At a party or Wedding, What do you think the Audience prefers, a good musician or a good entertainer?

to me it would be

1. Vocalist, i loose interest if the singer is below average on vocals.
2. Entertainer, i love to be entertained.
3. Musician, who really cares if the performer does it all by himself? Or uses tricks (like auto backings) to sound decent to good.

I also do understand things change in a Jazz club or other venue where people come to listen to the music. Yet still think both vocals (if at all) as well as entertainer are very important there to.

I feel the audience wants all three. What they understand most is a singer. Followed by entertainer and musician. Sad to say that being a good musician come last.

I played with Mike Alessi, one of the best tenor sax players on Long Island. There was a young sax plauer who ran onto the dance floor, went to his knees and played his sax; he was terrible -- they liked him better. ???????
John C.

If I'm at a Jazz venue, I want to be 'entertained' by the quality of the music ...

1. Entertainer-the audience wants to be entertained first and foremost.

2. Most people prefer to be entertained by a vocalist rather than an instrumentalist but there are exceptions such as the great Tommy Emmanuel (and many others of course).

3. Musician-a lesser musician can still be a good entertainer.

I think its music selection. At a wedding, you expect certain involvement from the musicians or dj for traditional moments, but constant shtick from either gets old. I've been to weddings where chest thumping music for the generation of the bride and groom only drove the aunts, uncles, friends of parents etc, home early. An average vocalist/musician/entertainer who has something for everybody trumps a better one who can't adapt to all of their audience. Of course you can't overlook that they have been previewed and selected for what they usually offer, then instructed what to play and paid for that. So its not always the performers error if everyone is not pleased.

I want to be entertained by excellent music. I walk out of noisy "in your face" entertainers who can't play or use tracks.


UGH!


R.

I guess it depends. There are sophisticated acts that have all those requirements and get paid accordingly. Then you have gigs that mainly focus on one of those requirements.

My friend has been an entertainer for over 40 years. He's had a full life...sent his son to college and so on and so forth. For his line of work, he never got challenged musically so his keyboard skill is just as bad as it was 40 years ago. He knows how to shift the focus to his vocals and jokes and stuff so well that you wouldn't even pay attention to the accompaniment. It's a win win situation for that particular gig. I've been there a few times, and I absolutely loved it.

Being neither of the above... as a song-writer... I've always been told that a great entertainer can get away with less than great performances if his/her "wow factor and personality... some call it stage presence" is riveting.

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