“If only I had known….”

[Doug Elliott]

One time I wore a tux to a big band gig that was Hawaiian shirt and khakis - I was a last minute sub and nobody told me.

BTW - in the spring of the year Rosolino died, I drove him to the airport from a trombone workshop at Towson. One of the things he told me was he wished contactors would call him for regular gigs and not just to solo doing his signature style.

[officermayo]

In our CBA - Stage Black means all black with a jacket. Pit Black means that the jacket is not required. Tux is with black bow tie/white shirt. When you get called for a gig, make sure you know exactly what the required dress is, because all of these terms are not universal.

JS

The pit in the theater used by my community group is the old balcony. They ripped out the seats and built a platform. No one can see us up there. Still, pit black is required. Reminds me of photos of radio programs from the 1940s where the actors are wearing suits and ties.

[Posaunus]

One time I wore a tux to a big band gig that was Hawaiian shirt and khakis - I was a last minute sub and nobody told me.

BTW - in the spring of the year Rosolino died, I drove him to the airport from a trombone workshop at Towson. One of the things he told me was he wished contactors would call him for regular gigs and not just to solo doing his signature style.

Frank Amoss told me about the time he needed a last minute trombone sub for a wedding gig. He called Rosolino, who showed up wearing an old sport coat; no necktie; the rest of the band wore tuxes. Frank played wonderfully; the wedding guests loved it!

[ithinknot]

I got into the movie and TV business by being sent to recording sessions as a sub. And frankly, if sending a sub in those situations is acceptable, your top level musician sending a sub to your gas money gig shouldn't be a huge offense.

If you're a bandleader who wants top talent and you're only paying "gas money," you've got to accept players bailing when they get a better gig, so long as they don't leave you hanging and send a decent sub. That's the price of getting that top level of talent for a bottom feeder level of pay.

Yup

In general, aggressive anti-sub feeling seems to come from smaller scenes... some of which is Sayre's Law in action, but some of which is scarcity. If there's only one decent contrabass sarrusophonist in town, you don't want to see the second best by surprise. In bigger places, there are plenty of people who'll be just fine, and it's in everyone's interests to be reasonable and be seen to be reasonable.

- Send people that are better than you. The confidence is worth more than the risk.

- In non-emergency timeframes, line up your own replacement, and then put the contractor/director in touch with them to confirm. 99.5% of the time, they're delighted you've already sorted it, but you also avoid any surprise risks from unknown history or politics.

- Don't lie. You'll get caught eventually, and either you have a genuine illness/emergency or you're on another gig that is worth more in one way or another... they already know.

[VJOFan]

The time I wasn't sure if I was covering an emergency concert absence or a sudden rehearsal absence and showed up in a tuxedo for a rehearsal.

Let them assume it was cocktail hour... "I came as quickly as I could - no time to change"

My section mates that night told me they assumed I was heading to a gig after the rehearsal, so I actually looked like I had a full date book.

[Wilktone]

From Bill Crow's book, "Jazz Anecdotes:"

Marty Napoleon was leading a steady job with a small jazz combo. One night Lew Gluckin had something else to do and sent Bernie Privin in to sub on trumpet. Lew forgot to tell Bernie they were wearing sport jackets and straight ties. Bernie showed up wearing a tuxedo.

"Don't worry about it," said Marty. "You can be the leader tonight."

"Nothing doing," said Bernie. "If I was the leader, do you think I would have hired you guys?"

*rim shot*

But I dunno about this prohibition on networking without bandleader permission.

Well, you should want to network with the bandleader. But thinking about this a little more it's probably not a big deal, but as a courtesy to the bandleader I would speak to him or her first before networking with other musicians, just so that there's no confusion about why you're handing out and collecting cards from the sidemen.

Lots of bandleaders who use professional musicians on "gas money" gigs do not begrudge players bailing for a better gig and sending a sub.

...

In non-emergency timeframes, line up your own replacement, and then put the contractor/director in touch with them to confirm. 99.5% of the time, they're delighted you've already sorted it, but you also avoid any surprise risks from unknown history or politics

Sending a sub is OK, but in my opinion it should be handled with the bandleader first, as tbdana mentioned. If I need to miss a show that I committed to I will reach out to a *quality* sub first and see if he or she is available. Then I will contact the bandleader and explain the situation and who I have asked to cover. If the bandleader is OK with it then I finalize the sub. Sometimes a bandleader will have someone else they want to work in or maybe that bandleader has an issue with that particular player and they don't want to work with him or her.

What I don't like as a leader is showing up for the gig and a musician I don't know or didn't expect shows. Particularly if the sub isn't able to really cover the part (e.g., your lead player or jazz player sends someone who doesn't play lead or improvise). Or someone just reaching out to me to say that they can't play the show and assuming that I have the time to find their sub. Those have all happened to me.

