Need Help! The Djangobilly Project

Jazzaferri

Good comment Bob

Cuimean

I can't quite figure out the reasons for the negative tone in these posts. Are you unfamiliar with crowdfunding? As record labels become increasingly scarce, musicians releasing music on their own are faced with the issue of getting the initial capital needed to record, master, and sometimes press their albums. Crowdfunding through sites like Kickstarter and Indieagogo is an option that's becoming increasingly popular. When done poorly, it comes across as begging. But when done right, it's basically pre-ordering the album. If this particular project doesn't interest you, move along. Digital real estate is cheap; posting a link to this Kickstarter pitch isn't keeping any traditional GJ musician from having their voice heard in this forum.

Or are you upset by a bunch of pompadoured interlopers in your scene? Being familiar with several of the musicians participating in this project, I can assure you that they've paid their dues. They've deepened the knowledge of their chosen genre, and meeting their attempt to bring in elements of their other musical inspirations with scorn is little more than snobbery.

The thing that baffles me most is that such a Django-centric is being met with such opposition. To me, Django's identity isn't his choice of guitar or his technique. It's the music that sprang from his mind. Given the choice between a guy using rest-stroke technique to play a bunch of George Benson licks or recycled solos on a Selmer and a rockabilly guy digging into Django's original tunes to see what he can find, I'll take the latter any day.

(And this is a non-commercial forum? Really? So you must have objected to posts from Swing from Paris, The Hot Club of San Francisco, Aurelien Robert, Showarama Hot Trio, Sebastien, Selmer 607, and probably a dozen other bands and musicians promoting their album releases here, right?)

Jazzaferri

I dont see anyone here objecting to their expanding their musical horizons. I beleive that the reaction is more likely based on the O P s first post saying we have a wonderful take on Django, give us money and we will show you.

The OP states that they have put in their time and learned the genre. If that is true i congratulate them.

Post an mp3 of your efforts and presell your lp idea by all means. If I likeit I would support it. Doesnt have to be full out pro studio recording for the demo.

I have picked with a 2 time nashville bluegrass guitar player of the year winner. Really good picker. Really nice bluegrass lines. His take on Django type playing was ...... Hmmmm. ... Not certain how to describe it ........interesting, maybe.......

Jazzaferri

Djangobilly .... i dont see anyone here putting anyone down....or making any comments about their Django style music. From what I read no one here has heard them play this style of music. Also, i didn't catch Bobs last comments about fundraising ....old eyes on IPad....personally I have no problem with anyone asking for money.

Django himself would probably been pleased that a style of music was named after him, but he certainly wouldnt have been playing this style of music in the 60's or 70's had he lived that long. He was already heading down bebop avenue and anticipating some of the cool jazz ideas in Anouman.

I find it overwhelming to try and think what sort of an example he would have created if like Benny Carter (sax player who recorded and jammed with him in the 30's) henhad continuedmto play and grow into his 90's. I doubt I would have found the courage to pick up the guitar...seriously.

Jim Kaznosky

Crowdfunding is a great idea. We saw it with the Nousche Rosenberg rhythm class. I've paid out of pocket to record a record and it is not cheap, even at the lowest end. I've also watched the saga of the young lady who raised well over a million to produce a record. Good for her, although I believe her intention was to use the million to finance a career. this appears to be a legitimate request to record a quality record with quality musicians.

It just is in really poor taste to do it in your introduction to a forum. And I'd rather contribute to players I know and enjoy listening to on a regular basis. I pay for lessons, buy records, see shows and support these guys any way I can too. As do all of the folks here.

djangobilly

Thank you for the constructive and civil criticisms, jkaz. I can see your point about posting something like this in an introductory part of the forum, and I apologize for coming across as careless or spammy. I have honestly never been a part of a forum, though I don't doubt that there is knowledge to gain from doing so. I have, for the most part, just kept to myself with my interest in gypsy jazz. I cannot really "talk shop" about it, since I cannot read or play the music. I am a 22 year old woman, working a dishwashing job in a small city, living on my own, saving for school, and I do not play the guitar or any instrument very seriously. I do not understand music on a technical or musician's level. Thus, my lack of activity on a forum that very deeply and technically discusses his music (And honestly, I had heard that forum were a place where I would probably be eaten alive for not knowing as much as everyone else. However, I thought I would find like-minded people here who would be interested in this project). I buy the music, listen to it, and support endeavors to preserve and explore it as best I can.

