Over these many decades of being an entertainer, I've always made it a point to determine what my audiences want to hear. Sometimes it's a real challenge to determine what will get their undivided attention and put them on the dance floor. I've always strived to provide the most diverse program of any band in my area, and in that regard, I think I've succeeded.

In another thread, Chas talked about the demise of Jazz bands, and for the most part I agree with his statements. I really don't know a lot about Jazz, or jazz bands, other than I've never been able to listen to Jazz for more than 20 minutes and then had to switch to something else. Same goes for blues and reggae - after a while every song began to sound the same.

In contrast, I often listen to Willie Nelson albums while driving. Same goes for Jimmy Buffett. I believe they both provide a diverse song list on each and every album they produce, which is why they hold my attention.

Apparently, my preferences seem to coincide with my audiences preferences as well. They tend to enjoy the music I enjoy, which should be no surprise since I'm not that much younger than the vast majority of my audiences. The only exception to that is when I was performing in the Florida Keys, and surprisingly, the spring breakers asked for a lot of 70s and 80s stuff, especially anything by Sinatra. Who wudda thunk it?

A recent survey revealed what many of us probably already knew - Country leads the list of preferred music genres, followed by rock, while Jazz is at the bottom of the list and blues is no longer on the charts at all. A couple years ago, blues was at the bottom, making up just 3 percent of the consumer music sales of CDs. There was a Bar Rescue show that revealed the same data when they rescued a blues bar and transformed it into a another type of venue to prevent it from going bust.

Here's a link to the popularity of music genres that I thought may be of interest to everyone here that performs for a living: MUSIC GENRES

All the best,

Gary

Jazz is just for certain people. Not the general population. The same can be said about Opera and TV "Westerns," especially staring Randolph Scott, Glen Ford, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne and maybe a few more I can't think of at the moment. Ha ha!

Jazz has too many chords and notes and takes too much time to learn. Some other genres you can learn in 30 seconds or less other than the lyrics might take 2 minutes to type out until you can memorized it!

I think its the attention deficit thing with todays audiences. Jazz, Classical and even some Blues are music that need your full attention to appreciate fully whats going on. Also the aspect of the musical knowledge base of the listeners. The more you know about a particular style. piece, or artist the more you can listen intelligently. Fewer arts programs in schools.

I'd say most of todays audience wants instant gratification with no effort. Very few people listen to much music on a regular baisi and if they do its probably the radio playing the same setlist over and over so thats all they relate to.

Why do we all do the same songs for parties and Weddings. Thats all they know and want.

My audiences want to hear jazz and light standards. That's what I'm known for, and I have very little competition around here.

It's obviously a niche, but that's what I want to do, and I have enough people around to make it worthwhile.

This town is full of people playing Buffett. People hire me because I don't. Won't.

Willie is a good writer (eg. Crazy), but his travel/outlaw/drinking songs are embarrassingly childish, as are all Buffett songs, in my opinion.

As I see it, you have two options: One, you can play what the masses want, without regard to excellence and innovation in structure, lyrics, etc., or work like hell learning more challenging material, knowing, as you improve, your potential audience is getting smaller (as is your paycheck).

A third option is to get into sound tracks...no audience, but lots of freedom to create, lots of work, if you're good enough
and excellent pay (think six figures, easily). The downside is impossible deadlines and 30 hour sessions; some back to back.

Playing what general audiences want is fine.

Playing what you want at all costs is my choice.


I'm still hard at work trying to do that.


