Dress codes and conduct on stage

Willie

I mentioned the changing of dress codes in the thread "Less known Hamburg Sinti musicians", and that we played wearing suits:

And that showing your hairy feet was no option. But this was quite different in our folk punk band:

Hairy leg was part of the dress code.

Willie

But to be serious again: I myself didn't care about in my younger years when bluesrock was the hot shit for me: some old jeans and t-shirt always would do. And beeing on stage was thrilling, but kind of normal when playing in a band. So the only preparation backstage was smoking, drinking and tuning the instruments.

Years later when I worked for spoken and mask theatre, I learned that stage clothes are an important tool for the job, and that preparational exercises backstage improve the band's performance. And that everything you are doing on stage can have a meaning for the audience, be it in a small club, a theatre or a stadion. This does not mean that you always have to behave like an opera singer in the Met. But it means for sure that every gest, facial expression and movement should support the show. I often saw musicians especially in jazz clubs, who, when not playing for the moment, were showing real disinterest, turning away, starting to talk during another musicians solo and such (mostly the young upcoming local heroes). When the focus is not on you, you should support for example the next soloist with your awareness of what is happening on stage.

No easy thing to write about if english is not your native language. But I hope I made myself clear. What do you think?

MikeK

I think this is an important topic, Willie, and I'm glad you brought it up. It reminds me of 3 things my mentor taught me in my early days of playing gypsy jazz, when I was finally gig-ready:

1) always arrive to the gig at least 30 minutes before starting time. This helps you prepare for the show in a calm fashion, and I've come to find that it's important to me & to the quality of the gig. It lets you set up, tune up and relax before starting. And you can get a feel for the room & the people in the audience, which should be important to any gigging musician. We've all seen guys arrive, disheveled and stressed, a few minutes before the 1st tune is counted off, and it's not a pretty sight. And it can take a while for everyone to recover from that. Obviously some times it cant be helped (traffic, parking difficulties, etc), but I think it's a good rule of thumb to live by.

2) dress well. You've covered this & I think it's huge. In this day & age, we dont have to wear suits (but how many pics of Django have you ever seen where he wasn't wearing one?), but I think dressing well for the gig is non-negotiable. It shows the audience that you're professional & that you care.

3) show the audience that you're having fun on the gig, and especially be polite & kind to your band members on stage. That one, in my view, cant be overstated.

Lango-Django

A friend of mine took some guitar lessons from the late Ed Bickert, a legendary Toronto guitarist.

Ed gave him the following advice…

”Always wear nice shoes, because when you are playing the guitar, people always look at your feet.”

King_Cardboard

I’ve always enjoyed seeing bands that bring not only great music but create an ambiance. At the end of the day I really don’t care what they wear, but it’s hard to argue that seeing Duved play dressed to the nine didn’t help bridge the gap to feeing like you were glimpsing into the past where the music comes from.

Stringswinger

I always wear nice shoes and a nice shirt on a gig. Sometimes I wear a suit and tie, sometimes I wear black jeans, it depends on the venue (and the pay). A modestly paid gig in a casual venue does not need a suit and tie (and why incur the dry cleaning bill?)

Showing up early in most important as it shows respect for the venue and the audience.

Looking dour while performing is a mistake. If it doesn't look like you are having fun, it won't feel fun to the audience.

IMO, jazz musicians who don't care about attitude and being professional have only themselves to blame for the lack of paid work.

Russell Letson

I often think of Frank Zappa's famous remark on Burnt Weenie Sandwich: "Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform." What we wear on stage is part of the staging--I'd rephrase Frank to indicate that we're all in costume, dressed up as something/somebody. I'm old enough to have observed several transitions: from suit and tie/heels and hose (any act on Ed Sullivan) to matching suits (the Beatles and other British Invasion bands) to matching-casual outfits (think the Kingston Trio or the Beach Boys). Black bands, of course, understood the theatricality of their presentations and outfitted themselves accordingly and stage-smartly.

Folk musicians who idolized Woody Guthrie dressed in working-class denim--but Lead Belly wore sharp suits (after he got away from Alan Lomax's bib overalls), as did Robert Johnson when he had a publicity photo taken. Country players had their own version of stage wear, parallelling the flamboyance of black acts, reaching its high point in the Nudie suit (that is, a cowboy outfit with rhinestones).

That's why I found the we're-not-being-theatrical pose of punk so funny--the musicians were dressing up as their audience, and the audience was dressing up as not-straight-world grownups. It wasn't turtles all the way down, it was cosplay. Frank got it.

By the way, I noticed in the long Duved video with the orchestra that he's wearing a nice suit and no socks. An homage.

Willie

@King_Cardboard "create an ambiance" is the keyword; that's what stage clothes are for!

Pianist Friedrich Gulda played Mozart wearing blue jeans, and a famos collegue (don't remember who) commented to people who found this disgusting: "As long as he is playing like this, to me he could wear swimming trunks". In fact he played naked once, not the piano, but the crumhorn as far as I know. His performance often was excentric and unconventional. They say that he sometimes did not start his concert with the Bach or Schubert on the program, but with harsh improvisations. When the hall was half empty after a while, he said "now the idiots are gone", and started the regular program.

Create the ambiance supporting your artistic goals.

bbwood_98

Oh man . . .

Reference this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP4xOlWv0iQ -

So much great advice in this one, but (And I both have done this, and come to gigs in ratty jeans too). Have a look - and own the look, all the time when you are 'on'. McBride - I travel wearing a suit and bring on in my carry on as well - so many of the American jazz musicians do this. Personally, I tend to dress a little more hipster (usually colorful, usually 'unusual' often in a collar, and slacks, but not a suit or tie), but you got to look good, and take ques from the band leader. I always ask when I am hired for a gig what the dress code is!

Two things To think about for guitarists - people always see our feet - wear shoes that look nice and cool socks - it's a brilliant chance for swag/flair/expression even when you are in a tux & make sure your hands are clean( no black under your finger nails and so on).

Also, and for me so important all the little scripts - Good evening; welcome to the space, intro the band (OFTEN!), ask the audience to join you on the journey "this is a jazz show, if you hear something you like, make some noise, even if it's in the middle of a tune - these musicians will appreciate your encouragement!" "We need your help on this one, please clap/sing/dance/do jumping jacks . . ." "We'd like to feature xyz musician right now" "Welcome to the stage xyz musician and friend of the club/band/audience whatever"

If you as a leader don't want to be the hype-person, have some one do it for goodness sake. These days audiences are so unsure how to respond to jazz.

Cheers,

B.

Matteo

One thing I have never understood is jazz musicians who get up on stage in a black suit, a black shirt and a black tie. Often the stage is all black as well. It's not that uncommon to see. How fun is an audience going to expect a concert will be with musicians dressed like that? I know that taste in clothes differs, but this is something that I just can't understand. Maybe the idea is to hide themselves and just let the music speak? Maybe. On the other hand, if the musician is brilliant enough, clothes don't matter at all. I remember Chet Baker in an anything than elegant jeans jacket playing like a god in a small club in the mid 80's ...

Willie

@bbwood_98

What an inspiring video, containing sayings like "maximum music, minimum ego", "the stage is part of the room", "it's all about being yourself".