But I will warn folks that if you end up subbing out too frequently you'll likely loose the gig. I'd rather have a reliable musician who doesn't play as well than to contract the best player, only to have him or her sub out every other gig.

Personally, if I have committed to a gig I don't take another, even if it pays better and I appreciate other musicians who do that when I'm bandleader. If I think there's a chance that a better gig will come along, I'd rather risk not having a gig at all that night than risk developing a reputation as being unreliable.

Dave

[tbdana]

Personally, if I have committed to a gig I don't take another, even if it pays better and I appreciate other musicians who do that when I'm bandleader. If I think there's a chance that a better gig will come along, I'd rather risk not having a gig at all that night than risk developing a reputation as being unreliable.

To my mind, this isn't a one-size-fits-all situation, but it is definitely fraught. I have an "it depends" outlook on this kind of thing, and I take each situation individually, as it comes. I have no hard and fast rules. But by way of example, if I take a "gas money" gig with my local big band and then I get called to do a six-week run of Les Miserables at union scale, I'm gonna bail on the local one-nighter and take the six weeks of work.

OTOH, if I take a $50 local big band gig and I get an offer for a $100 gig from another local big band, I'm turning down the new offer.

I wonder how people feel about bailing on a freebie gig for a paid gig. Is that different? I'll tell you that I was recently faced with having taken a freebie where they drafted me to play a difficult trombone feature, and I got offered multiple paying gigs over a period of six months, and one of the paying gigs conflicted with the freebie concert. They were clearly relying on me for the freebie, and I had said I could do it and had attended a couple rehearsals. That freebie had a very technical and difficult trombone feature, and I could not simply send a sub. But...multiple paying gigs over half a year...how could I turn that down for the freebie? What would you do in such a situation? To me, that's a really tough one. The freebie needs you and you committed, but then there's money for half a year...what choice do you have but to take the money and bail on the freebie? Or do you give up money for six months because you already committed to the freebie and it's not something just anyone can play? These choices aren't always easy.

[ithinknot]

But by way of example, if I take a "gas money" gig with my local big band and then I get called to do a six-week run of Les Miserables at union scale, I'm gonna bail on the local one-nighter and take the six weeks of work.

OTOH, if I take a $50 local big band gig and I get an offer for a $100 gig from another local big band, I'm turning down the new offer.

Exactly.

I'll tell you that I was recently faced with having taken a freebie where they drafted me to play a difficult trombone feature, and I got offered multiple paying gigs over a period of six months, and one of the paying gigs conflicted with the freebie concert. They were clearly relying on me for the freebie, and I had said I could do it and had attended a couple rehearsals. That freebie had a very technical and difficult trombone feature, and I could not simply send a sub. But...multiple paying gigs over half a year...how could I turn that down for the freebie? What would you do in such a situation? To me, that's a really tough one. The freebie needs you and you committed, but then there's money for half a year...what choice do you have but to take the money and bail on the freebie? Or do you give up money for six months because you already committed to the freebie and it's not something just anyone can play? These choices aren't always easy.

First, you read the room on whether or not your initial response to the "six month" gig mentions that you have one clash - maybe that's negotiable at source, or maybe it isn't. If not, you decide whether the numbers and goodwill make sense, and if so you pay for a sub out of your own pocket - someone of a level than *can* do it on the remaining rehearsal(s).

[tbdana]

Well, in my particular situation the freebie was the Grondahl Trombone Concerto, so there's no sending a sub to that. The six months of work was/is pit orchestra work. What I wound up doing was getting them to let me send a sub to the pit gig, although the sub had to audit one performance and play one performance with me sitting next to him helping him out, and I had to pay him for those two services in addition to the one performance.

But the point was just to indicate that sometimes there are difficult choices even when it's a money vs free situation. It seems like the easy rule is to dump the freebie for the paying gig, but that's not always so easy or the right choice. Frankly, if they wouldn't let me send a sub to the paying gig, I would have bailed on the Grondahl, because it's just not reasonable to forego half a year's worth of work for one freebie. They would have had to find someone else or do a different piece. Such is life when you're not paying your professional performers.

[cb56]

If you're a drummer don't show up without your drums...
YES it actually happened on a gig.

In many venues around here, you don't bring drums, just cymbals.

Sure but wouldn't you check and make sure as opposed to assuming? Besides that it was a private party outside.

[bassclef]

If I had only known that when practicing, whatever the problem is that I am trying to fix - the more time I spend on it at a maximum dynamic level of mf, the faster it's going to get (and stay) fixed. I feel like I'd be a 200% better player today if I had realized and committed to that decades ago.

[tbdana]

If I had only known that when practicing, whatever the problem is that I am trying to fix - the more time I spend on it at a maximum dynamic level of mf, the faster it's going to get (and stay) fixed. I feel like I'd be a 200% better player today if I had realized and committed to that decades ago.

THIS!

[FerdHA]

You won't sound good if you don't put enough air through the horn.
You won't put enough air though the horn if you don't expect to sound good.