Yazan: Jason | 23 June 2008 | 10 Comments
Categories: auditions, crazy gig stories, education
I’ve got story for you, and I promise it’s true! When I was getting started as a freelance musician at the tail end of my masters degree, I was quaking in my boots about my future prospects. After all, I was regularly buying CDs at Borders and Barnes and Noble from former Northwestern doctoral music [...]
Yazan: Jason | 17 June 2008 | 6 Comments
Categories: advice, freelancing
Over time, professional freelancers develop a set of skills quite peculiar to the profession, alternately taking on the role of long-haul trucker, delivery man, cabbie, and crisis control expert. Though they share the same basic musical skills as their more stably employed colleagues, freelancers are constantly faced with foreign environments and unfamiliar faces, and are [...]
Yazan: Jason | 02 June 2008 | No Comments
Categories: bass, bassist/composers, music news
Double bassist Vito Liuzzi recently let me know about a new composition from Italian bassist and composer Leonardo Presicci. Vito writes: LEONARDO PRESICCI from ITALY and his new composition : CROSS OVER BASS (HR) for db. and orchestra Dear Jason, I’m happy to present you the new composition by maestro LEONARDO PRESICCI “CROSS OVER BASS” [...]
Yazan: Jason | 02 June 2008 | 2 Comments
Categories: advice, freelancing
The cycle repeats itself, the faces on the gigs and the music on the stand changing in a never ending cycle of concert halls, Styrofoam cups of coffee in underground orchestra lounges, hauling basses, stools, and stands out of parking garages. Kennedy Expressway – 7 a.m. – jammed up on the freeway, riding the brake [...]
Yazan: Jason | 30 May 2008 | 4 Comments
Categories: advice, bass, freelancing
At long last, my book Road Warrior Without an Expense Account is completed and ready for purchase. It’s priced at $14.95 and is available now from Lulu.com (click below to purchase), and will be available through Amazon.com, Borders, and Barnes & Noble in the next 6 weeks or so. Putting this book together has really [...]