Russ

I agree with Capt. Russ. Lloyd

I guess I'm fortunate because the music I like to play seems to be the same music my audiences enjoy. Maybe that's because those people are coming BECAUSE I'm playing music they want to hear. Or maybe it's because every time I get a request for a song I don't know, I research and learn it if possible (but only IF I like it).
I certainly have the most diverse songlist of anyone around here, and I get requests for country, rock 'n roll, pop, standards (Sinatra-type), 50's, 60's 70's, Cajun, swing (East Coast, West Coast) some blues and r&b. Practically zero requests for jazz. There have been numerous jazz clubs open here and none has lasted more than a few months.
I don't try to keep up with current songs, because most of them I don't like. If one comes up that I do like I try to learn it. Country is no longer country, it is mostly a wall of distortion with inane lyrics, but occasionally one comes along that I will do. I don't do rap or dance or hip-hop or trance although there are proven audiences for all those genres. I'd look and sound pretty stupid trying to cover much of that.
There is a rather unique style popular here and in Texas that I suppose you would call Texas Roadhouse or Texas Blues, and it goes over well with certain audiences. Most of it is original songs with standard formats. Also there is quite an interest in groups such as Asleep At the Wheel, who have revived and modernized swing music such as Bob Wills used to do. It is pretty highly orchestrated yet allows for a lot of individuality within the parameters.
Their are several types of Blues that are popular around here, including New Orleans Jazz/Blues, Delbert McClinton-Stevie Ray Vaughn-type blues, and B.B. King-type. These are my designations, btw. I sprinkling of these goes over, but not a steady diet of any one type all night long.
I see my job as providing songs that people recognize, and understand the lyrics (if any) and dance to if they wish.
Arrangers are particularly well suited for what I do, as the venues I work are mostly on the small side, and the budgets are such that I can live with, but larger professional groups could not. Most songs are done in my own style. If they want the exact song, there are DJs and original artists available for hire. I think the audiences appreciate that I'm doing my interpretation. They may or may not realize that I am somewhat restricted within the parameters of my equipment. I prefer to not use MP3s or midi files except on rare occasions. I've been getting by doing this since the days of playing organ and kicking bass pedals. I'd hate to see this type of one-man band go away, but it most likely will. Not in time to affect me though.
Mostly I bring back memories and make people feel good.
I'm trying to do more gratis work these days, such as VA hospital, and fund-raisers for worthy causes (did one at the church Saturday and it raised nearly $5,000 for the choir!) I won't do nursing homes for free. That absolutely are not charities.
I'm certainly not discovering cures for diseases, but there are less admirable jobs around.

Don's approach is different, but I certainly understand and respect it.

Part of that is the big dufus' personality. The dude could sell a headache medicine commercial at a blues festival.

Asleep At The Wheel music is more complex and a lot of fun to play. Around 1968, they were in the area, and someone stole a three neck fender non-pedal steel. I had one, and the owner of Carl's music center arranged for a sale....$150.00...what i paid for it. I think they used it for years. A blond lady played it, I think.

Now, I shudder to think what it's worth.

Don deserves the success he's achieved over the years.I'd play Asleep at the Wheel tunes with him anytime.


Russ
(P.S. Don-send the check to my regular address).

I may nominate this for 'post of the year'. Pretty much sums up the 'play for pay' music scene of the last few years.

chas

As a clinician/demonstrator for one of the major musical instrument companies, most of the tunes I played were picked because of how they showcased a particular feature of the instrument. Most of the tunes were instrumentals, although I did demo the Vocal Harmonizer feature, and also showed how it could be used as a vocoder.

Most genres were Latin, Country...well, mostly a tune or two from each style category on the arranger (if that was the instrument I was demoing...I also did synths and pianos).

My restaurant gig repertoire consisted of instrumental arrangements of standards, pop tunes, Country, Latin, Swing etc...plus requests. I'm of the belief the average listener may not always know what music they like, but they always like music they know.

I played mostly for the "common ear".

Since retiring from clinician and gigging work, I now play what I want to play...again, it's usually choice picks from Standards, Light Jazz, some interesting Pop tunes (Boz Scaggs etc), trad Country. I make some CDs for friends, and more recently I've been dabbling into video/speech Soundtracks, using some Custom FreePlay styles I've made on my Tyros4 specifically for this purpose.

