imagine Horowitz saying at age 71, I don't like this classical shit anymore, I'm gonna take classes and become a master gardener (which is what my partner wants to do, but I digress).

I totally get it. Jimmy's done it all, played it all. Such accomplishment is great, not sad IMO.

He says he's more interested in Ravel and Debussy now. I totally get that, too. I hear in the Impressionist and Romantic composers the same harmonies I love in jazz.

There is nothing anyone is gonna do in a jazz combo on the bandstand that Jimmy won't hear coming before they even play it. I understand that there is no challenge, no wonder, no curiosity for him in the musical space that he has _dominated_ for over 50 years.

He says he wants to get into his photography more. Why not? More power to ya, Jimmy!

Another guy who has done it all and played it all: Carlton did an interview recently where someone asked him what he listens to now. His reply? "Talk radio." He wasn't kidding.

Why shouldn't he do something else if he wants to? Sounds healthier than being stuck in the past.

None of this is meant as a putdown, Jeff. I get your perspective too. The good news is that Jimmy's getting what he wants does not deprive us of getting what we want: we still have all the discs and videos that Jimmy has made over the years.

I love your music AND your unvarnished opinions, Jimmy! Thanks for sharing all of it with us!

[rpjazzguitar]

Jimmy Bruno doesn't need any support from me, but here's some anyway.

Iirc, JB was the guitarist for the Buddy Rich Big Band when there was no piano. I've read some of that book (Don Piestrup arrangements) and it is *advanced*. My hat is off to whoever could read that book and please Buddy Rich.

I was a student at JBGI, the on-line school, for 3 months. A lot of good content and well worth the $60.

I'm aware that he did a lot more than this. Top pro guy.

[Mick-7]

Anyone who thinks JB is a mediocre player clearly knows little about jazz guitar.

Thus spake Stringswinger.

You'll be happy to know that Zarathustra seconds your spake. I haven't heard from Zeus yet but I suspect he'll agree too.
By the way, this smiley character must have failed his English grammar class, there are two t's in Ditto:

[Alter]

For a player with a history of Jimmy Bruno, judging his playing (which the world has already done, looking at all the things he has accomplished) is almost irrelevant. If you talk about anything, talk about all the music he has played and recorded, the name players he has worked with, the decades of gigs, all the people he has played music for, all the people he has taught how to play guitar and jazz..! That's more of a contribution than most of us will ever make to the jazz world, and even to the world in general. To me he is an inspiration, one of the people with deep love and devotion for jazz and for jazz guitar, helping to keep the flame alive, and part of the jazz guitar tradition also.

And he has seen enough troubles in his old age. Losing his wife, the near fatal accident he had a few years back, and in a country where retiring, old age care and medical bills aren't exactly easy things to navigate.. So personally a heartful thanks for the music and i wish him the best!

To me that concert is a perfect example of great jazz guitar playing:

[emkc]

Thus spake Jimmy Bruno:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aJuBUORWDHM

fuckin-a

[MarkRhodes]

I come at this from a different perspective than do many others whom I have met.
I lack the gene that makes the notion of "career" appealing.
I never wanted music to be my job or career. I spent 17 years working the graveyard shift at an oceanfront Palm Beach condo so that I could read, read, read, write, and listen to "China's Jazz Thing" on the radio. It was murder on the social life, but so what?
Never made much money, the job carried no cachet, and for that matter, for many it carried the not-so-subtle taint of "loser." Still, I miss that job. It was better than being at home because I had to stay awake and there was nothing to do BUT read and write and listen to music. (No smart phones back then, no Internet, and no TV was available either.)

To me, playing the guitar is like marriage: I ain't in it for the money, I'm in it for the life. And by life, I mean bumping up against it every day and being thankful for the opportunity.

In that sense, there is no "retirement" for me to consider. Yet too, I was never "in the business."

[Cunamara]

fuckin-a

Dito.