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Double Bass Music VS Ego

#62
Ed Fuqua said:
True enough; but age/current situation have a lot to do with it too. The choices I make are being made by somebody who is a lot less willing to scuffle at 53 than I was at 23. Among what I miss by having a day job is the ability to do sessions during the day with players who are too busy to play at night cause they're gigging. I've missed out on a couple of European tours because the guy who can make the most sessions/rehearsals is the guy that gets the tour. I had to pass up subbing for the BMI Composer's Big Band (buncha years back) cause I had a daygig, the guy who did sub it ended being the cat when the guy he was subbing for left the band. Of course, I also don't have to turn down a great gig to play a stupid one that pays more. I don't have to play electric bass, I don't have to play music I don't like. That's fun....
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Yeah, I had to make a change recently when my girlfriend moved east for school. I didn't want to move so I needed more income. I got offered a gig for play that paid $1200 at the end of the run. It worked out to $50 a gig with no pay for rehearsals.
Around the same time I got a 2-3 day a week job at an art supply store - very simple and pleasant work with plenty of time and energy left over for my own music and teaching.
The play on the other hand had long rehearsal hours an unrealistic "music director" and a bunch of other degrading circumstances.
I ended up far preferring the art supply store and making the music I feel want to make.
It was really nice to be able to A/B both situations.
 
#64
I think the essence of the original debate is universal to all instruments, and to all types of art and creativity in general. It's the old "artist vs. technician" thing...

To paraphrase a metaphor I've made previously in a few forums, music is very much like cooking. A chef can have the best cookware and utensils and be an expert in using them with extreme flair and dexterity; be a master at the procedures for preparing certain essentials with precision; dazzle onlookers with the preparation, visual flourishes, apparent deep knowledge of his craft, and vast array of expensive ingredients; and still make food that most people find dull and that many people will loathe as utter crap. And there will always be those cooks who don't follow any written recipe, who appear imprecise and crude to those with more formal culinary schooling, who use crappy old stoves and ancient cast-iron skillets, but who can make what many people will find to be the most soul-satisfying and delicious home-style meals by throwing together a few simple primitive ingredients seemingly at random, but actually done with care for the final product.

I guess it boils down to why you are an instrumentalist... Is it mostly to be a performing player, or is it to create music? Do you focus on playing a bass part that swings like mad, or do you play a bass part that makes the whole song (and whole band) swing madly?
 
#67
JOSIE said:
...and those are the answers to the personal 'why'.

I see lots of cats that bitch and moan about having to play Donna Summer tunes every weekend. So don't. The stock answer is 'music is the only marketable skill I have.' The real answer I think is they'd rather play Donna Summer tunes than stock shelves at Target. Cool. Be honest about the answer.

I just think we should all revisit why we are doing things from time to time.

For me I teach lessons and substitute teach in order to be able to take only the gigs I want. I wish I could just play but the choices I've made make it possible to pay my mortage and still be fairly flexible.

I've been really thinking about the why question lately. In a positive way. I think it is the most overlooked question. Any answer is the right one as long as it is honest.

Life is really short. There is no evidence of there being a round two. Do what you need to do to make your life work for you. If playing 'Last Dance' gives you as much joy as pouring coffee... the paycheck at Starbucks is more dependable.

Ever been to a Homecoming at your alma and wondered why everyone looked so old?

Lastly I think if you view a gig as a 'job' that you don't want to be at you bring the whole bandstand down with your EGO. I try to have a positive attitude at any gig. I said Yes, I made my bed. Time to sleep in it.

Hi to Ray.
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"There is iron in your words of death for all Bottomenders to see, and so there is iron in your words of life. No signed paper can hold the iron. It must come from men. The words of Ten Bears carries the same iron of life and death. It is good that warriors such as we meet in the struggle of life… or death. It shall be life.”
 