My modest pension is enough that I don't need to gig, although I do take the occasional lucrative dinner music job, but overall, I must say I'm really enjoying the freedom of playing what suits me and my mood.

I'm fortunate to have the privilege of playing a beautiful vintage Hammond B-3 several times a month with a group of buddies I jam with...we play everything from Latin to Swing, and often have the occasional guest who might take us into less explored territory like Celtic music, or even Surf Rock.

But, my main love is still my Arranger Keyboard...it's my musical "buddy". There's not a day that goes by that doesn't have me playing for at least a few hours, and having a ready-made band is a wonderful convenience.

Ian

Great thread. Bottom line, do the kind of music that makes you happy. If you're happy, your audiences will be happy too.

We also enjoy the music we play. Many of our audience were in their early 20's during the 1950's. So we play a lot of music from that era.

Very well put across Don, you should have been a preacher man......maybe you are

One trick that has worked for me is to offer the audience, or people who want to make requests, a songlist to choose from. That way they will always pick songs that I know instead of stammering around asking for songs I don't know (endlessly). I can't play everything and wouldn't want to play it if I did so guiding the audience to where I want them to go seems to not only save us both frustration but it adds to my tip jar as well.

Jim, one of the best one man entertainers I've ever known did just that. He called himself "The Quiet Man". An Englishman, he had a printed playlist, and handed it out to all guests. He was a guitar player of considerable talent, so the act included many styles, instrumentals; even several kinds of stringed instruments.


Good positive approach!


Russ

That's a great idea. I experimented some with it years ago and it seemed to work o.k. It doubles as a sort of business card if you put your info on it too. Guess I got lazy as my list grew REALLY long. There are more than 5,000 files in my lyrics folder! Some duplications though--different formats, keys, versions, etc.
HEY! Just thought of something. Since everybody has a computer of some sort with them, if only a phone, a person could just give them a card with a link to the network or website and let them browse through a list there.
It would have to be just a list, not the actual lyrics folder, or all my years of hard work would have a million share on Facebook by morning!
Brilliant right!!?
Dang, I wish it would stop raining so I could go fishing.

Once you let the audience run the show, silly requests lists, etc, like a karaoke act in a bar, & your NOT in Control your done!...secondly all this means squat if your music ain't good enough to please any audience, & there are alot of bad acts out there, It takes YEARS & YEARS of experience and talent to get it right,........be the quarterback on stage run your team (Audience) the way YOU want them to behave with YOUR Music done right in whatever way you desire.....hope I didn't offend anyone its just my take on it, but what do I know?

carry on..

Donny, I'm playing four hours. I encourage reque$t$. This way they wouldn't be requesting stuff not in my repertoire.
I think I'll set up a private link to a page on my website where they can see the list I want them to see, and play an MP3 for free. Might get some private parties!

DANG!!!!!!

Hmmm, I wonder how long it has to rain before "dang" turns into uh, something less printable .

chas

Good comments from everyone. Instructive, for sure. I see my situation for song selection in many of the other observations posted. I work 4 times weekly in a private dining club. Most of the patrons are middle-aged, or retired. Most come from professional backgrounds. Those factors, alone, pretty much determine the song selections. No drunks or loud TV’s. That makes for nice ambience. The music is primarily low-volume background music, with some dancers at times. I’m located very close to the diners and talk with them often. One guy shows up often, with a ready-made list of tunes he’s written out. Sometimes with as many as 10 songs on the list. I don’t mind, since he tips very, very well. Wish I had more patrons like that.

At one time, I printed out 100 playlist books. Everything was listed alphabetically, and I left at least one book at every venue. They all disappeared within two months. I later found out that the competition grabbed up MY books, changed the cover and used it as their own - needless to say, I was pissed. Those guys, fortunately, were not very talented and no longer perform. Ironically, some new comers in this area have been showing up at some of the places I perform just to get an idea what to play. I'm kinda flattered about this, though.

Gary

esh ... nice to see you are still around ... I hope things are going well for you ...