However, I am a sideshow performer and blues dancer that uses and finds inspiration in Django's music every time I listen to it, which I have been doing for almost half of my life. A close friend of mine who has been playing for about 30 years, came to me to help him manage and promote this project because he tours the majority of the time and knows that I would enjoy assisting on a project like this.

So I meant no insult by just suddenly posting this project up here. I did introduce myself somewhat, but if you can suggest a better place to put this, I will delete this and move it there.

Thank you,
Amy

Teddy Dupont

What's a "sideshow"? :?

djangobilly

teddy, a sideshow is, literally, a small show at a fair, circus, etc. it was often the thing that drew people into the show. sort of like a teaser. they often have sword swallowers, fire-eaters, glass-eaters, people who walk on beds of nails and broken glass. things like that. it has a rich and interesting history, and is seeing somewhat of a comeback these days. i do a fair share of acts, including fire-eating (although i have not learned fire-breathing yet), glass-eating, bed of nails, bed of glass, and other pain-proof acts, such as the staple act. it's an art i hold near and dear ot my heart, though i am by no means famous or nearly as skilled as i would like to be. but i am getting there!

---

now, i would like to take a few steps back. the more i think about the earlier comments, namely the "some established bluegrass players" bit, the more i feel that i didn't quite express enough the damage i feel that thinking like that can do. the more i think about it, the more i realize that i honestly have a huge issue with what was said, and after some thought, i have a few things to say myself.

how young and "local" do you honestly have to be to be worthy of support in an artistic endeavor? do you think that the guys involved in this project sleep on a big pile of money and are just being stingy and greedy? did they turn 30 one day and instantly turn from a young awesome person into a pathetic old leech? is the price they pay for dedicating their lives to being great at music and poorly compensated that they then have to be denigrated and insulted for not having more than they do?

if young, worthy musicians want to start a kickstarter, they may. and they will be supported. these guys are all making less than any 24 year old lawyer or doctor in america and often have trained and devoted just as much, if not more, effort. if that makes them too "established" for support, then our appreciation of culture and artistic excellence is horribly eschew. why do you support young musicians? to encourage them to follow a life of poverty, broken dreams and alcoholism? to be ripped off by record companies, bar owners and the like? only to have their peers turn against them once they get too old and "established"? young people get old. young musicians get old. if you're going to turn your back on them later, why would you encourage them in the first place?

bill monroe, who is known as the father of bluegrass music, died absolutely penniless. the country music hall of fame bought everything that he owned. house, instruments, property, everything, in a forclosure auction that happened five years before he died. they allowed him to live there and use his stuff until he died, but that was only as a good business investment.

michael cleveland has had to go through his entire life being blind and deaf in one ear, with facial deformities, in order to get the personal power and leverage to become one of the most amazing bluegrass fiddle players in the world. he still makes less than $100, 000 a year, if even that. and is now being told that he hasn't struggled enough? not even enough to be supported in a passion project? because this is clearly a passion project. nobody here is making big-time money. and, if i'm not mistaken, you are saying that you would rather support someone who is younger and less "established"?

if you don't want to support the project, that is fine and dandy. however, please think of a better reason to not support your peers. the reasons you have given so far make no sense, and it is thinking like that that makes it so incredibly hard for musicians to make a living doing what they love to do.

thank you very much, and long live the djangobilly project.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/252 ... ly-project

p.s. i apologize for the lack of capitalization, but i was typing as i thought, leaving no time for such a thing.

djangobilly

teddy, a sideshow is, literally, a small show at a fair, circus, etc. it was often the thing that drew people into the show. sort of like a teaser. they often have sword swallowers, fire-eaters, glass-eaters, people who walk on beds of nails and broken glass. things like that. it has a rich and interesting history, and is seeing somewhat of a comeback these days. i do a fair share of acts, including fire-eating (although i have not learned fire-breathing yet), glass-eating, bed of nails, bed of glass, and other pain-proof acts, such as the staple act. it's an art i hold near and dear ot my heart, though i am by no means famous or nearly as skilled as i would like to be. but i am getting there!

