Décimo Contracanto: Como conseguir as grandes gigs (Por Darryl Jones)

Olá a todos!

As discussões neste tópico me fizeram lembrar que possuo na minha biblioteca uma revista - a edição americana de 2005 da Bass Player - com uma entrevista do Darryl Jones (baixista que desde 1993 toca com The Rolling Stones e já acompanhou Cher, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Ziggy Marley, B.B. King, Joe Cocker, Madonna, Eric Clapton e Joan Armatrading, entre outros) na qual ele expressa um ponto de vista bem interessante justamente sobre este assunto.

Sendo assim, deixo aqui para vocês as palavras do Darryl Jones sobre como conseguir as grandes gigs. Deixei o texto em inglês mesmo e os grifos são meus.

Espero que essas ideias sejam úteis para vocês.

Dito isso, vamos lá!

(...)

Bass Player: Do you have any tips on how a young musician could go about landing a job with a higher-profile artist?

Darryl Jones: "When I talk to a young bass player about this kind of thing, it usually starts with them telling me how they're frustrated with their musical situation, whether it be a high school band, a college band, or a bar band. They'll tell me they want to do something more, to play with musicians of a higher caliber. I tell them - and this goes back to my lessons with Miles (Davis) - that if you're playing with a drummer who has time problems, it's part of your job as a bassist to figure out how to play with him without fighting him. If a drummer is dragging, you can't play faster and think that'll fix it. It's about active listening, and making the best choices under the circumstances, and you have to hone that skill. Before you get on a great gig with a bunch of great musicians, the person who's going to give you that gig is going to see you at a bar playing with a drummer you don't dig playing with. So you've got to figure out a way to make it work, because that's part of your entreé into the new gig."

"Second, be specific about what kind of music you're interested in playing, and whon you'd like to play with. Pick three or four bands that you really, really want to play with, familiarize yourself with the music, and try to familiarize yourself with their management. You want to do everything in your power to make it easy for the person who's in charge of hiring the musicians - be it the drummer, the manager, or whoever - to think of you when they think, We need a bass player. First, you go to the band's concerts and if possible, you meet some of the band. But if that's not possible, you still gave to do as much as you can for yourself, like going and learning the music. You make your own luck by being prepared".