#68
Chris Fitzgerald said:
"There is iron in your words of death for all Bottomenders to see, and so there is iron in your words of life. No signed paper can hold the iron. It must come from men. The words of Ten Bears carries the same iron of life and death. It is good that warriors such as we meet in the struggle of life… or death. It shall be life.”
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nice.

TheOutlawJoseyWales.jpg
 
#72
I never criticized anyone, and I DO NOT DO DRUGS, as Mr Warburton asserts. I do build engines that go 0-150 in 9 seconds, and work all day with machines that can rip your arm off, hardly a vocation for someone who does drugs. All I'm saying is music is something different to different people. I "see" live music to inspire me to be better, and more people should, as a Bromberg concert this year at Ram's Head was only half full. But there were plenty of notes to be seen and heard.
 
#73
oldfretless said:
I never criticized anyone, and I DO NOT DO DRUGS, as Mr Warburton asserts. I do build engines that go 0-150 in 9 seconds, and work all day with machines that can rip your arm off, hardly a vocation for someone who does drugs. All I'm saying is music is something different to different people. I "see" live music to inspire me to be better, and more people should, as a Bromberg concert this year at Ram's Head was only half full. But there were plenty of notes to be seen and heard.
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Don't git yer panties in a bundle, the point PeeDub is trine to make is that music is an AURAL phenomenon, not a visual one. Your example of a Bromberg concert, for example. If you split your experience between the aural and visual, which one would have communicated the artist's intent more?
Pony Poindexter had a wonderful bit of advice; when you go to check out somebody playing, sit with your back to the band. If they can command your attention without the visual aspect and affect, then they really have something going on.
 
#74
Uncletoad said:
So was Miles. He played less and deeper as he got older.
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Funny, the only time I have ever been moved by Miles' trumpet playing (as opposed to how he put a band together) was a quiet but up tempo muted duo with PC on one of the quintet lps. I heard it in a record store and it was killing.

What I like to say to my students is "right is more". Arild Andersen playing an ultra fast articulate run with total melodic and harmonic integrity is just as happening as Sonny Dallas' quarter notes and vice versa.
 
#75
How can anyone judge music v. ego? What might sound like an ego trip to one could sound like the best damn stuff in the galaxy to someone else. Doesn't come down to taste? I think Dave Brubeck's stuff is some of the most god-awful boring stuff in the universe, for example, but a lot of people dig it. Same for Paul Desmond. They might say he plays tastefully. I really dig Monk, but a lot of people say he can't play. I love Andrew Hill. I think Eric Dolphy may have been one of the greatest players ever to live.

Sometimes the ego thing is obvious, when a player comes off insincere, like he feels he has something to prove. But if the player is playing with conviction, sincerity, than no matter what he plays, regardless of how tasteless one my find it, I don't think he can be accuse of stroking his ego.
 
#77
David Kaczorowski said:
I just thought of something completely different. Maybe, jazz is ego music.
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I kind of like the quote from awhile back, somebody asked Jim Hall how he defined the swing feel or "swing" and he replied "camaraderie". You can be as virtuosic as you want, you're not up there by yourself and how you sound just is not as important as how the music sounds. 4 (or whatever) individuals working towards a common goal sounds better than 4 individuals working towards individually exclusive goals. Jazz is communication, not soliliquiy...
 
#79
Ed Fuqua said:
You can be as virtuosic as you want, you're not up there by yourself and how you sound just is not as important as how the music sounds. 4 (or whatever) individuals working towards a common goal sounds better than 4 individuals working towards individually exclusive goals.
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Nice Ed - that's how I describe bluegrass to students. :)
 
#80
Ed Fuqua said:
I kind of like the quote from awhile back, somebody asked Jim Hall how he defined the swing feel or "swing" and he replied "camaraderie". You can be as virtuosic as you want, you're not up there by yourself and how you sound just is not as important as how the music sounds. 4 (or whatever) individuals working towards a common goal sounds better than 4 individuals working towards individually exclusive goals. Jazz is communication, not soliliquiy...
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There you have it.
You SO fine baby.....
 

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