Jazz Club Etiquette?
BSTPT
and Grill in Los Angeles. A very inspired performance. In case you are not
familiar with the club, the tables come right up to and surround the edge of
the stage. My wife and I were seated right behind the pianist Joey Calderazzo.
About three tunes into the set, they started into a ballad. The man seated at
the table to our left started humming along with Branford, loud enough for
anyone within about ten feet to hear him. He hummed all the way through the
melody, not with Branford, but with a slight delay. I tolerated this until
Branford started into his solo and the guy then attempted to hum along during
the solo. At this point, I turned to him and said, "Excuse me," and I put my
hand up to my ear as if to say that I was listening. He stopped humming.
There was no further noise from him for the duration of the set. At the end
of the evening he called me over and told me that he was merely enjoying the
music and that I interfered with HIS enjoyment. He then proceeded to threaten
me and escalate the arguement. I let him speak and told him that I was glad
that he was enjoying the music and supporting jazz but that his humming was
interfering with MY enjoyment of the music.
As a jazz musician myself, I am wary of the fact that LA has a limited jazz
following and that we need to treasure the few fans that we have. But, where
is the line drawn?! This guy obviously didn't know the song and was drawing
attention from the band to himself!
The thing that got me was that he was so upset and I think that I was fairly
polite. I didn't say, "Hey you freakin' moron, shut up!" I simply made him
aware of the fact that he was distracting my attention from the band. Does
anybody have any similar experiences or thoughts on where the line is drawn
between encouraging the musician's and detracting from their performance?
Brian Swartz
LA, CA
Alastair Kinloch
bs...@aol.com (BSTPT) wrote:
>The other day, I went to see the Banford Marsalis Quartet at
>the Catalina Bar
>and Grill in Los Angeles
>The man seated at
>the table to our left started humming along with Branford, loud enough
for
> anyone within about ten feet to hear him. He hummed all the way
through the
> melody, not with Branford, but with a slight delay. I tolerated this
until
> Branford started into his solo and the guy then attempted to hum
along during
> the solo
>At the end
> of the evening he called me over and told me that he was merely
enjoying the
> music and that I interfered with HIS enjoyment. He then proceeded to
threaten
> me and escalate the arguement
>But, where
> is the line drawn?! This guy obviously didn't know the song and was
drawing
> attention from the band to himself!
> The thing that got me was that he was so upset and I think that
I was fairly
> polite
>Does
> anybody have any similar experiences or thoughts on where the line is
drawn
> between encouraging the musician's and detracting from their
performance?
>
Edinburgh Jazz Projects' previous venue, The Tron Jazz Cellar, was
rather small (capacity 90) and people talking at the bar interfered
with the enjoyment of paying customers who came to listen to the music.
In those circumstances those of us on the door (next to the bar) were
on a pretty short fuse. (Fortunately possession of handguns is illegal
in the UK and we did not feel the need to wear body armour :-).)
Now we have moved to a larger venue which has a couple of tables far
from the stage and near the bar, where people can talk without being
heard next to the stage, and last night the talkers were not really a
problem. It's harder to deal with enthusiasts who want to hum along but
aren't quite in time or key, but the people running the club should
keep on top of the situation and prevent disputes between customers.
--
Alastair Kinloch
Edinburgh Jazz Projects
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Alastair_Kinloch
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Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
JC Martin
>Does
>anybody have any similar experiences or thoughts on where the line is drawn
>between encouraging the musician's and detracting >from their performance?
I often have bad experiences like this at Catalina's. Something about that
place doesn't attract true jazz fans IMO. Call me a snob...I don't care. A
much better environment is the Jazz Bakery where people actually pay to
listen to the music rather than paying for background noise.
Re: the "humming" guy. Should have told him to learn some manners and stop
being so self-centered. Some people need a wake-up call every once in a
while.
-JC
Skip Elliott Bowman
Call me a snob
You snob.
> much better environment is the Jazz Bakery where people actually pay to
> listen to the music rather than paying for background noise.
You would think so, and yet clueless people still come to the club, pay
$5-$10 cover, then get juiced and yack it up anyway. They aren't trying
to be disrespectful (they always clap at the end of the solos, no matter
how intense their conversation), it's just thoughtlessness. Pulling
their coat usually solves the problem. Usually.
>
> Re: the "humming" guy. Should have told him to learn some manners and stop
> being so self-centered. Some people need a wake-up call every once in a
> while.
Aah-hh...shoulda just smacked him :) No, seriously, his reaction
notwithstanding, at least he stopped.
Skip "El Fumador"
to reply, remove the Ys
JC Martin
>JC Martin wrote:
> Call me a snob
>
>You snob.
I need help! *L*
>> much better environment is the Jazz Bakery where people actually pay to
>> listen to the music rather than paying for background noise.
