Secret Stages 5-11-2012

Secret Stages Yesterday

Advancing to the next level. By Jerry W. Henry

I did some consulting work in Southern California last week. A very good band had signed with a large independent record company. Before signing, the record company said they would market and promote the band’s project. After signing, the front office executives decided not to market and promote the band’s project because of economic conditions. The hard lesson learned was the band had no control what so ever over whether the record company promoted their music or not. Mistakes were made on both sides. The band’s mistakes happened way before they signed.

I want to pass on some knowledge as you advance to the next level:

1.     Always be as professional as possible when dealing with the media, the music industry, future contacts, as well as your fans.

2.     It is all right for others to brag about you, but don’t do it yourself.

3.     Get involved in your official website. The reasons you have a website is to expose you & your music to the world and to sell your music.

4.     Social media sites are tools to direct traffic to your website.

5.     The more reviews you have, the more curious people are about you. Reviews make you a critically acclaimed band as opposed to simply a band.

6.      ​Always respond to email messages.

7.     Build a following one fan at a time.

8.     Expect your hard work to advance you, gain new fans, add more hits to your website, more downloads of your music, and more press coverage.

In today’s world it’s not difficult to make music. Making a career in music is not easy but it never was easy. I still say, this is the best time in all of history to be a musician. There are hundreds of thousands of ways to promote your music on the Internet. Being a great singer, songwriter, and musician takes dedication and when all three are mastered is the most rare of the species. Young musicians want to be great at every aspect of music and the music business. That is admirable but virtually impossible. Many burn out early and band break-ups are more than common these days. I think it best to stick with what you do well. Results will depend on how good you are and how hard you work. It’s all basic but all of us need to be reminded now and then.

As always when I go to a different part of the world, I check out the record stores. The best of the best in record stores I visited this trip is Bagatelle Records on Atlantic Ave. in Long Beach. The owner Steve Mintz is knowledgeable and truly enjoys what he does.

Also colleagues in California assured me that the Indie Entertainment Summit is worth the money and effort. There is a live stream of the IES seminars, workshops & speakers for only $50 for us that can’t attend. IES happens August 1-5 at different venues in L.A. Most of the venues are in the Hollywood area. http://www.indieentertainmentsummit.com/

Johnny Shines Blues Festival 2011

Musician peer pressure. By Jerry W. Henry

Peer pressure is another phrase for the herd instinct. The vast majority of musicians are followers. What others do, they do. They seem to have the tendency to conform. Other musician’s actions influence their actions. Why are number one records number one? It is certainly not talent in many cases. Nor is it because of life changing songs. There are a million songs that are better. Fact is: People love to consume what everyone else is consuming. They listen to what others are listening to. Musicians tend to pattern their music toward what people are listening to. Not to mention those number one songs are the results of a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign. My best advice: you should ignore this trap! Who cares what others are doing! You are better off to focus on yourself and your music. Think critically and ignore what's popular. Do what's best for you!  Quoting Shakespeare, “To Thine Own Self Be True….”

Big Mama Thorton

Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984) was born in Montgomery Alabama. Her introduction to music started in a Baptist Church, where her father was a minister and her mother a church singer. She and her six siblings began to sing at very early ages. Thornton left....


Click Here> Big Mama Thorton | talkingbouttheblues

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The Making of “Stormin’ In Hoover.” By Jerry W. Henry

The Making of “Stormin’ In Hoover.” By Jerry W. Henry

“Stormin’ in Hoover” is a jazz song that showcases today’s Alabama jazz. Our intent was not to have intent. This song was 100% improvised. All involved gave their talent, time and efforts without compensation to help support the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. All proceeds from downloads of “Stormin’ In Hoover” will go to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Downloads will be available on the Alabama Music Office.com website.

As producer, part of my job was to get everyone together at the same place at the same time. We met in the parking lot where Ellis Piano is located in Birmingham, Alabama. We were to record at the home studio of audio engineer, Mack White.

I wanted a cross section of Birmingham/Tuscaloosa talent, young and old alike. The players that gathered that night were Ray Reach, Tom Wolfe and Ben Hill. Ray was to bring the rhythm section. He forgot. We decided to record the keyboards, guitar and trumpet. The rhythm section, drums and bass, were to be recorded later. This approach is in reverse order from normal recording sessions.

I hummed the melody to Ray and told him the basic structure. He began playing and directed the other players as we recorded the first take. This was a lot-of-firsts night for just-out-of-college, Ben Hill on trumpet, nervous in the beginning but held his own all the way through. After some microphone readjustments, the second take saw the song beginning to really fall into place. During the third and final take the heaviest downpour of that stormy night occurred. Thus the title.

Schedules postponed the rhythm section’s recording. On the chosen night, which happened as a storm was approaching, we met again in the same parking lot. Our rhythm section was Steve Samples on drums and Jeff Drew on bass. Recording the way we did proved to be very trying for all. After several takes and several approaches we finally finished before the storm began. I can’t say enough about how professional these players were in this situation.

Producer-Jerry W. Henry
Composer/Arranger-Ray Reach
Engineer-Mack White
Keyboards-Ray Reach (find out more about Ray:http://alabamamusicoffice.com/artists-a-z/r/233-reach-ray)
Guitar-Tom Wolfe (find out more about Tom: http://alabamamusicoffice.com/artists-a-z/w/252-wolfe-tom)
Trumpet-Ben Hill (find out more about Ben: http://www.theplanetweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1924&Itemid=48)
Bass-Jeff Drew (find out more about Jeff: http://omikarea4.org/omikalabama.htm)
Drums-Steve Samples (find out more about Steve: http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Steve_Sample%2C_Jr)

All proceeds from downloads of “Stormin’ In Hoover” will go to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.

GENERAL INFO

Artist Name:

Alabama Music Office Jazz Allstars

Home Page:

http://www.reverbnation.com/alabamajazzhof

Band Members:

Keyboards-Ray Reach, Guitar-Tom Wolfe, Trumpet-Ben Hill, Bass-Jeff Drew, Drums-Steve Samples

Band Member Count:

5

Genres:

Jazz

CONTACT INFO

Location:

Northport, AL