Careful what you ask for...

[xax]

Ok so here's the deal. It's a long way from '73 to '03 and until last winter i hadn't played in bands or even at home for 25 years. Here i am a year or so into my resurrection, puttin together a band (the nerve, huh?). My problem is how to decide what tunes to put in our "book", other than the "tunes that we like". We're all older (50ish), experienced and committed but i have only the least clue as to who's paying these days and for what types of music. Any thoughts? Our pcs: drums, guitar, chick singer(s), tenor(double on alto, bari), flute, bone, keys, bass. I've done some (mkt) research but I'm looking for other's ideas or approaches not answers, so save the rants and flames.

thanks for any responses

[Roger McWilliams]

So, pick your goal for what type of gigs you want. Smoky-bar equivalents, weddings, bar mitzvahs, et cetera. Get your choices going among jazz, classical, rock, and so on. If you are going the jazz route, grabbing the three New Real Books and the Standards Real Book from Chuck Sher's publishing operation is good. You may have a source which can provide The Real Book under the counter which is used by many (just volume 1 is enough to get going). Get enough tunes to play a couple of 50-minute sets and you are on your way. Decide what music you want. Ellington pleases everyone a lot, college-age to retired folks will get up and dance to it. Take Five and lots of Miles Davis is good, too. You may want the band and the audience to be happy.

Managment and contacts will matter to find some venues that work. Local big band folks are good to know. Doing some volunteer low profile gigs helps get professional sounding. Get some business cards and have your group be big enough to pull together what's needed for various calendar dates. There is a lot more to the business side than many suspect. And the effort there can create the environment you seek.

[xax]

hey roger,
good advice all of that and much appreciated. looks like we're pretty much on the right track but the idea of business cards is one i had overlooked. as for real books, i've got 8 on a cd (pdf file) so we have at least a starter source of material.
thanks again

[Keith Ridenhour]

XaX. these days even crappy , 50 dollar a man bar gigs want to hear a CD of your band before you get the gig unless you're real well known. You might want to record a variety of tunes in various styles. Do a couple of motown standards, couple of swing tunes, something funky, rock if you do it, some blues, a ballad, etc. So you can show that you'll appeal to a wide variety of people and keep the audiance that shows up at a club. Doing the rounds and seeing what others are playing in similar gigs is a good idea. I'd say that the quality of the lead singer and how tight the rhythm section is will be 90% of why you get hired. If you do free, promotional type gigs hand out your cards and start an emailing list of where you'll be playing so when you get a gig you can bring some crowd. Also, if anybody comes up and "loves the band" tell them to mention your band to where they usually hang out. We've gotten lots of gigs off the reccomendations of locals over whatever we said. Good luck, enjoy it. K

[xax]

hey keith,
thanks for the advice.
cd's eh. i've considered that route (not that we're quite ready) but i've thought of them as so...ostentatious? i guess i'll just have to get over that and "get wit da program".