Richie Beirach's video on living and (not) working this year

[Reezekeys]

This is a video of a zoom (I presume) conversation that Richie had with Michael Lake, a trombonist that organizes something called the "Jazz Master's Summit" and has many videos online of conversations with top jazz players. Richie gives his perspective as a jazz musician that's toured his entire professional life and what it's been like for him this past year. I haven't seen him in many years but we did hang out a few times "back in the day." He was actually responsible for a big "aha" moment in my musical education when I was part of a small group of pianists in a teaching workshop he put on with his musical soulmate Dave Liebman way back in the early 1980s.

 

This is a sobering look at what the situation is for a lot of the older jazz players these days. It's possible not many people here will relate to everything he talks about, but I think most will at least understand where he's coming from. I happen to share a lot of the feelings he espouses. Anyway, I thought this might be interesting to a few people here, especially if you're familiar with Richie - he's one of the best jazz pianists out there imo.

 

[elif]

Thanks for this. He expresses rather pointedly that live music creation is a shared experience between the musician and another, whether audience, student, the band, etc., This shared experience is a big part of his musical self identitiy and his disconsolation at not being able to have this shared experience is as you say, sobering.

[Malpaugh]

Thanks for posting! Very interesting to hear an artist"s perspective and frustrations during isolation and lockdown.

[re Pete]

Thanks. Yes, good perspective.

[yannis D]

Thanx for the video. Richie is dead right about streaming concerts, especially when asking himself if people will go back to the real concerts after the virus is over...

[Docbop]

Interesting interview and agree with a lot of it. But I don't think anything is going to go back to the way we knew before the pandemic. How people work has changed and some companies are already saying they like the new model. Schools I think will be a mix of old and new after the pandemic. Music is going to change a lot. Part of what will change in music is how many venues closed or closing. Sadly like recorded music people downloading and stealing music has led to streaming. Some clubs have tried to move to online shows with virtual tickets and people not enough people are willing to pay when there is a lot of live shows being streamed. I think part of the issue with clubs its the bar money they are missing and they priced their virtual tickets too high to try and compensate and it backfired. As the pandemic starts to resolve I think the Smalls Jazz club could be the future of live music. Small places that with small audience and then a streaming audience that subscribes to the venue or reasonable ticket prices. I see that a good thing because now a small club in a small city if they get good artist can build a global audience which is good for the artist and club.

 

They say to break a habit or create a new habit takes about 21 to 30 days. To make a lifestyle change takes 90 days, well were 9 months into the pandemic and people are making lifestyle changes whether they realize it or not. Being realistic this pandemic is probably going on another year or more so what how we used to live is becoming the next "remember back in the old days" thing. Now the one thing that doesn't change is people wanting to drink and hookup so after the pandemic local bars are going to get busy and that could bring back cover bands for dancing, but I think the world of big club and concerts are going to move to streaming like much of our lives will.

 

The Roaring 20's will be online this time around.

[Wrrtyuuiioop]

Oh he hits the nail firmly on its head.

 

Anyone in an at risk group due to age and or health could relate to Richie irrespective of if they are an artist or not.

 

Our social activities stopped nine months ago just after we went to see a Concert with 2000 other people.

 

Then came Covid and eventually streaming concerts which we have watched and contributed to some of them.

 

As for live shows, No Way are we going to see any in the whole of 2021. The risk will be too great even after we are vaccinated and a couple of months have then passed to give time for it to work.

 

We are just one level away from a total Lockdown such is the Covid rates here, as from midnight we are supposed to stay home unless we have to go to work, shop for meds or food and for exercise. We are not allowed to meet more than one other person and then that shall be outside in a public area and we must nit have travelled outside our area to meet the,m.

 

So seeing Daughter and Grandkids is off the table and that will be via Zoom.

 

Yeah, life sucks, but it sucks for us all.

[Al Quinn]

Very interesting to hear Richie describe his experience. I get much of what he"s saying.

 

I saw him a few years ago at Birdland. He"s a true master of the kraft!

[jazzpiano88]

Thanks for posting! Very interesting to hear an artist"s perspective and frustrations during isolation and lockdown.

Agreed.

