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Tommy Igoe plays broadway. I believe that's his main gig along with the teaching. He does the big band for fun.
I don't think this is correct. I'm aware he wrote the drum charts for the lion king broadway show and that he's done broadway in the past. I'm also aware that he does a lot of traveling for clinics and to promote his educational materials. There's no way he'd have time to play 8 shows a week on broadway, travel the world doing clinics, perform a weekly big hand gig and continue making new books/videos.
His main income would definitely come from the education side, but he would also make income from the big band.[/QUOTE]
Gotta disagree more than a bit - first projects like Tommy's Broadway Big Band are total money pits - you do them for the art, for the publicity, for any number of reasons.... except direct income. Because for the leader, there will be little, if any, net income.
I don't know if Tommy's still playing Lion King in NY or not (maybe someone who does will chime in) - but his involvement in the show was far greater than writing the drum charts - which in it self is a weird way to put it (saw that written on the Vic Firth site... weird). Not to take from his contribution to the show as it was considerable - as the drummer there from the beginning of the show's reboot of the movie - he was very instrumental in developing lots of the specifics that have since become an established part of the show.
Also Tommy was not only the show's original drummer and longtime mainstay in that chair, but also spent some amount of time acted as assistant conductor as well (meaning he would have conducted the show on nights the regular conductor wasn't there).
As for him not having time to juggle the show commitment, the weekly big band, his occasional clinics and work teaching and developing educational material.... welcome to the world of being a professional musician. That's pretty much what it takes to "make a living" as a musician... as many kettles as you can squeeze on the stove at all times. And Tommy's been successful for me to know (with having ever met him) that he's been working his butt off at a relentless pace... for a long time.
One last note - regarding on-going shows like Lion King... it is actually required in most contracts that a player have subs available and ready to go in case of illness or other such emergencies - and in most contracts, "ready to go" requires each sub needs to play at least semi-regularly. So rarely is the main player playing the full 8 show week - and if the player is established and liked by the show (and his/her subs are up to snuff) there can be great latitude as to the main player's ability to take time off for other pursuits.
During the time I subbed Lion King in Los Angeles, I was called in for whole weeks at a clip as Dave Owen (the regular player) took time off to keep his other accounts active. And for most of the run, there were three of us subs filling in for Dave.
But over all my point is most pro guys are always juggling a dozen projects at a time.... That's simply what it takes.
David