Any gigging musicians out there?

Hey Guys,

Wondering if there are any gigging musicians out there. I gig a lot and am heading to Oberlin Conservatory of Music in the fall for jazz saxophone.

Right now I am digging Black Star (mos def & talib), Blackalicious, Clifford Jordan, Myron Walden and Gerald Clayton.

What is your axe? What kind of gigs do you do? Who are you digging right now? And ill throw in a style question - what do you wear to gigs?

I'm a guitarist, and I work regularly with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, New Music Detroit, the Michigan Opera Theatre, lots of jazz gigs with my own trio, some rock things, and commercial sessions during the day. At the moment I'm on the road with the national tour of The Lion King.

For most classical music, a tailcoat or tux is required; for new music, our de facto uniform is a black T-shirt and jeans; shows need pit black, so just a collared shirt and trousers; for a lot of jazz gigs I follow a Rat Pack sensibility, maybe a darker sport coat over a polo shirt.

I've been listening to a lot of guitar lately (big surprise there, I know) - Adam Rogers, Nir Felder, Anthony Wilson's trio. I'm in Philadelphia this month and caught Chris Potter Underground the other night at Chris's Jazz Cafe - it was sublime.

Heh heh, thought you asked for giggling musicians.

right on...Chris Potter is hit or miss with me. Sometimes he is incredibly musical and other times I feel he is just showcasing his technique.

What do you think of Kurt Rosenwinkle? He is one of my favortie guitarists.

Love Kurt's playing, he's a brilliant guy. Where can I hear you play?

At 38, I wince a little typing this.

I am (still) in a band. It's a post-punk/rock sort of thing. We usually play the local and not-so-local clubs in the SF Bay Area.

In the band, I'm the singer and guitar player. Right now, using a Hagstrom Viking with a Gibson ES-135 as a backup/ Playing through a Marshall JCM900 head into a Mesa cab with V30s. Was that too tech-geek-ish?

know -
i like how that sounds...I am in the bay too!

^ Thanks!


And I totally neglected to answer the style-forum-ish question. I usually wear desert boots or Vans, slim jeans, and a black button up.

For years, I've tried to get my bandmates to agree to some sort of unified look. Nothing gimmicky like chicken suits or anything. Just put forth a little visual solidarity. It never works. They always recoil in disgust with shouts of "it's all about the music, man!" So we end up looking like an AA meeting on stage.

I did, for a bit, get them to agree on no logos and collared shirts.

They have a point, but like it or not, a band is judged on the visual aspect of its show as much as the musical aspect. My last band was labeled as a skatepunk band. And while we all skate, we never had songs explicitly about skateboarding. We never presented ourselves that way. But it was the overabundance of Vans and Independent T-shirts that gave us the label. Oh well...

Maybe I should get them to log on here.

Been gigging on and off since the mid '90s in more guitar-based bands than I care to remember. When I started out it was pretty much expected to look grungy and anti-style. With very few exceptions, things haven't improved. It seems, in my experience, that musicians either have an innate sense of style and creativity that extends to visual arts, clothes included, or are simply blind to anything beyond the music. Trying to persuade them otherwise is like trying to herd cats.

Whom I dig and how I dress varies a bit - I go in and out of phases. At the moment I like mid-era Kings of Leon, including their look...very slim-to-skinny jeans, Beatle boots or similar Chelsea boots with or without the Cuban heel, assortment of fitted sweaters, tees or shirts, peacoat or reefer jacket with a dandy-looking scarf if it's cold enough. Other times I'll go for a more general, slightly mod-influenced look with desert boots and a Harrington, or to a just-about SF-approved hoody/Chucks/slim jeans combo.

I'm a gigging magician (0).

I was gigging last year with my band, but we have since ended it. Drummer left because of school, and I then left for other reasons. The band has been on and off but last year was the farthest we've gone, mainly gigging at dive bars and other places. I guess our style was leaning more towards post-punk, shoegaze, and dance. Currently working on an electronic thing with a friend of mine and hopefully we'll have a demo EP of some sort by the end of the year.

Pics of my gear are floating around here in another thread. As for clothing, I just wear what I normally wear - slim/skinny jeans, vans/chucks, a plain t shirt or long sleeve button up with the sleeves rolled up, and maybe a cardigan. As for music, I'm always listening to Air, Stars of the Lid and Liars. Midnight Juggernauts and Washed Out are currently on rotation right now.