The arbitrary impact on people's lives is unprecedented in history... some people suffer while others prosper.

Richie has a double whammy..... he's at high risk for the disease and his profession is non-essential.

[Al Coda]

thx for posting !

 

I´ve seen Richie in german Hamburg club "Onkel Pö´s" when he was on tour w/ Dave Liebman early 70s,- at least for me,- revelation on grand piano and Fender Rhodes !

After that gig I bought a Mutron III envelope follower filter stomp box because he used it w/ the Rhodes.

"Lookout Farm" you know ...

 

At that time, I lived in an appartment together w/ Detlev Beier, german jazz bassist, who unfortunately died june 18/ 2016 in the age of 59.

Richie and Detlev were closed friends and gigged a lot together later ...

Richie & Detlev

 

 

Well, up to now, we don´t have much against Corvid19.

 

For the 1st time, this/a virus, brings human civilisation to it´s limits.

Many will become victims or will die.

This is not the end,- even vaccine implicates HOPE.

 

Be prepared ... it might cost your existence.

No society is able compensating for loss of income for unlimited time.

 

And now,- another old fellow died from Corvid19 dec 19,- "Lucifer´s Friend" bassist Dieter Horns ...

clonck

Nice guy, great musician ...

 

He´s the 1st in my "environment" who died from Corvid19.

 

A.C.

[Pa Gherkin]

Richie absolutely nails it. Watched the whole video and I am in accord with everything he"s says here. Felt like he was reading my mind. It was actually comforting hearing him voice almost everything I"ve been feeling. Apparently misery really does love company. His statements about cultivating an appreciation for the little good things that happen each day and counting one"s blessings are very wise. Thanks for posting this Rob.

[Reezekeys]

I´ve seen Richie in german Hamburg club "Onkel Pö´s" when he was on tour w/ Dave Liebman early 70s,- at least for me,- revelation on grand piano and Fender Rhodes !

After that gig I bought a Mutron III envelope follower filter stomp box because he used it w/ the Rhodes.

"Lookout Farm" you know ...

 

That's how I met him. I was playing in a "jazz-rock" band ("New York Mary", lol - yea that was the name - my first recording!) that opened for Lookout Farm at the Jazz Workshop in Boston, Massachusetts. This was probably 1976, maybe 1977. A full week of me getting schooled! He played my Rhodes on that gig. Lookout Farm opened my ears up for sure. It was actually a little embarassing to play a set before him. I was 20 years old, three years out of high school. I devoured the Lookout Farm records, along with Richie's early solo recordings. Somewhere I may have a cassette tape I got from him of when he toured Japan with Stan Getz. After a gig, he went to a club and played a trio set with his Getz bandmates - Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland! Incredible, and a big influence on me. I hung with him a few times at his tiny apartment on Spring Street in NYC.

 

At that time, I lived in an appartment together w/ Detlev Beier, german jazz bassist, who unfortunately died june 18/ 2016 in the age of 59.

Richie and Detlev were closed friends and gigged a lot together later ...

Richie & Detlev

 

I lost touch with Richie but knew he had a teaching gig in Leipzig. I don't remember him doing too many USA gigs in the last few years. Sad to hear about Detlev. And I'm sorry to hear about your friend Dieter. I wasn't much of a follower of that style of music but just checked out Lucifer's Friend on youtube & Wikipedia. Nice band, but holy shit their Facebook page is full of "RIPs" to musicians, it's indeed very scary. Especially when you hear of the people that take all the precautions and still get sick. I'm hoping that we're turning a corner with the vaccine, but as Richie says, how long will it take for strangers to congregate in clubs and concert halls? Or, for the older guys (like the two originals in the band I play with, both ~75 years old) to get on planes? OTOH I'm hopeful that people stuck in their houses for a year will be very anxious to get out, and once enough of them are vaccinated and the numbers indicate a declining infection rate, they'll be very much wanting to hear live music again!

[ProfD]

I appreciate a professional musician articulating the realities of this situation and the uncertainties of the future as a performing artist and teacher. The "prison" he feels is very real.

 

Human beings are social creatures. Normalcy has to return. The alternative would not be good.

