Jump to content

How much were musicians getting paid for club gigs, concerts and festival appearances?


Dmitry

Recommended Posts

Yes, contracts are out there but those who have them are not getting the research importance. Blue Note has contracts which would prove when an artist was signed to them but they are hanging on tightly to this info. It is needed whenever a tape shows up and it has to be determined which label, if any, has jurisdiction. This will be an issue if that Grant Green Left Bank tape ever surfaces. I think he was not with Blue Note, but they may claim otherwise.

The Left Bank archives at UMBC does have a few contracts, let me see if I scanned any of that when I visited last August. I know the fee for a Duke Pearson Big Band gig was shown, and maybe a couple of others.

To watch someone in action claiming contracts are of no historical importance, please watch the YouTube panel discussion I was on last year. You should be able to find it by searching for 'Baltimore Jazz Alliance Left Bank Jazz Society'.

Edited by bertrand
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, felser said:

That's about $1600 in today's dollars.

Seriously?

I was just reading Gene Lees' liner notes to Gene Bertoncini's Evolution! album, and he writes that Bertoncini was making $400 per week as a staff musician for NBC, playing on the Johnny Carson, and before that the Merv Griffin shows. That was ca.1966. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sarah Vaughn contract for a concert in Blackpool, July 6, 1958 Two appearances on the same night. 350 pounds. I'm assuming this was a sizeable amount in 1958. Did the management fee cover living expenses, meals, band compensation, transportation, etc., or all of that came off the top?

s-l1600 (1)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Dmitry said:

Seriously?

I was just reading Gene Lees' liner notes to Gene Bertoncini's Evolution! album, and he writes that Bertoncini was making $400 per week as a staff musician for NBC, playing on the Johnny Carson, and before that the Merv Griffin shows. That was ca.1966. 

About $3400/week today.  A lot more than I ever made, though I also never had the cost of living in NYC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also wondering if that is the total fee for the gig, a post-deposit payment, did it include commissions, or were those paid separately (I doubt they were on salary?)? And how that money was then distributed. Were sidemen paid a per diem of a flat fee from which they paid all expenses, stuff like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

McCoy Tyner collected the cash backstage before the concert. I am sure he got at least one rubber check or disappearing promoter in the past. I have no idea how muchAvery Sharpe and Aaron Scott made, or if any travel expenses were prepaid.

When he played at Bohemian Caverns in DC in the late 90s he got a rubber check. That was under the old owner. The guy who ran it after for about 10 years until they closed, Omrao Brown, was a class act all the way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Both Sonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter were paid 40k to perform at the Chicago Jazz festival; separate shows of course. I think the year was 2008. Somewhere I saw the contracts posted on a site for both of these concerts. Each then probably had to pay their band out of that 40k, or would those musicians be paid from the event organizers under different contact? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Hardbopjazz said:

Both Sonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter were paid 40k to perform at the Chicago Jazz festival; separate shows of course. I think the year was 2008. Somewhere I saw the contracts posted on a site for both of these concerts. Each then probably had to pay their band out of that 40k, or would those musicians be paid from the event organizers under different contact? 

That seems a bit high to me. Please find the posts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...