>
>You would think so, and yet clueless people still come to the club, pay
>$5-$10 cover, then get juiced and yack it up anyway.
Are we thinking of the same place? It's the Jazz Bakery in Culver City, CA.
The best place to see a jazz show IMO. And I've been to shows all over the
country.
>They aren't trying
>to be disrespectful (they always clap at the end of the solos, no matter
>how intense their conversation), it's just thoughtlessness. Pulling
>their coat usually solves the problem. Usually.
I agree.
>> Re: the "humming" guy. Should have told him to learn some manners and
stop
>> being so self-centered. Some people need a wake-up call every once in a
>> while.
>
>Aah-hh...shoulda just smacked him :)
That's what I was really thinking Skip. :-)
>No, seriously, his reaction
>notwithstanding, at least he stopped.
Yeah, but then the guy wanted to pick a fight after the show. Real classy,
eh?
-JC
Charles Martin in Seattle
>
>Re: the "humming" guy. Should have told him to learn some manners and stop
>being so self-centered. Some people need a wake-up call every once in a
>while.
Mark Twain said of people who whistle the tunes during concerts
to show their culture:
"Their funerals do not occur often enough."
o-------= Charles Martin =--o
Mike O'Sullivan
"Excuse me could you speak up, I can't quite hear you over the music". It
works.
Dennis Hamm
LOL!! Love it! I wonder how the humming man would have responded to that
one. :-)
--
Dennis Hamm
Jazz Pianist
Bakersfield, California
E-mail: der...@netxn.com
Website: http://www.netxn.com/~derhamm
Dennis Hamm
> The other day, I went to see the Banford Marsalis Quartet at the Catalina Bar
> and Grill in Los Angeles. A very inspired performance. In case you are not
> familiar with the club, the tables come right up to and surround the edge of
> the stage. My wife and I were seated right behind the pianist Joey Calderazzo.
> About three tunes into the set, they started into a ballad. The man seated at
> the table to our left started humming along with Branford, loud enough for
> anyone within about ten feet to hear him.............
Even though the employees at Catalina act like they could care less about what's going
on on-stage they are pretty good about dealing with problem customers in my experience.
Some times you just have to point a rude customer out to an employee.
I was also at the Branford show, 2nd set Wednesday night. I couldn't hear any humming
over Jeff "Tain"'s drumming :-)... Man, they were on fire!
Greensill
culture:
"Their funerals do not occur often enough.">>
The same as those people who insist on clapping as soon as they recognise a
tune.
And while were on it the jazz custom of applauding after every solo becomes
very annoying.
I want to hear the first 4 bars of the piano solo, it may be the best thing
that gets played. And as a player I find that no matter how much one tries to
ignore the, "applause at the end of the solo syndrome," one still tends to end
ones solo on a high note. When I might really like to get smaller.
Mike Greensill
Dan Given
> And while were on it the jazz custom of applauding after every solo becomes
> very annoying.
>
> I want to hear the first 4 bars of the piano solo, it may be the best thing
> that gets played. And as a player I find that no matter how much one tries to
> ignore the, "applause at the end of the solo syndrome," one still tends to end
> ones solo on a high note. When I might really like to get smaller.
> Mike Greensill
This has to be one of my biggest annoyances. I guess that musicians
might appreciate the applause, at times, but I also think that it
completely discounts the fact that someone else, who is equally
important is playing.
I really hate it during big band shows, where there are lots of short
soloists - it seems that I here more applause than music.
Where did this tradition come from? and how can we get rid of it.
Greensill
I think we could possibly blame Norman Granz and Jazz at the Philharmonic.
We could get rid of it by having bandleaders make a polite request for the
audience to hold their applause until the end of the tune.
Mike Greensill
bebopper
Mingus used to do this ... of course he asked the audience not to
rattle the ice in their glasses either <g> You can hear this on
"Live at the Jazz Workshop".
- bebopper
Mike O'Sullivan
thing
> that gets played. And as a player I find that no matter how much one tries
to
> ignore the, "applause at the end of the solo syndrome," one still tends to
end
> ones solo on a high note. When I might really like to get smaller.
> Mike Greensill
One fine example of the "small is better" philosophy is the Jess Stacy
solo on "Sing Sing Sing" from the Carnegie Hall BG concert where he cooled
everything off with a quiet contemplative solo which even calmed down Krupa.
An oasis of calm in the generally frenetic atmosphere.
Rmidn...@webtv.net
I know of someone who shared that view.I have a 'Gerry Mulligan Quartet'
at Storyville here in Boston.In the last song Gerry stops cause some guy
is whistling along very annoyingly and I quote "O.K. wise guy,you care
to step outside,whistler? You and me have a few words to say.I mean I've
been putting up with some noisy audiences but that's the most insulting
thing anybody ever did" Rest in peace Jerry and thanks for
bring out the beauty of 'my funny valentine'.