I charge 250.00 to 300 for Senior centers over 2 hours assisted Living 100.00 to 200.00 for 1 hour show will NOT PLAY for under that once I did that my calendar has been booked all the time of course I do a resort 3 to 4 night a week it at night the senior centers most are in daytime I had to show the customer what they got for the Money and all feel they get there moneys worth

many will play for 50.00 to 75.00 but the level of Entertainment is just that if you are good and sound the best you can get is the min you should get is over 100.oo per hour , I have built my business by working for it and doing a great show you got to go out every day and do a great show even if it 10 people everybody deserves you best .

now I also do some high end shows as well that pay much larger amounts as well but I keep the calendar full at all times .

I don't give a crap how great you are, if come out here, you'd better be DonM or similar or your a$$ will starve to death. You'll have to come push a wheelbarrow of brick for me so that you won't starve to death.

Boo, I wish I were young enough to take that bet, old friend.

Gary

Gary, you wouldn't load and unload your gear for $50. Hell you wouldn't even drive to the gig and back and not play if I loaded your van for you for $50. The favorite players around here play for $50 too. Ha ha. You guys are knuckle heads. You're terrible listeners, they wouldn't pay Nat King Cole more than $50 if you'd resurrect him . Ha ha.

I'm thinking how much $$$ you get for the gig has as much to do with where you are located as it has to do with how good you are.

In our little town, the best entertainers get $25 - $50 a gig. Those same entertainers get two to three times that or more if they are willing to drive to Minneapolis 180 miles from here.

This would be for nursing homes etc....

Now in other venues....

We live in west central MN. heart of the 10,000 lakes country and its a big vacationland/resort country...but only for about 3 months a year.

Playing parties, dances in the summertime; I've got a friend who plays keyboards for a five piece rock group. The charge around $2,500 for a dance and are busy all the time.

Venue, location and when you play make a big difference.

Thing is, I can't even stay awake past 9 pm at night much less play from 9 - 1 pm and get home at 3 am in the morning.

Sir, you're not only the most observant forum member here, you are the most intelligent too. Very astute !!! I'm impressed by your explanation. Maybe they would have understood me better if I would have compared it to real estate. It's all about location, location, location.

Here's another hint about the mentality and ignorance about music of the people running and managing things around here. Every Spring we have advertisement for hundreds of miles for a weekend "Jazz Festival." So this woman comes here with three guitar players a drummer and bass player from Denver, she screams that three chord rocking shuffle blues all night, is the big hit of the weekend, and everyone thinks this is a great Jazz Band ! I'm not joking, exaggerating or lying. Thank you sir for explaining this in a way that North Eastern Yankees can understand the situation out here.

How in the hell they won the war is beyond human comprehension. It has to be the money. There is no other explanation. They had more money, because they certainly weren't the sharpest knife in the drawer by a long shot. Ha ha ha !

Can you imagine driving 200-300 miles to a Jazz Festival and you hear a woman screaming 3 chord blues, who's the queen of the Jazz show. I called the producers of the event and told them If I drove 200 miles to hear blues that was advertise as Jazz I'd be a very unhappy camper. I suggested they might advertise the event as a music or blues festival. Guess what she said? She said, "Jazz Festival" has a better ring to it and draws more people." And that folks is what you're dealing with. So all you folks like Chas and Russ, stay away from here. You will starve to death.

boo my post was just to say what I was doing here , but not that you have thrown your comments out there I would be a sucecess any where I would take your on your challange any time and you my friend would be a looser

be careful Boo what you ask for !!!!!

I was simply say what my plan is but if challanged you would be the looser.

Boo, face it, very few people want to hear real jazz, at least more than a song or two. On the other hand millions love to hear three-chord blues shuffle songs. Sure it was out of place at a true jazz festival, but the term jazz is tossed around pretty loosely these days, and the audience was just revealing that they liked what they heard, regardless of whether Boo likes it!
Even New Orleans Jazz, as you know, isn't the same as other types of jazz. I've heard so-called jazz bands play nothing but Big Band stuff from the 40's all night. Check this list of "jazz standards". Everything from blues, folk, pop, show songs, etc., on it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_jazz_standards
If jazz doesn't evolve then the remaining fans will all die off and there will be nobody to listen. Are there any jazz songs that aren't 50 years old? Wasn't All The Things You Are written in early 50's? Nothing wrong with old songs; I love 'em, but if you want to interest young people in jazz, then jazz has to evolve. Country music has evolved so that younger people are into it, even though I hate most of it.
R.I.P. jazz as Boo knows it!

I agree with everything my learned colleague, DonM posted above. Additionally, as entertainers, we need to provide the entire package, keyboard and vocals, to every, very diverse audience. Without that package, you have nothing to offer both the audiences and staff. Keep in mind that in many locations they have resident's councils that make the decisions of who stays and who goes. They convey this information to the staff. Not only do we perform for the residents, but we also perform for the staff as well. We need to keep everyone entertained in order to garner the higher salaries. And, just like any impromptu performance, you need to be able to read the audience - the entire audience. You need to provide them with a song selection that makes them WANT to get off their ass and onto the dance floor, even if they're physically incapable of doing so. You must have the ability to communicate with individual members of the audience with your vocals, eye contact, body movements and other physical inflections during each song. This is the full package.

Now, you can be the best, Peabody trained musician on the planet, but if you cannot provide the diversity of music, great vocals, plus interact with the audiences, you would be hard pressed to even find a job in any market in the US senior circuit. No AD that I know would pay more than a token amount for a have guitar will travel guy that only provided instrumentals or only sang songs from a single entertainer. I've seen my share of them in the mid-Atlantic region and most are happy to get $50 an hour.

Boo, I'm quite confident that you would loose that bet, and as I stated, if I were a bit younger and a lot healthier, I would make the trip to your neighborhood in a heartbeat, if for nothing else, to meet Penny.

All the best,

Gary

Around here 55 is considered a Senior..... Just saying!!