Only Gypsy Swing?

Jazzaferri

Yikes.....@shemakimoo

Jazz has gone from being pop music of the day down to about 4.5% of music sales including downloads last year. Classical is hanging in at about 10%. GJ as a us genre of jazz is insignificant. Maybe, it will come in as a sub genre of world music which is on the upswing. Jazz actually has a bigger market share than modern composed music, which is so intellectual for the most part that the audience is minuscule.

Its tough trying to reconcile the music and artistry we love with the business of music. I have given up trying.

One thing I will share that I find really interesting. The bandleader of our 16 pce R&B band, gave my new GJ quartet our first gig following The main act yesterday. In spite of dealing with a completely inexperienced sound man. Didn't know what phantom power was LOL. We managed a good 1.5 hour set. Its tough to follow a big powerful band playing electric music that has a really solid dance beat BUT I had a number of people come up afterward and tell me how much they liked our music.

That has been a consistent comment all summer long when performing as a duo. People are really digging this music at this time and as some of the other old timers can attest, there seems to be way more interest in it than there was a decade ago.

RIDE THE WAVE as long as you can.

AndrewUlle

I started playing guitar because of my interest in The Beatles, so at the start, I focused on early rock and roll, British invasion, and such. In more recent times I occasionally play for our church, music that is basically rock-pop. I've always enjoyed standard 12 bar blues, and that is the extent of my knowledge of scales - whatever sounds good over a I-IV-V pattern. All of which is to say that my skills are rather limited, especially as far as playing leads.

The transition to Gypsy Jazz is like starting over for me - all new chords (and tons of them that are quite similar to each other) with infinite voicings. Needless to say, it's a steep learning curve for me, but I look forward to the day I can sit down with another GJ player and make some (however crude sounding) gypsy swing music. I am just starting my 4th month in manouche, so I am a total newcomer, still learning the names & tunes of all the standards. It's easy to get discouraged, but I enjoy the music so much that I keep plugging away (but not as much as I'd like to - free time is too short!)

Jazzaferri

Keep in the back of your mind that what is truly important is not where you end up....it's enjoying the ride. My friend Gene Hardy, is one of the top sax players in our country. Awesome talent. He is just learning how to play the guitar and is revelling in the newness of it all. Take heart.