First of all, let me thank everyone who contributed comments and ideas to last weeks SMNP. Much appreciated, and keep’em coming!

No one offered a definitive answer on how best to release a new recording (so that it might at least break even), and I came to the conclusion that this was because there is no definitive answer. I’m slowly coming around to the fact that recording is just a small part of a larger picture which I think focuses mainly on live performances, aka touring.

A musician friend of mine once told me “If you’re willing to lose 10 grand on a recording then you should be willing to lose 10 grand on touring it,” which in hindsight,…um… still doesn’t make much sense. But what I think he meant was that recordings don’t do much unless they coincide with a tour because that’s where people are more likely to buy a CD.

Now, I may not be the brightest candle in the basket but I was never under the illusion that either of my CDs would make me a rich man. Instead, I viewed recording dates as goals to work towards, projects which would push me to write more music, then practice the hell out of that music and ideally, become a better musician for it. And in both cases it worked, but my game plan ended there, quietly hoping that good music + internet = success, and that the recording would somehow “take off” as though releasing a beautiful young dove into flight.

Only this dove does not burst forth into the blue skies as the musician (myself) hopes. This dove just fucking sits there in open palms, pretty, yes indeed, but confused and blinking annoyingly, head twitching from side to side as it looks around until, finally, it is placed into the closet along with 700 other stupid, blinking doves.

Okay, so I’m exaggerating. Both recording projects were absolutely worthwhile for me. But it’s time to think about aligning artistic goals with career goals.

Back to the touring thing. In the past, looking at the numbers, I couldn’t quite figure out how to take a jazz band on the road given the cost of the band (always getting the best players I can) versus the income of playing your standard small jazz club. One commenter last week (John) suggested looking at examples of musicians who are “doing it” ie. recording, touring, making a living, etc. Good advice; advice which I’ve heard many times before but which is always a good reminder: Yes, it can be done. People are achieving this. Maybe not exactly what you envision, but along the same lines. It’s not fictional, so open your eyes and look at what they’re doing!

So today I’m compiling a list of those people who are in some way doing what I want to be doing. Then I’m going to write out what specifically it is about their artistic/career direction I’d like to emulate. Oh Yeeaahh! We’re looking at a fun Saturday night in Danderland!

Meanwhile, I’m looking at this Summer, that’s right, I’ve got my eyes on it,…staring it down. Like Wile E. Coyote, Danderfer is never without a plan.

So. Should you be in Vancouver this Summer you will have a chance to witness the birth of my new electroacoustic band. Work on the studio recording of this music continues. Yes, I know, I thought it would be ready for release by now too but this is uncharted territory people! Another month or so and it should be ready for release, like a lamb to the slaughter an angry bull into the, em… matadors arena. …?

Performing this music live is going to be a huge challenge, but through a series of shows this Summer (I’ll give you the dates soon) I’m hoping to test-crash test-run the live show with a trio or quartet (the smaller the band, the easier to tour with). If it works out like I hope it’s going to, well… I don’t want to raise expectations too high,… so let’s just say it’ll likely be the event that “Vancouver 2010″ is remembered for!

Thanks for reading and enjoy the upcoming Winter Paralympic Games! Have a great week everyone!

For all those who have YouTubed me in the past, and I know there are many of you, the wait is over. I’m finally here on YouTube now! Boo-yeah!

Now, for the rest of you, who are wondering why I’m so excited to be a website that features videos like “Guinea pig Speaks Shanghainese” and “Fat Kid Falls Off Bike,” a website that anyone can be on. Well, I’m excited because I HAD FANS PUT THE VIDEO UP FOR ME! That’s right,… fans. Not only that, but they live in France! You see that!? You see? I’ve got fans around the globe,… and by “around the globe” I mean,… in France,…and by “around” I mean in Clermont-Ferrand.

So a big thank you to Edouard and Amanda in Clermont-Ferrand, France. You have both advanced to 1st Rank Danderfer fans, or “Danderfans” if you will (thanks SJ!). If we were in Vancouver right now, I’d be donning you with a gold medal,… well, maybe not, but at least a little bouquet of those yellow flowers they hand out, maybe even a commemorative cone-head team Canada tuque. So way to set an example for the other Danderfans around the world! The bar has been raised.

Why haven’t I uploaded some video to YouTube myself? you ask. Please! Don’t make me laugh! We all know I’m far too busy blogging about my career to actually attend to it! I mean, come on! However, if you insist, I’ve got a little footage from a show last Summer I could post. Okay, you can stop insisting now, I’ll get on it.

Some of you may be wondering “Doesn’t JD mind the fact that people are posting his music online for free?” I’m so glad you asked. No, I don’t. Which brings me to this weeks other topic: “Monetizing music: A Thing Of The Past?”

I met with McGill University’s Music Marketing teacher Shelley Stein-Sacks this past week to ask him a few things about the biz, to clarify what needs to be done to work towards, you know… actually making a living at this:

JD: Does it make any sense in 2010 to restrict online access to one’s music? In other words, what is the benefit to offering just a sample of my music online (all available for online purchase of course) as opposed to just giving it away.

SS: None. You won’t benefit at all from approaching it that way. You see, you’re still trying to monetize your music, your CDs, your downloads. You can’t monetize music any more.

JD: (long pause) I’m sorry,… I didn’t quite catch that. Would you mind repeating?… Because HAHA, it almost sounded like you just said “You can’t monetize music any more.” HAHA (enter nervous beads of sweat forming on brow).

