Keeping Busy

I have to start this post by saying that I am definitely blessed! And yes, I don't mean fortunate, I mean blessed...blessed that I'm such a hard worker at what I do that I have miraculously managed to stay incredibly busy, even with this downturn of the economy. That's not to say my wife and I are on easy street, but we certainly could be much worse off than we are.

One thing that I haven't shared too much on this blog is the fact that my wife was laid off of her job back in January of this year. When that happened, we lost about 47% of our household income literally overnight! As it were, we already were living with pretty tight belts, but her lay-off hurt.

One reason it was such a terrible hit for us was because we were still trying to recover from her last layoff, which had taken place about 16 months prior. That one stretched our resources and this one pretty much killed everything else off.

Another reason that it really hit us hard was because both layoffs were completely unexpected...no warning what so ever! I have to jump in by saying that maybe there are a few things, being self employed, that I don't have readily available to me, but I have NEVER been laid off or fired. And, I ALWAYS know the state of my business and can foresee months down the road if I may encounter a problem that I may have to find a way around or prepare for.

So, anyway, the third reason that this particular layoff has been more challenging is because now we have an extra mouth to feed! By the way, that is actually part of the "blessed" feeling I have!

But getting back to the first thing I wrote in the blog posting, which was feeling blessed that I'm such a hard worker at what I do, I know of so many other musicians who aren't working anywhere near as much as I am. I have really managed to put my bookings into afterburner this year, and next year is already looking to be even more busy.

I have really worked hard at getting my name out there, marketing myself, cultivating new relationships, and so on. Yes, I have new bags under my eyes, but the pay off has been a busier performance schedule than I have ever had at any point of my 10 or 12 years as a full time musician. In fact I can actually remember a time when I used to wish I was this active. Back then, I can remember having the number of gigs in a span of 4 months that I now have in just 1 month's time.

What that means is, though I have not entirely made up the 47% of income that our household lost when my wife got laid off, we have managed to stay in this house for a longer span of time than either some of my friends or even some members of my family had thought we'd be able to achieve.

So why am I making my wife's and my financial woes so public? Well, it boils down to one simple thing. INSPIRATION!

I'm aware of other musicians and artists who read my blog and follow me online in other formats. I've been made aware; via emails, chatroom comments, Facebook messages, and so on, that I'm looked up to by some others in the arts community because I am one of the few full time artists that can say that they are a homeowner and lives some semblance of a "normal" life, (wife, kid, etc.). I have been told by some artist friends that if I can't pull out of this, they don't know what hope that they have for their own futures because I work so hard.

Well, that is exactly my point. I work so hard because I know that there is hope as long as I work so hard. I'm not, and never have been, one who waits for that hope to arrive. My motto has ALWAYS, from day 1, been "if you can't FIND a gig, then MAKE a gig"!

So, I say to my fellow artists who may read this blog, that if I can last for 9 months plugging up holes in a ship that's far from shore, with two other people depending on me and all of the responsibilities that come with trying to support a family by just my income as a full time musician, then YOU should be able to do likewise or even better if you are a musician or artist that doesn't have anybody depending on you, or any home ownership responsibilities.

These times are the ones that will let us know if we REALLY want to try and make a living at what we do. These are the times that will show if we REALLY have what it takes to make it in such a competitive and saturated field.

Don't give up and don't lay down....just work hard and KEEP BUSY!!!!!

Concerts: Why Bother!

Ever since this past May, when I performed with singer/songwriter Jack Lacitra at the Boulton Center for the Performing Arts in Bay Shore, NY, I've had the bug in my ear about self producing another concert for my jazz quartet. At this point it has been nearly 2 years since I have done that!

If I were to only consider the amount of time it takes to put a concert together, or the amount of money that is needed up front to rent the venue, get the insurance, and otherwise set the wheels in motion, my attitude would be "who needs it". However, there are benefits to self producing concerts and it has always fit into my long term plans and goals.

Since day one, I have known that the only way to ever really get to the sorts of performances that I can really make a good living off of was to be taken on by one or more booking agents. That meant several things:

• I had to STOP performing with my quartet in restaurants or other venues where we would not be the focus (NO MORE BACKGROUND MUSIC!!!!).
• I had to sharpen my ability to interact with my audience and provide them with an EXPERIENCE and not just good music.
• I had to increase my fan base and my reach.
• I needed to find some way to prove my worth to booking agents so that they wouldn't feel that signing me on would be too much of a risk to make it worth their while.

In regards to the last thing I listed (proving my worth), I figured that money talks. So, the best way I could prove my worth is to show the ticket sales receipts and the other proof that people are willing to pay to see me in a concert setting. Well, at this juncture I have proven this several times over...so where are the booking agents? Unfortunately for me, part of the problem is the genre of music that I have chosen to specialize in...jazz.

Since jazz accounts for such a small percentage of the concert going public, the only jazz musicians that the booking agents are interested in are the ones who are already big names, who already have booking agents...there's no interest in emerging artists that are showing they can draw a ticket buying audience.

If it wasn't for the fact that self producing concerts take up so much time, energy, and financial resources up front, I'd say "SCREW THE BOOKING AGENTS" because I have always done pretty well with my concerts, financially. I'm not driving a luxury car, but I have certainly managed to make it at least worth my while to pursue such a coarse of action. I also see that it is a viable way to go.