[re Pete]

I did appreciate his personal perspective. But myself, I can't stop playing period. There is too much music out there to learn. Especially classical. Bach, Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. would take me a lifetime.

Who can play all the rags? Debussy and Ravel? Having an audience? Sure, it's nice. But I bet he didn't need an audience all the time to develop. Shit like this pandemic is just making us stress out.

No, learning never stops. Damn the covid.

[Bobadohshe]

Really enjoying this video (about 1/2 of the way through it). His thoughts on the inefficacy of the livestream to scratch the musicians itch really hits home.

[Piktor]

That's how I met him. I was playing in a "jazz-rock" band ("New York Mary", lol - yea that was the name - my first recording!) that opened for Lookout Farm at the Jazz Workshop in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

Sorry for being slightly off topic, but I remember borrowing my recently departed friend's New York Mary album a couple of times when I was first opening up to a world of funk, jazz and jazz influenced music. That was YOU? Cool!

 

Regarding the reference to prison: Months ago I reflected that my current living conditions were much like living in a pretty NICE prison. (My wife appreciated the idea that I have a great cellmate.) I try to keep that perspective and I am grateful that, because I have pension income, the bills get paid, no matter how I spend my time. I do have considerable sympathy/empathy for those who depend upon gigs or any other volitile income sources to pay the bills. (Lots of people are hurting. I have a brother who works in a natural resources industry and his lot sucks right now.) At the same time, I won't spend unnecessary energy bitching about something that I cannot change. Yes, this sucks. What CAN I do? I CAN practice. I CAN write. I CAN absorb ideas and information. If I was younger and did not have a pension I would be looking for new ways to pay the rent so that I could pursue my art in the future, just in case gig income does not return. I like how Bruce Foreman put it on the Guitar Wank podcast: a jazz musician faces the conditions that exist and tries to make art out of whatever is in front of them. Picasso had blue paint? Blue Period. We have severely limited options, but we still have tubes of blue paint. What CAN we do? Assess the situation, employ your skills, and make something happen. You can justifiably wring your hands, but you know that some person out there is already figuring out a way to reach out to people, engage their interest and make a bunch of money. That person COULD be you.

[Reezekeys]

Sorry for being slightly off topic, but I remember borrowing my recently departed friend's New York Mary album a couple of times when I was first opening up to a world of funk, jazz and jazz influenced music. That was YOU? Cool!

 

I'm on their second album. If there was a motorcycle on the front cover, that's not me - it's Alan Zavod (RIP).

 

Regarding the reference to prison: Months ago I reflected that my current living conditions were much like living in a pretty NICE prison. (My wife appreciated the idea that I have a great cellmate.) I try to keep that perspective and I am grateful that, because I have pension income, the bills get paid, no matter how I spend my time.

 

Richie mentions that money is not an issue for him too. He has a pension from his teaching position.

 

I do have considerable sympathy/empathy for those who depend upon gigs or any other volitile income sources to pay the bills. (Lots of people are hurting. I have a brother who works in a natural resources industry and his lot sucks right now.) At the same time, I won't spend unnecessary energy bitching about something that I cannot change. Yes, this sucks. What CAN I do? I CAN practice. I CAN write. I CAN absorb ideas and information. If I was younger and did not have a pension I would be looking for new ways to pay the rent so that I could pursue my art in the future, just in case gig income does not return.

 

With all due respect, sometimes you have to vent. The situation over the last year is unprecedented. Richie and others in his world have spent their entire lives making a living performing and teaching and it's not for me to judge what someone else should do, or what their mental state should be, now that things have changed so drastically for them. I agree that musicians "face the conditions that exist and tries to make art out of whatever is in front of them" as you quote Bruce Forman saying, but I think that misses the point; of course great art can come out of adversity but you need to be able to present it to the world and communicate this art. That's the process that's been disrupted here.

 

Assess the situation, employ your skills, and make something happen. You can justifiably wring your hands, but you know that some person out there is already figuring out a way to reach out to people, engage their interest and make a bunch of money. That person COULD be you.

 

Are you a full-time musician? It's very easy to say what you just did there. Please let me know when you hear of a jazz musician "making a bunch of money" in ANY time, pandemic or not!