Organization

This is a preview of the educational program A Jazz Improvisation Almanac which is under development for the Outside Shore Music Online School. Feel free to browse this preview and learn what you can from it. For a more completed product, though, check out the original freely browsable jazz textbook, A Jazz Improvisation Primer.

The natural state of the universe is said to be one of chaos. Organization does not happen by itself. A well-organized band is likely to get more and better-paying gigs, and it can be a more musically satisfying situation for its members as well.

If your group does not have a leader, it might be useful to appoint one, at least for the duration of a particular gig. By default, the leader is the person who got the gig, whether through his own initiative or because someone called him. The leader would normally be responsible for making sure everyone else in the band knows where and when the gig is. He should also check with the person who booked the band on details such as what to wear, where exactly to set up, where parking is available, whether or not the band gets any discount on food or drink, and so forth. Also, if the gig is a feature performance as opposed to background music, the leader and the person who booked him must agree on who will promote the appearance. Making posters, flyers, and mailings are a good way to increase attendance. Usually, the club owner will take responsibility for listing the gig in any published weekly or monthly entertainment listings.

There is also the matter of money. Assuming it is a paying gig, the leader will normally be the one to whom the owner of the establishment will want to write a check to. Sometimes, people will write individual checks to each band member, but this is rare. Sometimes they will pay in cash, but the leader should be prepared to write checks to the other band members. In permanent groups with established leaders who serve an active role in booking gigs and promoting the band, the leader often takes larger share of the pot - anything from an extra 10% to twice the share of the sidemen. The etiquette on leader pay varies between regions and between musicians. When in doubt, unless there is explicit agreement among everyone in the band, it is probably best to split the money equally.

Besides these logistical details, there is also musical organization that must take place. Again, having a leader, at least for the duration of the gig, will help things run smoothly. The first step is in making sure you will all have music to play. If the band plays out of standard fakebooks, then the leader should specify what fakebooks to bring, but it is generally up to each band member to provide his own copy. If your band has its own book of original compositions or arrangements or lead sheets collected from various fakebooks, the leader should be sure everyone in the band has a copy. This includes the drummer. All too often, there are no charts for the drummer, and he is told only the tempo and general style of the tune to be played. Yet most drummers will want a chart so they can see where any intros, interludes, or codas are, or if there are any other special kicks to play, as well as to remind them of the form during solos.

The books provide a set of composition from which to select. Again, it is up to the leader to actually call the tunes. While it is fine to allow everyone in the band to have a say in this, one thing you want to avoid is arguing on the bandstand about what tune to play next. In general, it is best to keep the time between tunes to a minimum. You can, if you wish, prepare a set list in advance. I like to do this for gigs where the band is being featured, not just playing background music, to make sure we put on a good show. However, being an improvisor at heart, I often make changes to the set list as I go along. One of the more intangible skills of a good bandleader is the ability to read the crowd and give them what they seem to want, while balancing this against what you want to give them. After a performance, I feel especially good if someone comes up to me and tells me they liked my selection of music - this means as much to me as when someone tells me they liked my playing.

Whether you program your set in advance or call it as you go, the first thing to consider is how long of a set to play. A standard union contract usually calls for 10 minutes of break per hour, with no set to last longer 90 minutes unless you are paid extra. The union is stronger in some regions than in others, and I cannot advise you on the benefits of membership in your area - there are many complex issues involved. So my advice on programming a set assumes you have complete freedom to organize your time.

If your sets are too short, people may feel ripped off. If they are too long, the audience may lose interest. Conversely, you need to consider how long to break between sets. Musicians need to rest, and socialize as well, although management usually fears losing the audience if you break too long. The tradeoff may differ when you are playing a show versus background music. When my band is the featured entertainment, I tend to play sets that are a little over an hour in length - about the length of a CD - with breaks of around 20 to 25 minutes. I tend to play shorter sets, with correspondingly shorter breaks, when playing background music.

Once you have some idea of how long of a set you are going to play, you can try to plan out how to program it. The conventional wisdom is that you should start with something catchy and swinging, and end with something powerful. I like to provide as much variety within a set as possible. A typical approach is to include one blues, one tune based on rhythm changes, a ballad, something Latin, and a couple of other tunes to fill out the set. A typical live quartet performance of a jazz standard will generally take anywhere from five to ten minutes; you should get a feel for how long your group tends to take per tune, including time between tunes, in planning your set.

