Who's Gotta Right to Sing the Blues?, The Cost of Living is Dying, and The Deadly Chorus Equation

Who's Gotta Right to Sing the Blues?

Dear Mr. P.C.:  

About that song "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues." What gives someone the right? Can it be taken away?

—Teal  

Dear Teal:

What gives someone the right to sing the blues is mastery of blues theory, including all commonly used chord substitutions and alternate forms. They must also have a strong command of rhythmic vocabulary, whether in 4/4, 6/8, or 12/8.

Because learning all of this is a drawn-out and often unpleasant process, some historians have suggested that suffering is an important component, too. A degree from Berklee at $40,000 per year serves double duty, providing essential harmonic theory while at the same time contributing to financial hardship. Vocalists can also suffer while they're actually singing—whether due to a dragging rhythm section, bad p.a., or rude audience. The audience, in turn, suffers when a vocalist with no right to sing the blues sings them nonetheless.

But no matter how much a vocalist and their audience may suffer, that suffering in itself doesn't earn the vocalist the right to sing the blues. Theorists who put suffering first are confusing cause and effect, just like theorists who believe that playing polkas is caused by lederhosen and accordions.

The Cost of Living is Dying

Dear Mr. P.C.:  

Jazz musicians always talk about the fact that gigs still pay what they paid in the 1970s—fifty years ago! Adjusting for inflation, we're making less than a quarter of what we used to. And our current bout of inflation adds another level: I'm playing in clubs that have literally doubled their prices for food and drink over the last few years while keeping our pay the same yet again. Don't we deserve a cost of living raise at this point?

—Career Obligates Lax Accounting  

Dear COLA:

Well, what does "cost of living" really mean? Obviously, the cost of living is dying—it's the price we pay for being here. And if you think that cost of living is too high, you shouldn't have been born to begin with.

Maybe you aren't earning a living wage; maybe you lack material comforts. That's another cost of living; more specifically, the cost of living as a jazz musician.

The Deadly Chorus Equation

Dear Mr. P.C.:  

I've noticed that a "chorus" in rock/pop music is generally the catchiest part of the entire song. But a "chorus" in jazz is often improvised and rarely catchy at all. What gives?

—Single Chorus Horace

Dear SCH:

Jazz choruses are only a fraction as good as their rock/pop counterparts, so jazz musicians make up for it by playing multiple choruses in succession. If their choruses are half as good as a rock/pop chorus, they play two, a quarter as good, they play four, and so on. It's a merciless equation that takes the music all the way to rock bottom: When jazz musicians' choruses are infinitely worse, they play infinite choruses; this is also known as a jam session.

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