Originally Posted By ekurburski
Many, many years ago I had a really sweet jazz trio playing the suburbs of DC. Organ, drums, and clarinet. As good as its ever been. I booked it into a club on rt 1 in Bladensburg, 5 night a week. Man we where flying high. On Weds night we had fewer folks than we did on Tues night and on Thusday night we had one table. About 11:00 i went for a ride up the strip to check out what was happening. 3 or 4 other clubs along a one mile strech and all had full parking lots! Went into each & checked out the entertainment. All had singers. some good, some not so good but ALL has vocals. I returned to the club we where at and had the group pack it up. That was the night I decided I had to start singing. It wasn't very good to start but through the years I got better & I have never forgot the lesson I learned that night. The only people who appreciate good music are other musicians
& they are all out working there own gigs. To me, there is no question. If you want to be working you have to entertain.


You said a mouthful! Your story brings back to mind somewhere around 20 years ago. My wife and I were in Greenwich Village in Manhattan we went into The Knickerbocker jazz club. Turns out the late jazz pianist James Williams was playing there. There were only 5 people maybe 6 in the establishment. We couldn't believe how few people were there. I used to follow James when he was playing in Boston so he recognized me. We sat about 8 feet away from the grand piano and watched his every move at the keys. When he took a break he sat with us for about 10 minutes talking about music. I asked him whether he thought it was pure talent that he had or hard work. He said it was about 99% hard work.

Unfortunately, James passed away at 53 years old. As the story goes that year I won tickets from a local jazz station to see him with singer Carole Sloane at the Regatta Bar in Boston for a Valentine's Day performance. My wife and I both thought James was looking very healthy 3 months later cancer took his life.


James Williams Wikipedia Article


Edited by Stephenm52 (12/08/18 04:40 AM)