Chats with Cats
Guitarist B. D. Lenz chats with today's industry experts about career advice and approaches for today's jazz professional.
The Sync Director: Eric Meyers
by B.D. Lenz
As an independent jazz artist with more than a dozen releases, I've promoted my recordings in all the usual ways, hoping to spread my music and eventually recoup the money I'd invested. Early on, though, I learned about “music libraries"--companies that house vast catalogs of music, soundscapes, and sound effects for film and television production. I mailed CDs to several of them and largely forgot about it. Years later, checks started arriving in the mail. At first, they ...
Continue ReadingThe Music Supervisor: Gary Calamar
by B.D. Lenz
For most musicians, the idea of hearing their music in a film or television show feels like hitting the lottery. One day, you're writing and recording in your basement studio, and the next, your song is underscoring a pivotal scene on a major television program. Behind those moments, though, is someone whose job it is to find exactly the right music for the right moment: the music supervisor. Music supervisors sit at the crossroads of art and logistics. ...
Continue ReadingThe Audiophile: Adrian Butts
by B.D. Lenz
Speak with any recording engineer, and they will express to you the frustration they have with modern music listening habits. Think about the money invested in top-notch gear to maximize the sonic quality of their productions, the effort put into having great sounds on a recording, the care poured into getting just the right mix, and all of the considerations taken when finally mastering their work. And for all of that, most people only listen to it through their phone ...
Continue ReadingThe Publicist: Antje Huebner
by B.D. Lenz
With technology transforming our world and every aspect of our lives changing so rapidly, it can be difficult to keep up. And the music business, like every other enterprise, has seen the same metamorphosis. For anyone who simply wants to be a musician, it's just not that easy anymore. With all the tools to manage a career at our fingertips, there's more expectation placed on us to understand and utilize them. But it can often be a struggle for artists ...
Continue ReadingThe Jazz Innovator: Jerald Miller
by B.D. Lenz
It's understood that talent alone is rarely enough to be successful in the music business. Among other things, it requires drive, relentless hard work, resilience, and a certain level of business acumen. But, in the last few decades, it's become increasingly important to be tech-savvy as well. To highlight the difference, could you imagine Miles Davis posting a selfie on Instagram or John Coltrane uploading a reaction video to YouTube? Now, consider how many artists in recent times have built ...
Continue ReadingThe Ukraine Connection: Sandy Eldred
by B.D. Lenz
It's an understatement to say that politics are very polarizing right now and one of the most heated topics is that of Ukraine. Regardless of how you feel about the war, we can all agree that it is a very difficult time for the Ukrainian people. With the conflict raging on for years, they're undoubtedly trying to find some semblance of normalcy amongst the terrifying chaos and uncertainty. With this in mind, it was enlightening to speak to ...
Continue ReadingThe Collective Organizer: Kyle Knoke
by B.D. Lenz
It's no revelation that the U.S.A. is a big country and the “fruited plains" is a vast area with “spacious skies." While that's great for agriculture and makes a pretty song it's not so good for touring musicians. The distances between venues can often deter prominent jazz musicians from traveling this region as jazz clubs aren't exactly aplenty in this space to begin with and wrangling the ones that do exist into a feasible route can be a very difficult ...
Continue ReadingThe Vinyl Collector: Chris Brown
by B.D. Lenz
When I was a kid, I would listen to records all of the time. There just weren't that many other options when it came to consuming music back then. It's interesting that, now, through all of the iterations of distributing recorded music that have come since (cassettes, CDs, MP3s, and streaming), vinyl is finding a whole new audience. In fashion, they call it the “twenty year cycle," where styles that were popular reappear decades later with a modern ...
Continue ReadingThe Jazz Kissa Owner: Danny de Zayas
by B.D. Lenz
When you read the title of this column there's a good chance you asked yourself, “what the heck is a jazz kissa?" I had never heard of them either until a recent interview I did with photographer Philip Arneill about his photo collection dedicated to the dying institution that is the jazz kissa (read that interview here: The Jazz Photographer: Philip Arneill). Japan is the birthplace of these establishments and I find it very interesting that one has now made ...
Continue ReadingThe Label Head: Nils Winther
by B.D. Lenz
Talk to anyone from around the jazz business and they'll all tell you the same thing, there is no shortage of it. There is plenty of great music being made by plenty of great musicians. In fact, the supply is probably outpacing the demand. And yet independent jazz labels are having a tough time. Do they just have the same woes plaguing labels of all genres; streaming, low royalty rates, and downloads? Yes and no. I got an ...
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