Donny

I think your jumping the gun on this setlist thing. It really depends on the job. If doing a dance type gig or party where your trying to control the energy and tempo of the room by all means requests can kill the vibe instantly. I was doing a NYE party with a girl singer and about 11PM we had the place rockin big time and some gentlemen comes up to me and asks for a Cha Cha. Talk about a floor clearer !!
In the case of an easy listening gig at a restaurant however I think its a great idea as your interacting with the crowd more one on one and a certain song is not going to throw you off. If its a stupid request, and we all get those, I tell them I'll try to work it in later. We both remember Al Rondo and he was great. He did requests constantly and that was part of his popularity.
Just did something for the first time on a gig. Lady asked for a song I never heard of " Love Runs Out" and told me its a great dance number. I was hesitant but figured I could cut it short if it was terrible. Looked it up on my IPhone, plugged it in and a bunch of people ran to the dance floor. Who knew ???

Bill as you know every gig has a different scenario & combination of songs to make it work of which the performer must know asap after the job starts, as we never know whats gonna happen.....being very well prepared with a tool box that can be mixed & cover ANY SITUATION is the key to success always. Knowing how to use the tool box is where the experience comes into play to make it all work together. You tube on your phone or iPad etc is a savior for off the wall requests in today's music scene to accommodate the audience a method I have used myself many times, BUT, I always take the request and on a break check out the song first before I play it to make sure its appropriate & fits into the venue.....many new songs have two versions ...."Dirty" & "Clean" so you see you have to be very careful not to offend children, or certain clients...

Awesome Tune !!! Great energy !!!

I'm currently getting to grips with a Steely Dan repertoire for a tribute band over here in the U.K. Boy those fellas sure mix up the chord sequences and the chords themselves more than somewhat, but I can't stop listening to it now in the car whilst travelling from A to B.

This song is popular been in my tool box for a while,...But It needed to be edited for the dance floor especially around 2:15 when it
"slows down" killing the energy for dancing,.....
I like it more "strict tempo" all the way for my needs as shown.

Here was my set list today for a seniors dinner event. Got rave comments from all present.
Played with my T4 and Bose Compact Speaker.

1. Ain’t Misbehavin’
2. Blue Moon
3. Harbor Lights
4. Stardust
5. A Slow Boat To China
6. Alice Blue Gown
7. All Of Me
8. Always
9. Apple Blossom Time
10. As Time Goes By
11. Blue Hawaii
12. Blueberry Hill
13. I’ll Be Seeing You
14. I’ll See You Again
15. Tenderly
16. Tennesee Waltz
17. The Sound Of Music
18. There’s A Small Hotel
19. Waltz Across Texas
20. We’ll Meet Again
21. When You’re Smiling
22. Yes Sir, That’s My Baby
23. You Made Me Love You
24. You Were Meant For Me
25. You’ll Never Know
26. Your Cheatin’ Heart

Donny, just play it live - forgetabout those MP3s, find a good style for the song, and make it yours.

Gary

I would love to hear someone try it with a style,...but I don't think these younger dance crowds will ever embrace it as their ears are trained for the original,.....I like mixing it up ,sometimes I don't even have a keyboard with me...

I actually think it's a wonderful way to do it. Trying songs that you don't know... well... you might get through it but you might just suck. I hate that, lol! I also hate to hear somebody absolutely butcher a song. One verse/chorus, ok, quit and laugh it off. Or the whole song is fine if you know it and don't suck. But if you don't know it... a whole song, spare me, please!

I just read your comment DonM. I think your web page idea could be cool except older people, I dunno if they would embrace that. If you wanna really do it, just hand them a business card with one of those scanner code thingies on it that goes to your website page and there are the songs.

Or, just don't take requests, lol. Or is it a law you have to? (I think there is nothing wrong with saying "I'm sorry, I don't do that one yet but I will play you another by that artist.") Or in that genre or whatever.

