need some advice

kungfumonk007

I set up a recording session to record an Artie Shaw tune called Special Delivery Stomp:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPOqEdJCmbQ

I asked them all to learn the tune by ear and to know it for the session, not a hard tune to learn by ear. Instead one of the players made up charts and a arrangement behind my back and emailed it to everyone except me and basically tried to take over the session. They sounded like garbage, they didn't know the tune, and sounded like a bunch of jazz studies students reading a chart for a class, nothing musical about it whatsoever. I book these guys a LOT of gigs, not bar and restaurant gigs either, very respectable gigs that other people would jump at in a second.

Would you fire these players?

kungfumonk007

His attitude was DEFINITELY sinister if you were in the room with us.

But you're right, I want players who are willing to learn a tune by ear and not have their faces buried in charts because they don't know the tunes.

There are plenty of times I make charts, but I wanted them to KNOW the tune so they'd play it with confidence.

dennis

I know your pain, finding the right bandmates is like finding the right spouse without ending up in divorce within weeks... Very few groups are that lucky, and this goes for all styles of music... as far as GJ goes, Stochelo is lucky to have Nous'che and Nonnie, Gonzalo is lucky to have Jeff and Brian, and I can t think of any other band off the top of my head.. Brady is lucky to have his uncle Hono.... there aren't too many examples like that, bandmates who have the total package: good musicianship, professionalism, good attitude... those are the 3 must haves

in my experience, in GJ, i've rarely encountered those 3 combinations as far as rhythm guitar is concerned, simply because there aren't many people who are interested in being rhythm guitar players... I've encountered various combinations of those 3 qualities and I've sometimes settled for decent musicianship but good attitude and professionalism. With so many bass players out there or other instruments (I play with piano and sax sometimes), I've rarely had that problem, since there is an abundance of them out here. There is a reason why the same players get hired all the time in Europe: Samy Daussat, Yayo and Fanto Reinhardt, William Brunard, etc... It's funny that over there, they complain about the same thing , but the truth is , they have way more choice than people outisde of France, Germany, Holland

As far as your problem goes, you should always be on the market for new musicians that are willing to follow your musical vision... Especially if you're getting them good gigs that pay decently... When you're providing that, then you have certainly earned the right to bitch...

man, i could go on a rant about this:

It's really tricky I tell ya. It's the reason why I prefer to be a rhythm player, to me it's the perfect stress free job... and as an "employee" , I strive to give those 3 qualities that I look for when hiring other musicians...

When I'm hired, I shut my mouth and do as I'm told hence the term "Rhythm Bitch"... It's a very important rule... that's not to say that I don't welcome suggestions or opinions, but some people make it a habit to bombard you with opinions and comments; at that point you start to wonder who the bandleader is... A good analogy would be a symphonic orchestra; imagine if every musician gave the conductor their opinions on a regular basis at every rehearsal... It'd be a nightmare. You'd never get anything done...

In the past for example, I had hired a talented rhythm player with so much potential but unfortunately with a terrible attitude; I remember during rehearsals, he would insist on not playing fast songs up to tempo so that he can "keep the energy for the concert"... That's a pathetic excuse, and come concert time, he wasn't able to keep up with the tempo, and slowed down... Or I'd ask him to play specific voicings or rhythms, he'd insist on doing it his way; sometimes to please me, he'd do it for rehearsals but come concert time, go back to his ways... that is the easiest way to piss off a bandleader... Whenever I have tours, we play concert halls that pay really good money; well that was the last tour he ever did with me, and I have many others coming up. A lesson to be learned... I think to this day, he's still not aware of his mistakes...

Whenever I;ve gotten hired, I've been sometimes told to play the wrong chords on certain songs... I remember being hired by a pretty well known musician who insisted I play C7 F Fm in Tears in the B section because that's how Django played it. I very politely informed him that Django never played Fm (at least in the 2 versions that I know), he inisted I was wrong... Well he was rthe bandleader and I let it go. Simple as that

Passacaglia

Dennis wrote:

simply because there aren't many people who are interested in being rhythm guitar players.

I think I'm one of the weird ones. No real way to know, of course, because I've only recently made a commitment to learn lead as well, but, well....home is always rhythm, for this one. And I do wonder if a certain bi-lingual former French chef guy can attempt a living as a sideman. In France.

Great post, Dennis. Thanks.

Paul

kungfumonk007

Well Denis you can play rhythm for me any time, even if you don't know the right changes to Tears

Actually I'm the rhythm guitarist for my own band so it is a unique situation, but it works well because that is why we can have serious players come and guest with us so easily, no clash of egos or overdoing it.

I try really hard to show the utmost respect for all my players and consider everyone's opinions and personalities but at this point I think I'm just letting myself get pushed around.

Jazzaferri

I beleive it is a fine line between allowing a certain amount of backchat, input, shenanigans, and what have you and being more of a band follower than bandleader.

In my GJ project that I am currently putting together, Which will be 8 or 9 strong, :shock: , we havent even had the first rehearsal yet and already have had to change my original thoughts on lineup due to some people having a rep as high maintenance oh well.

Good luck wi dealing with your guy and your search.