Originally posted by 124:
Diki has a certain amount of freedom in that he usually has an able guitarist to work along with for his audience, while Bill, in his solo OMB work, plays what his audience requires, the modern day equivalent of a strict tempo dance band. Though it may be just a wee bit looser than that, eh Bill?
Strict tempo dance bands, in their day, played the same arrangements every night, even down to the same notated solos. I never played in one - it would have driven me nuts, but to all practical purposes, apart from instrumental timbres and nuances, there's little difference in the end product between a strict tempo dance band and a present day arranger.
Good stuff, 124...
Your comments on the old dance bands really stood out to me in that it sounded like you were describing my dance band. Tempos, Solos, etc. really don't vary gig to gig at all. That jives nicely with my comment in my last post where I said, "Ironically, I feel more creative/liberated when playing my arranger than I do when with my band."
Solos, arrangements and mostly material change when I'm either by myself or working as a duo-with the arranger. In the dance idiom, I do stay within certain restraints as I try to always filter decisions with regard to its "danceability." My book for the Duo when working with the arranger is much bigger, by several hundred tunes. I've played weekends where I used the band for one dance, then the Duo for another the next night and haven't needed to repeat anything. Six sets of dance music with no repeating anything is fun...
The most creative environment for me is my work in Retirement Communities and Nursing Homes. The audiences are changing quickly in these facilities and the material I can perform in some is almost limitless. In some I play Big band, Classic Country, hymns, etc. while in other that want almost nothing but rock from the 60's and 70's. That includes the Stones, Beatles, and so on...
I really have a great situation where throughout a typical month I get to perform a lot of really cool music, in very different ways. My schedule has a significant amount of variety built into it.
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Bill in Dayton
[This message has been edited by Bill in Dayton (edited 01-04-2010).]
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