In my personal opinion, and that is all that it is... performers should not do songs that they do not do well. I think they should play fewer songs really well. Of course, musicians will say that people don't know the difference anyway. Hmmm.

OTOH, if the requester has a c-note in his hand, I'm in, lol.

I have never wanted to be a DJ. And the day I have to do that will be the day I pass the torch. I got into this to do live music, and that's all I'll ever do. An occasional mp3 is fine as long as the show remains live.

I respect all who perform in the arts anyway shape or form,....personally it's too boring for me to just do one thing all the time. I'm glad I can mix it up letting me cover all kinds of venues. Having blinders on or maybe there are some who just can't do certain things, sing, Dj, or all of the above together just leave s more work for the ones that can do it, nothing wrong with that.
As long as you get your piece of the pie. There's more then enough to go around in many ways. There is no right or wrong way to do it just BE GREAT at Whatever it is YOU DO and make the people you perform for want you back and stand up[ and cheer when you done!

I feel the same way...if I had to use an SMF or mp3 I'd quit playing. Seriously!

It may be fine for other performers/entertainers, but, I'm primarily a "keyboard player" and not having as much control as possible (in my case, using a personally made custom style works best) over my song arrangements is not acceptable.

Using a custom style not only allows me the freedom of playing a tune in a different genre and time signature ( i.e. a waltz played as a slow jazz ballad) but I am also able to freely substitute alternate chords (or sub different basslines) further allowing a more persona;l interpretation of a song or piece of music.

Using commercial and/or pre-recorded midi files (or mp3's) isn't conducive to having a unique performance, in my opinion, although I suppose some entertainers are forced to use them in order to please their audience who expect the tunes to sound like the original recordings.

That's most definitely not for me. The purpose behind my purchase of an Arranger Keyboard was so I wouldn't have to sound like the original.

Ian

Joe and Ian, I fully agree - I never wanted to be a DJ or a KJ - I've always been a live music performer, even when I played guitar in smoke-filled bars. When it get to that point, all my gear goes on Ebay.

Donny, I just messed with the song for a few minutes using the Hard Rock style of the PSR-3000, and if you do this, you don't have to go through the slow down segment at a lower speed, it worked just fine doing that segment at regular speed.

Gary

Steely Dan really are the bomb. I just love this band and every song they play is a total gem. I have seen them play live in LA many times and they never disappoint.

Donald is the weirdest looking little creative genius I've ever seen or heard.

LOVE IT!


Russ

I am NOT little. But thanks anyway.

Not YOU, ya big ********!

Steely Dan....guess what the group was named after?


Russ

I knew that! But I don't know how the band was named.

I know, but I can't repeat it on a "PG" rated forum.

Becker and Fagen began playing in local rock groups. One such group, known as The Bad Rock Group and later as The Leather Canary, included future comedy star Chevy Chase on drums.
I heard it on the internet so it must be true.

Regards,

Jerry

Steely Dan was the name of a dildo in the 50s scifi novel "Naked Lunch" by William S. Burroughs.

What on earth is a "DILDO," Nigel? Probably some DRUG, eh?

Boo, you have to get out more.

Gary

I always thought you make dill bread out of dill dough.

They must have thought long and hard to come up with that name.

Gary, What's getting out more have to do with anything? I don't want to take any "DILDO," friend !!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0DjBCgj6QM
is my personal favorite at the moment.

I love Steely Dan and I happen to know Keith Carlock who is playing drums in that video. He was a college classmate of mine. I also went to college with Jason Sutter (Marilyn Manson, Alice Cooper, Smash Mouth....) Brian Delany (New York Dolls) Jim Riley (Rascal Flats) and many other outstanding musicians that are playing very high profile gigs. I'm not saying this just to drop names. My point is all these guys can play outstanding jazz. I've seen them play everything from acoustic jazz, big band, Latin and fusion. In my opinion, any musician can grow by learning jazz. In fact, I think about all the top rated musicians have a solid foundation in jazz and blues, even if they are known for being pop musicians.