One thing to keep in mind, particularly when playing to an audience of non-musicians or people who are not solidly rooted in jazz, is that the difference between a blues and rhythm changes or any other bebop tune is not significant in itself to most audiences. Given the fact that the melody is only played for a minute or so in a typical performance, and most people cannot recognize a composition from a solo played on the chord progression, a program of mostly swing and bebop will not necessarily sound as varied to the audience as it might seem to you. It is more important to vary the tempo and overall feel of your selections.

I tend to gravitate toward tunes with identifiable rhythmic hooks that clearly identify the composition even during solos. Besides the fact thay I simply enjoy playing over different types of grooves, I believe this creates more variety in the ears of the typical listener. Here is a sample set played by my group, "The Spanish Inquisition":

[EXAMPLE]

The time between tunes can be significant. Some bandleaders are born showmen, and they can entertain audiences between tunes with jokes and stories. Others hate to have to talk to the audience at all. When performing as a featured act, as opposed to background music, you are doing yourself a disservice if you do not say anything. People relate to verbal language in a way that is almost guaranteed to pique their interest when you speak. Just notice how much more interest most people have in vocal music than in instrumental music. I suggest you at least give the names of the tunes you are playing, and anything else you think might cause the audience to listen with more interest to the music itself.

There are organizational matters to attend to while playing as well. Someone needs to decide who will play the head, what the solo order will be, whether the saxophonist should play tenor or soprano, and so forth. These types of decisions are often shared by the whole band, and they are discussed further in the following sections. The final comments I would like to make in this section regard dealing with the problems that can arise during performance.

One common problem is rushing or dragging. Often, a drummer or bassist who tends to rush or drag will cause the whole band to speed up or slow down. Sometimes, it may only that someone is playing ahead of or behind the beat for stylistic reasons, and this becomes misinterpreted as a change in tempo. Most often, merely stabilizing the tempo so that it does not get any faster or slower is all you should try to do, but sometimes you will want to try to return to the original tempo. If you wish to induce a tempo change, you should first get everyone else's attention and then either shout out your desire, conduct a few measures, or make the correct tempo especially obvious in your own playing.

Perhaps the worst problem you will encounter, and it is happens more often than you might think, is for someone to become lost. Sometimes, they might not realize they are in the wrong place. Occassionally, it will possible for everyone else to recognize this and adjust their own playing to match that of the lost player, but in practice, this is not normally a recommended solution, as it is very difficult to coordinate, and the more savvy listeners will hear the disruption in the form.

If a musician tends to rush or drag, or tries to play some complex rhythm that is just beyond his reach, he may end up off by a beat or two. In such cases, it may be best to let them work it out for themselves, as it probably will not sound too bad in the interim, and if the lost musician is the soloist, then all will be well when he is finished and the next soloist comes in. Furthermore, there is almost nothing more disruptive to the flow of ideas than to have someone try to force the soloist to adjust their internal clock to recognize a different beat as the downbeat. On the other hand, the other musicians can go out of their way to make the beat obvious in their own playing, and perhaps the lost musician will hear the new downbeat on his own.

When someone is lost with regards to the form, it is more important to try to correct the problem, as he will probably sound very bad playing the wrong chord changes, and confusion may result if he finishes his solo in the middle of the form and the next soloist has to decide if he should pick up where the lost musician left off or somehow cue a return to the top of the form. The most effective way to correct someone who has become lost is to simply point to the proper spot on the chart. It may be necessary to keep pointing for a couple of measures until he regains his bearings.

This approach only works if you are reading charts as opposed to playing from memory, and it can be visually distracting to the audience and embarassing to the musician who became lost. So sometimes visual or audible cues may be called for. Trying to shout out each chord as it goes by is not likely to work, unless you are playing a tune like "Flamenco Sketches" in which each chord occurs only once in the form. Instead, you will generally have to wait until you reach the top of the form, or the bridge, or some other easily identifiable spot, and shout or signal "top" or "bridge" as appropriate. Unless the lost musician is already aware that he is lost and is looking for a cue, that one pointer will normally not be enough. It would be better to somehow alert the lost musician that a cue is coming, perhaps by shaking your head and pointing to your ear.

[EXAMPLE]

Sometimes, merely telling someone they are lost is enough, as he will then start listening more closely to the other musicians and may be able to figure out for himself where he is supposed to be. Often, the person who is lost is aware there is a problem, but is unsure if it is he or someone else who is in the wrong place, and a simple word is all it will take for him to decide to move.

Copyright 2000 Outside Shore Music
Authored by Marc Sabatella

Organization