---

now, i would like to take a few steps back. the more i think about the earlier comments, namely the "some established bluegrass players" bit, the more i feel that i didn't quite express enough the damage i feel that thinking like that can do. the more i think about it, the more i realize that i honestly have a huge issue with what was said, and after some thought, i have a few things to say myself.

how young and "local" do you honestly have to be to be worthy of support in an artistic endeavor? do you think that the guys involved in this project sleep on a big pile of money and are just being stingy and greedy? did they turn 30 one day and instantly turn from a young awesome person into a pathetic old leech? is the price they pay for dedicating their lives to being great at music and poorly compensated that they then have to be denigrated and insulted for not having more than they do?

if young, worthy musicians want to start a kickstarter, they may. and they will be supported. these guys are all making less than any 24 year old lawyer or doctor in america and often have trained and devoted just as much, if not more, effort. if that makes them too "established" for support, then our appreciation of culture and artistic excellence is horribly eschew. why do you support young musicians? to encourage them to follow a life of poverty, broken dreams and alcoholism? to be ripped off by record companies, bar owners and the like? only to have their peers turn against them once they get too old and "established"? young people get old. young musicians get old. if you're going to turn your back on them later, why would you encourage them in the first place?

bill monroe, who is known as the father of bluegrass music, died absolutely penniless. the country music hall of fame bought everything that he owned. house, instruments, property, everything, in a forclosure auction that happened five years before he died. they allowed him to live there and use his stuff until he died, but that was only as a good business investment.

michael cleveland has had to go through his entire life being blind and deaf in one ear, with facial deformities, in order to get the personal power and leverage to become one of the most amazing bluegrass fiddle players in the world. he still makes less than $100, 000 a year, if even that. and is now being told that he hasn't struggled enough? not even enough to be supported in a passion project? because this is clearly a passion project. nobody here is making big-time money. and, if i'm not mistaken, you are saying that you would rather support someone who is younger and less "established"?

if you don't want to support the project, that is fine and dandy. however, please think of a better reason to not support your peers. the reasons you have given so far make no sense, and it is thinking like that that makes it so incredibly hard for musicians to make a living doing what they love to do.

thank you very much, and long live the djangobilly project.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/252 ... ly-project

p.s. i apologize for the lack of capitalization, but i was typing as i thought, leaving no time for such a thing.

jlander9

I get what you’re saying. I totally agree with you on supporting good music. However, it seems you have 10 established musicians lined up that are earning a living doing what they love (my dream) and it seems that what they don’t love is Gypsy Jazz. If you get each musician to pay $2,500 dollars each you got your $25,000. That’s not going to send these musicians to the poor house. I’m a student, a dad, and working only 20hrs a week to get through school, yet, because I fell for this music so much, I sold 2 of my electric guitars just to buy a decent GJ guitar, I traded my prized rockabilly books to get GJ books and I’ve dedicated time reaching out to folks here, many of which have their own love for this music. So, in my opinion if Django means so much to these folks then maybe they can do the same, but clearly they don’t and we are asked to pitch in so they can dabble? Sorry, but if you were a no-namer musician with an ok sounding demo full of Django or Gypsy Jazz style tunes (who cares how old you were) then I would support you. Not one of the Fly-rite boys (who I am also a fan of… sold one of Big Sandy’s CD’s to pay for part of my Givone book haha! Seriuosly!!!!). Good luck with this project.