Jonathan Curtis
Silver Member
Hi all,
I've not posted for a while, so I hope you're all well.
I have a bit of a pickle. As some of you may know from the Your Playing section, I run my own band called the Jonathan Curtis Eclectic Band (JCEB, herein). The JCEB is essentially a vehicle with which to play my original jazz/fusion compositions.
Originally, the band consisted of myself and the tunes I'd written. I then secured the services of two local musicians, a bass player and keyboard player, to actually play the pieces live. The plan was to fund the debut album on Kickstarter, with the two musicians essentially acting as session musicians for the project.
To be clear up front, as of now, I have not paid them. They are essentially band members who have put time and effort in at rehearsals; the session musician relationship was to be the professional arrangement for the recording; it was my band, my album, my songs, they get paid one off fees to record the songs.
Unfortunately, their commitment has been less than ideal, and at least one of our weekly rehearsals is cancelled every week (we normally have two weekly rehearsals), due to either other work, or in the case of the bass player, school work (he is a university student).
The problem I have, is that I want to record. I've essentially got arrangements, but they need rehearsals to get the songs up to speed. They can't sight read (indeed, the bassist converts his parts to tabs, and then learns them from that), and refuse to try new material without first taking it away and spending a while on it. This would be fine if they actually did this, but every week there's a different excuse as to why they haven't learned the song or practised their parts.
Today, I sent them both a rather firm message after our rehearsal was again cancelled. The bassist had an essay due in tomorrow, and the pianists was unwilling to come on his own.
Here is my dilemma. In his angry reply, the bassist correctly pointed out that I have yet to pay them anything, and until I do, I'm not his boss. True, but am I naive to think that, having offered someone some very lucrative studio time, they should put the time in rehearsing to get the parts up to speed? I like them both, they're nice lads, and I fear I risk our friendship if I essentially sack them. But I've got "professional" session musicians lined up who can sight read, willing to come into the studio and lay down the tracks with me.
On the other hand, we've put months of rehearsals in together, and had a few successful gigs as a band, and a part of me doesn't want to throw that a way. I'm sick to death of the attitude though. They've each got their own projects, they've each got their own stuff on, and the band gets pushed to the back. For me, this is a career move, recording an album of my own material.
Do I swallow it and put up with their attitude, taking forward what we've already built, or move forward with session musicians who can do the job straight away, but with none of the history together?
I'm sorry if I haven't explained this very well, I'm annoyed, and have had an angry reply from one of them, and aren't quite calm.
I've not posted for a while, so I hope you're all well.
I have a bit of a pickle. As some of you may know from the Your Playing section, I run my own band called the Jonathan Curtis Eclectic Band (JCEB, herein). The JCEB is essentially a vehicle with which to play my original jazz/fusion compositions.
Originally, the band consisted of myself and the tunes I'd written. I then secured the services of two local musicians, a bass player and keyboard player, to actually play the pieces live. The plan was to fund the debut album on Kickstarter, with the two musicians essentially acting as session musicians for the project.
To be clear up front, as of now, I have not paid them. They are essentially band members who have put time and effort in at rehearsals; the session musician relationship was to be the professional arrangement for the recording; it was my band, my album, my songs, they get paid one off fees to record the songs.
Unfortunately, their commitment has been less than ideal, and at least one of our weekly rehearsals is cancelled every week (we normally have two weekly rehearsals), due to either other work, or in the case of the bass player, school work (he is a university student).
The problem I have, is that I want to record. I've essentially got arrangements, but they need rehearsals to get the songs up to speed. They can't sight read (indeed, the bassist converts his parts to tabs, and then learns them from that), and refuse to try new material without first taking it away and spending a while on it. This would be fine if they actually did this, but every week there's a different excuse as to why they haven't learned the song or practised their parts.
Today, I sent them both a rather firm message after our rehearsal was again cancelled. The bassist had an essay due in tomorrow, and the pianists was unwilling to come on his own.
Here is my dilemma. In his angry reply, the bassist correctly pointed out that I have yet to pay them anything, and until I do, I'm not his boss. True, but am I naive to think that, having offered someone some very lucrative studio time, they should put the time in rehearsing to get the parts up to speed? I like them both, they're nice lads, and I fear I risk our friendship if I essentially sack them. But I've got "professional" session musicians lined up who can sight read, willing to come into the studio and lay down the tracks with me.
On the other hand, we've put months of rehearsals in together, and had a few successful gigs as a band, and a part of me doesn't want to throw that a way. I'm sick to death of the attitude though. They've each got their own projects, they've each got their own stuff on, and the band gets pushed to the back. For me, this is a career move, recording an album of my own material.
Do I swallow it and put up with their attitude, taking forward what we've already built, or move forward with session musicians who can do the job straight away, but with none of the history together?
I'm sorry if I haven't explained this very well, I'm annoyed, and have had an angry reply from one of them, and aren't quite calm.