I had the opportunity to see Wynton Marsalis perform with the 15-piece Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra last night in Seattle, and it was an absolutely stellar performance, with great song selection (Marsalis's own "The Holy Ghost" was a standout) and some of the most incredible technical playing I've ever heard--they did Duke Ellington's "Braggin' in Brass," which contains a trombone part in which each player plays a note or two in sequence, together creating this fast complicated line. (Listen here--that part starts around the -2:06 mark.) I've heard from some jazz fans that Wynton's a little too stiff or formal for their tastes, but that wasn't my experience at all--he even walked back on stage for an impromptu second encore vamp with only the piano, bass, and drums backing him up.
I would have been happy to buy a recording of last night's performance by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (shown here).
(Credit: Wynton Marsalis Web site)Jazz performances lend themselves to live recordings--setlists change nightly (Marsalis announces his setlist from the stage as the show goes on) and improvisation is the rule rather than a rarity. I would have been happy to buy a recording of this show or last month's Return to Forever performance. But so far, I don't see jazz musicians embracing the practice of recording their shows and selling them--something that's become pretty common with jam bands like Widespread Panic. A few acts, like Willie Nelson, even sell USB memory sticks containing a recording of the show right at the door as you're leaving.
Rights clearance might be one problem: most of the Marsalis set consisted of songs by other composers, some from the orchestra, others long-passed like Duke Ellington. Figuring out how to split the sale proceeds from a live performance among all these rights holders might be a problem--something that rock bands, who tend to perform mostly their own material, don't face. Then again, every Widespread Panic show contains at least one cover, and they seem to have figured out how to disburse the proceeds. So I hope the jazz world will begin to embrace on-the-spot live recordings soon--I want to give them more of my money, if they'll let me.
Pollstar magazine asks a good question: why aren't more artists recording their live concerts to CD and selling them at shows? I recall that the Pixies recorded most of the shows on their reunion tour in 2004, but I haven't seen many bands do it since.
Pollstar notes that some venues retain the rights to sell anything recorded there, while others charge artists a fee for the privilege of recording their own shows for resale later. (Fair enough--the venue has probably invested heavily in sound gear, or at the very least in acoustics, which may have an effect on the final product.) Copyright issues surrounding co-written songs and label/publisher ownership can also be an issue.
But another reason is technology: rigs that can burn lots of CDs simultaneously cost several thousand dollars, and the artist has to haul this gear as well as blank CDs and jewelcases around. One possible answer is memory sticks. They're more expensive per unit than blank CDs, but they're smaller, file-transfer is faster, and they don't require dedicated equipment--just a computer, which you're probably already using to record the show.
At least one high profile artist is already doing this. Last summer, I spoke to Seattle P-I reporter Todd Bishop (who maintains an excellent blog on Microsoft) right after he got back from seeing Willie Nelson. Willie was selling USB wristbands of the day's concert for $25 a pop at the show--in fact, you can still buy them through his Web site. Trent Reznor also made some very creative use of memory sticks to promote Nine Inch Nails' last record, and given his recent split with his label, I wouldn't be surprised if he starts selling music this way as well.
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