any NY area gospel bassists here?

[brianh]

Hi guys,

I'm moving to NYC in a month or so and am just curious about how the black gospel scene works out there.

I'm coming from a "mega-church" in the midwest with close to 20,000 members and a a music minestry of about 20-30 people (4 bassists in total). We all get paid at least fairly and the work schedules reflect that: I do at least 2 services on Sunday, at least 2 weekly rehearsals, and tons of extra stuff (services, recording sessions, etc.). Musically speaking, stuff happens at a relatively high level (at least for around here).



So, is it possible to get good church jobs in the NYC area (manhattan, brooklyn, queens, long island, jersey...anywhere in a reasonable distance)? Do they pay the music staff? Money is not so important, it just makes rehearsing easier when you could be doing a gig. Any ideas on where to start looking for a job? I don't know many NY gospel players...

For what it's worth I play electric bass, keyboard bass, upright bass, read music well, and play by ear well.
Anybody's opinion would help me a lot.

[Torch7]

Don't know much about the music scene in NY, but I do know that one of the greatest Churches (In my limited opinion ), in the world, is out in Long Island. It's not a mega church

But you simply must do yourself a favor and check them out once you get out there.

http://www.thebread.org

[T-MOST]

I play for a church NJ. I got my gig (which pays) through a reccomendation from my Pastor. The bassist they had wasn't cutting it so I was brought in to audition/fill in by the MD and was offered 2 Sundays a month. That worked great but a year later that same bassist was doing even worse so I was offered every Sunday. Thats pretty much how most cats get their Gospel gigs around here. Many churches pay but, of course just as many don't. The good news is there are hundreds of churches in the NY/NJ area. Many advertise for musicians in the local gospel trade papers so thats a good place to start. Look me up When you get into town. Maybe I will know of a Church looking for a bassist.

[57pbass]

There are a quite a few churches in the Jamacia Queens area..a friend of mine is a musiclal director at one and he does get paid..not too much but he does it primarly to work with the choir and band which consists of kids .. some amazing young voices..

I dont think we have any mega churches in the metro NY area but there is a scene that you can network into once you arrive..
John Pattitucci plays at a church in Dobbs Ferry on regular basis..