ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Anyone thinking of taking a band on the road might first want to check out some essential reading on the venturesome nature of touring. It's rough out there, especially for jazz musicians, and every sliver of advice from a seasoned road vet can come in handy.

One such volume is A Musician's Guide To the Road: How To Plan and Organize a Successful Tour by vibraphonist-educator Gary Burton. It came out in 1981 and is no longer in print, but if you know someone who owns a copy, it is very much worth borrowing, studying and absorbing.

A more recent addition/edition comes from the equally esteemed pianist-educator Hal Galper. Like Burton's book, Galper's The Touring Musician: A Small-Business Approach to Booking Your Band on the Road (Billboard Books/Watson-Guptill Publications) is a treasure trove of worthwhile information.

Galper has been there/done that. In addition to appearing on more than 80 recordings, he has served with distinction in the bands of Chet Baker, Cannonball Adderley and Phil Woods with similar stints as a rhythm section anchor with Stan Getz, Art Blakey and Slide Hampton. His time on the road with these jazz giants, plus solid credentials as a band leader in his own right, make Galper eminently qualified to assemble a handbook on touring.

Early on in The Touring Musician, Galper addresses an important question: Is there really any work out there? His answer is surprising. "Most jazz musicians are convinced that there aren't enough places to play to support a performing career. This idea has permeated the jazz community from time immemorial and, in reality, has no basis in fact. The truth is that there are so many gigs out there, with more being created every day, that it would be impossible for any musician to play them all in a lifetime."

The Touring Musician is organized into two large sections -- "Part I: Preparing Yourself to Run a Small Business," and "Part II: Booking Your Tour" -- with each section broken down into detailed chapters. As is apparent by the title of Part One, Galper is an eager advocate of knowing the nuts and bolts of crunching numbers -- an arena many jazz musicians would just as soon delegate to someone else (to their frequent detriment). If you're willing to practice what Galper preaches, the odds of a financially successful tour should tilt in your favor.

Lest it appear that Galper is only addressing the clinical here, he also devotes proper time to musical matters, especially when it comes to presentation and personnel ("Interpersonal Relationships," "Experienced Versus Inexperienced Musicians," "Chemical Reactions"). His comments about the former are as insightful as they are commonly ignored. "Most audiences have had their fill of pickup bands that don't have an organized presentation, and just get together and jam tunes. Your goal as a bandleader will be to stimulate the group to create a musical identity for your band that listeners will be able to recognize."

After "Getting Your Attitude Together," "Evaluating Your Assets and Creating Your Action Plan," "Organizing Your Business," "Setting Up Your Office," "Selecting and Packaging Your Band," and "Managing Your Time and Information" (all chapters in Part One), you will then be ready to tackle Part Two.

In this half, the emphasis is on getting and staying organized. Researching venue contacts, contacting venues and negotiating gigs, managing routing and budgets, arranging travel and accommodations in both North America and foreign countries, organizing tour finances, conducting promotional activities... each gets chapter-length treatment, and with Galper's "Eight Rules For Booking a Band" introduced up front.

• Keep your band on the road.
  
• Be flexible with your leader's fees.
  
• Never work for assholes.
  
• Price your band realistically.
  
• Know your bottom line.
  
• Book anchor, secondary anchor and support gigs.
  
• Avoid conflicts of interest.
  
• Avoid double-booking and cancellations.
  
  

All of these rules are discussed in detail, and all from the vantage point of someone who has been there.

There is also valuable information about the challenges of air travel ("If you're really desperate and don't want to check in the instrument... declare it as a priceless antique"), using the internet to shop for good travel values, and, if you're one of those semi-non-verbal jazzers who dreads making contacts on the phone, there are even suggested "scripts" for introducing yourself to potential employers.

The Touring Musician presents a very pro-active approach to putting a band on the road, and Galper spells everything out in concrete (and sometimes humorous) detail. If you harbor dreams of someday trying to string together some dates outside of familiar city limits, read this book first.
As Michael Brecker says: "Hal has left no stone unturned when it comes to the business and mechanics of taking a band on tour."

And that's coming from someone who has been there, too.

-- Mike Metheny



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