However, time is no longer on my side. At only 36 years old, I'm already starting to feel some of the wear and tear of being a full time musician for nearly 15 years and burning the candle from both ends, combined with being a new father, trying to look after my now aging parents, and always looking for ways to try and be available more for my wife. The past year or two I have been feeling tired constantly.

Doing this for a living has proven to be exhausting work, and it has only been my drive to: A) prove all of the people WRONG that told me or continue to tell me that this can't be done for a living, and B) to be successful in general at whatever I do, that has kept me going. That and the broom I have hidden behind me to prop me up and make it look like I'm still standing up.

Despite my venting, I remain convinced that doing more self produced concerts, where I can continue to prove that people (from different regions) are willing to buy tickets to see me and my group perform, is probably the best path to follow. The problem or challenge is to find a way that doesn't leave me so exhausted during the process of putting the events together and promoting them, that I'm too tired to actually perform in the first place.

Practice Log - 8/17/09 | Part I

Warm Up:

1. harmonics on alto sax with tuner + metronome @ 60bpm
   10 min
2. long tone exercise on alto sax with tuner + metronome @ 60bpm
   5 min
3. harmonics on soprano sax with tuner + metronome @ 60 bpm
   10 min
4. long tone exercise on soprano sax with tuner + metronome @ 60bpm
   5 min

Practice Log - 8/16/09 | Part II

I didn't get to work on technical stuff today. But, one thing I did get to work on is "ear training" of sorts and general musicianship.

Today I had a duet performance with blues/jazz artist Gail Storm. We played 3 sets together, with the overwhelming majority of the tunes being ones that neither her nor I have ever done before. It was a great exercise in listening and making sure to do what's needed, musical, and appropriate for each tune specifically, and the gig in general. The tunes that we did that I had zero familiarity with encompassed about 2 hours worth of material.

So, even though I don't normally consider a gig as a practice session, I will consider this one to be a practice session simply because it was really a good work out for my ears, understanding of music harmony and theory, and general musicianship.

Practice Log - 8/16/09 | Part I

I have realized that I've been rather naughty by not posting my practice routine in a bit. No excuses other than I've been too lazy to bring my laptop down to my practice room with me and then bring it back upstairs to my home office and internet connection.

So anyway, here's what I've done for this morning:

Warm Up:

1. harmonics on alto sax with tuner + metronome @ 60bpm
   10 min
2. long tone exercise on alto sax with tuner + metronome @ 60bpm
   5 min
3. harmonics on soprano sax with tuner + metronome @ 60 bpm
   10 min
4. long tone exercise on soprano sax with tuner + metronome @ 60bpm
   5 min

Getting Together In Style!

It may only be once a year, but when I get together with a couple of my cousins and my uncle, we do it in style!

I've mentioned several times in the past that I come from a musical family...actually, the arts in general run strong in my family. Well, above this paragraph you see a photo (courtesy of a fan named Lynda Maniscalco) of my family band known as "The Latimer Experience", which is made up of (from left to right): My cousin Andre Latimer, my uncle Isham Latimer, my other cousin Emile Latimer, my two friends Glenn Palermo and Bill Titus on bass and guitar respectively, and of course me.

Yesterday we completed the last of two performances that I had booked for us this year. It's always such a kick for me to see how the audience reacts to what we have to offer, which is essentially 2 sets of purely improvisational music based on African and Latin drum rhythms, and perhaps 1 or 2 jazz standards thrown into the mix. What a great time we had! There is only one negative thing.

We had always wanted to get a good recording done of us while we are all still around and able to play. This is particularly important to me as the youngest member of "The Latimer Experience", because my cousin Emile is approaching his mid 70's and is starting to experience problems and pain with his hands. So, I had brought my digital recorder with the hopes that we might actually be able to create a live CD. We were in top form! However, the recorder didn't catch the performance! I forgot a stand for it and had to tape it to a column. Unfortunately, I taped it too tight and accidentally press the "stop recording button", which turned the device off. Talk about disappointments! I was disgusted when I saw no data on my memory card.

At any rate, hopefully we will be able to all get together again next year. And this time, they'll be no slip ups!

Catching Lightning in a Bottle

For the past year and a half, I have had the pleasure of being a regular part of the line-up for blues and jazz performer Gail Storm. Whether it's with her heavy hitting quartet with monster blues guitarist Joe Vicino, or a more intimate setting with just the two of us performing for a smaller crowd, I have enjoyed EVERY minute of my time on stage with her.

During our time together we have noticed a few things.

1. We have become very locked in to each other's playing styles
2. People seem to really enjoy not only the music we play, but our interactions on stage
3. Every single performance that we have done, particularly when we have the full band together, has reached our audiences in a very positive way...very much like what I see happens with my own quartet!

With those things in mind, about 2 months ago, we decided to record a 6 song CD together that we would make available for fans during our performances together. Well, we have completed the CD and I have to say that I really think we caught lightning in a bottle on this one! We simply did some of the songs that were favorites of her fans, but were also very strong songs for us. There's no cover design yet, or anything like that. In fact, we might not even professionally mass produce it, but I really think that people will enjoy it...hopefully as much as we enjoyed recording it!