I have a sort of tip of the week for you and, I’d like to talk about it now. Think of this as a short article. It seems to me that, often people are wondering how much they should expect to pay for live jazz. Well, on the one hand, lots of people will do it for little or nothing, and these days, it’s easier than ever to have the recorded music of your choice near to hand.
True; - Even so, I’d like you to consider this. One pianist who is one of my favorites, he plays very well, knows lots of tunes and just the style I like. HE has know reputation for doing strange things in public, believes in arriving on time, and is totally mature as a person as well as a musician. He knows that he always has a guarantee of $150 on a Friday or Saturday Night and, this is at a location where he knows how to get to and fro, and does not have to bring anything because they have a piano there already..
Now, if you were him, and you were trying to make a living through music, what would you want in order to go elsewhere for the evening. As I recall, understandably, he asks $350 at least, assuming that he’ll have to bring his own instrument. So then, what does this mean for you. Well, there’s a lot of work involved in not being even ten seconds late, planning and getting the band the information they need, and, having a great player means that you want other great players to go with them. And so, hold on to your hat but the answer is that, it just depends.
If you’ve just got to have the best, then I have no problem telling you that that’s definitely going to cost $1200 just for the three of us. If a trio with a more modest price is needed, then you can expect to pay as little as $400 for that evening. And so there you are. On the one hand, while it’s not reasonable to expect total perfection and the entire world of a more modestly priced band, not all occasions need the higher priced trio or quartet. It’s a matter of consistency really. The trio that costs $200 for the evening, might seem pretty good one night and maybe not so much the next. You just have to decide how ya feel about the band leader and mix that with what you need and can do.
I hope that that helps and, if you’d like to chat or ask a question – then you can reach us any time you wish.
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