How would you react to this?

[PauFerro]

the only real paying gigs I've seen for jazz is cruise lines. But you have to stay on the ship of course.

otherwise lessons

I'd start looking for a replacement. The Ojays sang about people like this.
"they smile in your face...all the time they wanna take your place!"

It's not that kind of a relationship.

 

[arbiterusa]

No problems here. He's your "first call". You don't necessarily have to be his. I work with some guys like that. My buddy Dino will always get my first call, he does what I like. I am not his first call, usually. I have no problem with it because when I call him, he does what I like.

 

[Bass.]

As someone said in an earlier thread, "imagination can be worse than reality". Most of you thought I should just move him down in the depth chart or sever the relationship. Talking to him about my concerns actually worked out pretty well. Thanks to the people who suggested that. As you can see, I originally thought I would just give him the existing gigs, and stop calling him for new work. But I decided to talk to him instead. So, just because someone seems set in a certain decision path, doesn't mean they stick with it when it comes time to act.

That's great man! It can be difficult to be the one to initiate the conversation, especially when you weren't the one that did anything wrong. I for one am really glad this all worked out. Seems like it's even better than it was before!

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

Sound like you really don't have a band, but a bunch of guys on a call list. Neither the drummer nor the piano player have any obligation to you. What case is there to proceed with?

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

One risk is that if I cut him loose, he could start going after all my clients and that could cause drama.

Really? how? They book lots of bands. Granted, it increases the competition, but as a BL, it is your job to maintain a close relationship with your clients.

 

[PauFerro]

Really? how? They book lots of bands. Granted, it increases the competition, but as a BL, it is your job to maintain a close relationship with your clients.

There was a ton of discussion about this earlier, and a lot of debate -- so I'm not going to revisit the earlier sub-topics. The goal of my most recent post was to indicate that talking to the guy about my concerns, sharing the problems I saw, resulted in a situation that was good for both of us. So, whether anyone thinks I had a case or not, I feel the situation resolved very well. He's calling me with gigs, I call him with gigs, we are both making money, gigging and enjoying ourselves.

Apparently, the arguments I gave regarding the existence of a problem (described much earlier in this thread), resonated with him and he changed his thinking. I'm quite happy with the results.

 

[1st Bass]

Well done!