IAnyway, you "working" guys are the ones down his decision and want to talk about professionalism and the work place - ever heard of senoirity?
You, know you get to a certain place and you just don't have to do certain things.
Steve Jobs doesn't have to take out the trash, GP doesn't have to play with EC, when EC needs a sax solo he shells out for Lee Konitz.
It is not a pedestal, it is the fact that they paid whatever dues it takes to get there, now they do what they want.
Well this isn't in relation to the Peacock/Costello issue but all that banana oil about professionalism and such I was spewing before is for real. Seniority only goes so far and while a guy like Peacock is well known among jazz bassists and slightly less known among jazz musicians, he isn't a household name with the general public. Yeah, the Jarrett Trio makes scads of dough but dollars to donuts, the lion's share is going to Keith, who is, in fact, a household name or at least as much of one as a jazz musician not named Marsalis can be. I would be willing to bet that among most non-musicians who've seen the Jarrett Trio, Peacock is just that guy playing bass for Keith if they remember his name at all. That's a shame but probably accurate.
Given that, he most likely isn't exactly rolling in dough. I don't know what kind of a deal he has with ECM and Jarrett so he might have some stake in Jarrett Trio CD sales but I kind of doubt it. Most of those kinds of recordings are play for pay and they are all done under Keith's name and I don't recall, with the exception of the improvised pieces creditted to the group, a single Gary Peacock original on any of the discs (although I might be wrong) to generate royalty income. His own CD sales aren't very good so he probably isn't getting much in royaties from ECM. My guess is he makes a comfortable but not exceptional living and he survives by gigging.
The upshot is he very probably has to take the gigs just like any other high level musician. I'm sure that the Iridium paid him what they paid any other NYC bassist for that night. No more, no less and if it was over $200, I'd be surprised. He probably does better on the Jarrett tours. I'm sure he's pulling down $4-5000 a week on those but how long do they last? 6-8 weeks per year? And not every year at that. Good bread (and a great gig) but still not enough to buy a Ferrari and stay at five star hotels.
Any scenario I can think of, he does ok but not great. Ultimately, the reality of the "artist" isn't quite as romantic as it can, at first, appear.
Again, none of this is in relation to Costello thing. I'm certain that was all due to the bungling of the management of the Iridium.
mark