So, I'm not sure, but I think that the band are *intermediate* players. I'm not sure of the typical delineations but, none of us read dots well, so I couldn't say that we're professionals, but they’re all more experienced than I at jazz, and they typically solo and listen well. Advanced amateurs? Semi-pro? The drummer has solid time and a good groove, knows a lot of tunes, and listens extremely well. Rock, funk, technical chops, not his forte. The guitarist is beyond standard voicings and uses what he thinks appropriate at the time. He's pretty creative and imaginative. His solos can grab your attention with their creativity. Wrong notes? Out of ideas? Sometimes. Always dramatic? No. Sometimes boring, yes. Good time? Yes. Great accompanist? Most definitely, extremely developed. The saxophonist can read most charts, listens very well, and solos convincingly with conviction, and expected emotion, but obviously lacks some basic instruction because he's still out of tune on some notes. Still, I personally find him very emotionally engaging with neat melodic ideas. All perfectly realized? No.
All of these guys have been playing jazz longer than me, and they're all a few years older, but are less studious and so, typically, I out-grow the band and replace players with more advanced players as I improve. To some extent that's been a necessity because better players demand other better players and vote the weakest players out. Myself excluded. I'm sure I would have been voted out many, many times if I didn't host the gig. I've been through many generations of players already. But since this is my band, I only call tunes that I play well, so I'm always at least competent, and sometimes much better. Sophistication has come after competence in my case.
Still, I don't put my name out front because I don't think I've earned it. I consider myself an intermediate player and a student at jazz. In comparison to many of the local bands, I think we're better. Too many of our competition are extremely rehearsed or just playing convincingly when they have no idea what they're doing. We're improvisers without complicated arrangements or scripted parts. But, in comparison to National or International acts, we'd be extremely lucky to open for them, IMO. Maybe that's where we belong as performers. Good enough to get an audience involved while poor enough to make the National talent sound better. That's about right, I think. Luckily, in LA, I get to go hear great performers like Jim Hughart, John Pisano, etc, on a regular basis. We’re not stealing their audience, trust me.
I agree with Groove Doctor that my goal is to set up a scenario which allows the players to excel their current abilities.
I don't agree with Damon, that my goal is to imprint my goals/personality/artistic vision onto the band, if I understood him correctly. I suspect Damon is coming from a far more developed artistic direction than I am. I could only dream to be Miles Davis or Art Blakey as a band leader. I'm hoping to encourage an otherwise average or maybe, kindly, better than average jazz band to play better than they typically do. To encourage their inner ear rather than their analytic side. And to encourage the entire band to interact and create something new and novel at the moment, rather than realize my personal artistic vision. I suppose I have the occasional artistic vision, but I do my best to suppress it in favor of a collective vision in the moment. So, I think my goal is to provide the scenario for a real-time collective artistic realization.
I'm not the star and the band is not named after me. None of the players solo so well, IMO, to be able to write their own tickets. Eric Alexander, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and many, many others currently performing have nothing to worry about from us. Still, I hope to help the players I play with, and me, improve, and provide a better than typical experience for the audience. Believe it or not, we have fans who show up every month to cheer us on. They should be out there cheering on players who've earned it, but I guess they have some sort of personal connection to us and our venue, so they keep showing up. And, okay, I take their tips and pass them onto the other players. For me, the high I get from the music gelling is payment enough.
