MartinLeo Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 This Friday night I attended a performance by Dave Grusin and Lee Ritenour in a small venue in Madrid (Spain). The ticket cost €33 and there were no more than 100 people (the maximum capacity of the venue is less than 300). They were accompanied by exceptional bassist and drummer, and Tatiana Parra (singer) and Ivan Lins (vocals and piano) also performed a couple of songs. The entire concert lasted no more than 50 minutes and it was magnificent (Mr. Grusin had a problem with his Motif and could only perform the last verse of a song because he couldn’t find the sound and had to be assisted). My concern is... Do they really make money with these performances? It was not an event subsidized by any public organization. Am I missing something? 1 2 Quote NS4 73HA, Yamaha MODX7+, Korg C1 Air, Roland TD1-DMK, Harley Benton TalkBox, Sony F-760 dynamic microphone, Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen, M-Audio Track Duo, MacBook Air M1, Logic Pro 11, Kontakt 7, Mainstage, Cubasis 3 (IOS), Korg Module (IOS), Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montunoman 2 Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 Thanks for the review! Glad to hear they’re still at it, touring Spain . I often wonder how jazz artist even at this level actually make any money too. Must be a hard life! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABECK Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 Not sure about Ritenour, but god, I hope Grusin made a good enough living off of soundtrack work alone that he does this just for the love of it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveCoscia Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 David Grusin is a favorite. I've been listening to 3 or 4 tracks from the Fabulous Baker Boys soundtrack in my truck recently. It's drenched in 80s sound production and still sounds great. 1 Quote Steve Coscia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montunoman 2 Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 2 hours ago, MartinLeo said: . Do they really make money with these performances? It was not an event subsidized by any public organization. Am I missing something? Maybe they have financial backers, like a record label? Perhaps they have some big festivals in the region coming up, and playing low key venues is like a warm up. Also, people that attend these venues, post about them which generates more interest in the artist’s music and keeps them in the public’s eye. I’ll be looking up their music today for sure thanks to Martin Leo’s post! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reezekeys Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 Speaking from personal experience and just spitballing in this particular case, the way tours are put together (especially "jazz tours"), coordinating various venues' availability to make for easy routing is difficult if not impossible. Regarding this particular gig, again with the spitballing, this band probably has festival gigs lined up - those are what pay the bills. However it's quite possible there are days off in-between those bigger gigs, so oftentimes you'll see a band like this booked into a smaller venue. This is strictly to pay travel expenses! A day off is hotel rooms for six people (in this case) with no income to offset that. It's kinda a "love-hate" thing: touring in Europe (if you're not a pop superstar) is usually extremely difficult and tiring – 4AM lobby calls to take a cab to an airport to fly to another country for that night's gig – but a day off means a smaller paycheck at the end. Budgets are tight these days (again speaking from experience) due to much increased traveling expenses - everybody (except maybe the Taylor Swifts) is affected. Guessing again (I'm good at this at least!), Dave Grusin doesn't need the money. Also, Ivan Lins is a veteran who I would also guess is doing fine. I take it they still love what they do and we are luckier for it - to think that any 90-year old person would go through the rigors of touring in Europe is just amazing. Those two along with Ritenour have a unique relationship that goes back many years (I think there's a DVD of a concert they did). Their playing and composing styles complement each other like a 1945 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild with aged Wagyu steak. More guessing - they are renting gear at each venue, and Dave got a bad Motif. That's surprising since Madrid is a major city and should have good backline companies. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfD Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 5 hours ago, MartinLeo said: My concern is... Do they really make money with these performances? It was not an event subsidized by any public organization. Am I missing something? With a net worth of Dave Grusin ($20M) and Lee Ritenour ($14M), these musicians can afford to play for free or love of music or both. At this point in their lives, with financial security and more time behind than ahead, playing music gives Grusin and Ritenour something to do instead of sitting around in rocking chairs.😎 1 1 Quote PD "The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinLeo Posted July 15 Author Share Posted July 15 2 hours ago, Reezekeys said: Speaking from personal experience and just spitballing in this particular case, the way tours are put together (especially "jazz tours"), coordinating various venues' availability to make for easy routing is difficult if not impossible. Regarding this particular gig, again with the spitballing, this band probably has festival gigs lined up - those are what pay the bills. However it's quite possible there are days off in-between those bigger gigs, so oftentimes you'll see a band like this booked into a smaller venue. This is strictly to pay travel expenses! A day off is hotel rooms for six people (in this case) with no income to offset that. It's kinda a "love-hate" thing: touring in Europe (if you're not a pop superstar) is usually extremely difficult and tiring – 4AM lobby calls to take a cab to an airport to fly to another country for that night's gig – but a day off means a smaller paycheck at the end. Budgets are tight these days (again speaking from experience) due to much increased traveling expenses - everybody (except maybe the Taylor Swifts) is affected. Guessing again (I'm good at this at least!), Dave Grusin doesn't need the money. Also, Ivan Lins is a veteran who I would also guess is doing fine. I take it they still love what they do and we are luckier for it - to think that any 90-year old person would go through the rigors of touring in Europe is just amazing. Those two along with Ritenour have a unique relationship that goes back many years (I think there's a DVD of a concert they did). Their playing and composing styles complement each other like a 1945 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild with aged Wagyu steak. More guessing - they are renting gear at each venue, and Dave got a bad Motif. That's surprising since Madrid is a major city and should have good backline companies. Quote NS4 73HA, Yamaha MODX7+, Korg C1 Air, Roland TD1-DMK, Harley Benton TalkBox, Sony F-760 dynamic microphone, Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen, M-Audio Track Duo, MacBook Air M1, Logic Pro 11, Kontakt 7, Mainstage, Cubasis 3 (IOS), Korg Module (IOS), Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABECK Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 If I'm seeing this correctly, that is absolutely the sturdiest music stand I've ever seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinLeo Posted July 15 Author Share Posted July 15 6 minutes ago, ABECK said: If I'm seeing this correctly, that is absolutely the sturdiest music stand I've ever seen. It’s just a standard X-stand… what you are seeing is a bizarre sheet music stand. He also had a grand piano and a MOTIF ES 8 for Ivan Lins Quote NS4 73HA, Yamaha MODX7+, Korg C1 Air, Roland TD1-DMK, Harley Benton TalkBox, Sony F-760 dynamic microphone, Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen, M-Audio Track Duo, MacBook Air M1, Logic Pro 11, Kontakt 7, Mainstage, Cubasis 3 (IOS), Korg Module (IOS), Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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