Warren L. Oree
February 2002

The Jazz Messenger
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By Warren L. Oree

One of the best ways to advance in this society is to have the ability to read. For most people that means reading words. When one reads, then presumably, one understands and can make decisions based on what was read. Reading allows you to travel to far way places without even leaving the place you are reading from. It stimulates the mind and opens doors of opportunity. There are some who read more than words. For instance, an architect reads blueprints; an electrician reads a wiring diagram; a cartographer reads maps; and most wise people doing business or just trying to function in the world we live in today read between the lines.

So what does any of this have to do with music…. especially jazz music? Well, musicians have a better chance of getting more gigs if they can read music. It requires study and experience. Everyone has their own method that makes it easier for them. There’s no better feeling than walking into a job and someone hands you a page of music filled from top to bottom with those evasive little creatures we call notes---oh yes they certainly try to run from you. They twist and turn, some of them are upside down, some are all crowded one over the other in just one measure. To be able to take that sheet music and confidently and (depending on who’s looking) pompously transform those elusive little things to music is truly a natural high. On the other hand, there is no worse feeling than to walk into a gig and the leader or composer thrusts a chart of music in your hands and you look at it and immediately begin to sweat profusely, so much so, that your perspiration smudges the notes on the paper changing a C to a D, an A flat to a….”What the…!!???” The notes begin to laugh at you and run and jump all over the paper daring you to read them correctly, and (again depending on who’s looking) you sheepishly and noticeably begin to shrink and disintegrate from embarrassment doing a meltdown that would rival Dorothy’s Wicked Witch of the West (time and experience eventually make most musicians at least average readers of music. Although I admit it always fascinates me to see drummers reading music…it seems almost a violation of some unspoken law of nature to see a drummer bashing away on cymbals and tom-toms, arms flailing, face grimacing, and to think that this is being read??

But there is something even more important than music that a musician must be able to read --- an audience! That’s right. An accurate reading of those people who have come to see you perform can make the difference between a red hot night on the bandstand or an arctic freeze that makes a Popsicle out of any effort you put forth to “reach” your audience. Like reading music, reading an audience successfully requires experience. When you have developed this skill you can walk into a club, concert hall, etc. and determine which tunes to play even as you are setting up. Yes, there are times when you make a set list, but it is only the hardheaded and inexperienced (or someone who just doesn’t care) that refuses to alter from the prearranged music plan. So, reading an audience requires versatility and common sense. This should not be confused with being overly accommodating to your audiences, but rather being committed to working regularly!

When you play all types of jazz it enables you to put the right groove on the patrons who come to get something out of your performance whether they know it or not. For instance, if you walk into a club with your mind set on playing some Ornette or Coltrane-type pieces that you’ve been dying to debut, and you notice that most of the audience are older couples with white shoes and name tags, it might be wise to go to some Duke Ellington or Cole Porter numbers. Reading the audience also involves noticing other things…check out the expressions and eye contact you get from them when you do a certain thing on your instrument, which could be any number of things depending on you and how tight you are with y r, like when the sax player in a group I was freelancing with decided to focus on a fine young lady and pointed his horn at her as he crept closer to the edge of the stage….she loved it…the sax player loved it….the audience loved it…all except one person – her date!!!!! All of a sudden she was gone. But for the most part you utilize certain “devices” that literally turn your audience on – but you have to read them right to know what thing works and with whom.

It is also important to know when to talk and how much to say. I am often accused of being a little long winded on stage, but experience has taught me that some people really enjoy when you converse with them; they feel closer to you and they become invested in the music. Some people want to know why you wrote a song, or the history of your inspiration for a particular piece. People love to feel like they are one of the “cats,” and a little dialogue can go a long way. Likewise, it is paramount to recognize that beast of all clubs and concerts, but mostly dwelling in the night clubs---that fearful, devastating, musician-eating fiend---the loudcallousmusic-dissin’fullof themselves actin’likethey’reatacircus audience (I use the term audience lightly, it’s more like ALL DENSE). This is the beast, the monster that seeks to destroy all performances and any type of ambience that might support a first-rate concert. There are several things you can do to survive the attack of this monstrosity, but there is one thing you must never do – you must never try to talk to this type of audience. I found out the hard way…the more I tried to converse, the louder they became and the more I was blatantly ignored – not a good feeling. I was tempted to slay this beast with a voluminous thirty-minute free jazz tune with everyone soloing at once, but instead of blaming this anti-jazz behemoth, I took the responsibility and decided to become more knowledgeable about jazz audiences ses of playing this music called jazz is to reach people. To create in them a desire to reflect, project, and explore. It is our obligation to “contact” as many people as possible if we want to silence the death knolls that ring every so often about the state of jazz (hmm..now that’s a state I would love to live in!). We are not playing this music exclusively for ourselves (musicians). It is to be shared and given to all who would dare receive it. Jazz is essential to music; music is essential to life; reading helps connect images with life. If we are connected with the people, we must know the people. Reading the audience can help us do that…and more.

Warren Oree is a bassist/composer/producer and leader of the Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble. He is a “working musician” who tours throughout the world performing original compositions which have been recorded on several CDs. As the founder of Philadelphia’s Po/Jazz Connection, he has spurred the careers of some of today’s most popular spoken word poets.