SS: You can’t. It doesn’t work like that anymore. There is so much free music available to people now, your competition is giving their music away. No, you can’t monetize it.

JD: (Now teary-eyed, lower lip trembling) But, but I,… I’m spending almost $7 k on my next electroacoustic EP, and you’re,… you’re telling me it’s not worth anything?!

And there you have it folks, two guys looking at one subject from two very different perspectives.

Many of you are saying “Silly jazz clarinetist, of course it’s not worth anything! I’ve got 2 years worth of free music on ipod alone, and that’s nothing compared to my terrabyte drive at home.”

Am I out of touch with reality? Perhaps we musicians have an inflated sense of the value of our own music? Or perhpas it’s not an inflated sense at all, but a very real sense of the dollars and cents production value of our music. Laypeople are often surprised to find out what goes into that CD they buy (or used to buy), take my last recording for example: when all was said and done, once the musicians were paid, and the studio, and renting a piano, and the recording engineer, and getting it mixed, then mastered, then getting the design/layout work done, then having a thousand copies pressed, then mailing it out for reviews or to radio stations, it cost me no less than 9 grand. Not a record label. Me. And that’s not even mentioning all of the time that goes into preparing the music for a such a recording.

This isn’t to meant to guilt people into paying for music (I also have a lot of free music on my hard drive) but I think it does help to explain the musicians perspective and why some of us are slow to accept the “new music business model.”

But you know what? On the other hand, I really do want people listening to my music, that’s why I pay to have it released instead of just filing it away as documentation for Christ’s sake! Hell, I’d rather have people listening to it for free than not listening to it at all. I want it to be as easy to access as possible, so in a way, I’d be quite happy to just give it away for free. Is music just a tool with which to bring people to live shows? I’m just not seeing how indepent musicians can afford to keep producing recordings this way.

Wow! This is really sounding like a desperate plea for people to buy my next release. It’s not,… no really, it isn’t. This is instead, a request for your feedback, if you were me, how would you release the next recording? I’m not looking for feel-good answers, I’m looking for honest answers. So if you would, really think about how you and your friends access music these days, which artists you “support” and why,… and let me know. No point is too obvious for this guy either, you never know,… maybe I just can’t see the forest for the trees.

I’ve got lots of friends who listen to music all the time, via online radio; they never buy music but they’ll go out to see a band they like. Even I have to admit that there are a number of artists today whose new releases I’d really like to hear but just not quite enough to make me buy the album because I have lots of other music to listen to. That’s how saturated we are with free music.

Was Shelley, the music marketing guy, right? Does it come down to people supporting what you do as opposed to paying for music? If so, then perhaps we (independent musicians) should all adopt the “pay what you like” model and just get it out there. Traditional business models would say “You assign a product’s value. If you assign it $0 value, people will never associate any more value to it than that.” But this isn’t a traditional business anymore, it’s been turned upside down.

So there you go. All thoughts welcome, you can email me at james@jamesdanderfer.com or use that nifty little soap-box below I like to call a “comments section.”

Thanks for your reading and for your suggestions! Have a great week.

(above Collier cover image by Earl Oliver Hurst)

Readers, I’m a hypocrite.

I was reminded of this fact last week while talking to an undergrad jazz student here at McGill University. He was really excited about a course he was taking, one that has just this year been offered for the first time,… Music Marketing.

He started off by relaying info about the importance of websites and of finding ways to connect to your audience and, initially, I was impressed. “That’s great,” I said “I wish they had offered that course when I was doing my undergrad.”

But as he continued on with catch phrases like “aggressive social networking,” “delivering on a promise,” and of course “personal branding,” my heart sank a little. I became immediately nostalgic for the days when music students didn’t concern themselves with such things.

Time and again (well, at least once) I’ve criticized University music programs for not teaching students more business skills. Once they do? Well then, I criticize them for turning young artists into money hungry, “brand” crazy, music marketing machines! … well, maybe not quite that bad, but you get the idea. ME = Hypocrite.

Naturally, I requested to audit the course (which isn’t yet offered to Grad students,… WTF!? Are we expected to know all this already?!) because I’m well past the delicately formative undergrad stage of my career and well into the “OK, I’d really like to make a living at this now,…yeah,…anytime now,… thanks!” stage. Well, after a few classes I can tell you, it’s nowhere near as bad as my worst fears (it’s not transforming artists into marketing monsters), in fact it’s really quite good, but it’s not the ultimate answer I hoped it might be.

Let me clarify, the class is very interesting and absolutely worthwhile. The teacher has a wealth of experience from the business side of the “music business” (as opposed to the music side) and is certainly making the students think about their futures in a different light. In other words, although part of me is looking at the class of 20-21 year olds thinking “Personal branding!? Please! You’re a 20 year old music student, what exactly are you branding? Get back to me in 10 years!” the other, more reasonable (and considerably less jaded) part of me realizes that this is general business info which the students deserve to receive as part of their degree. (Just for the record, I’m not saying I don’t want to hear what a 21-yr old freshly graduated jazz student has to say about life through their art, I’m saying I probably don’t want to hear what a 21-yr old has to say about life through their art.)

Meanwhile I’m working on my paper about artistic planning, and as I’m writing the foreword (yes, it’s due in a few days and I’m only now getting started on it) I’m thinking “There’s a disconnect here, there’s something missing between teaching music students music and teaching them marketing skills.”

And guess what? As luck would have it, that grey area there? That middle-ground? The missing link which puts it all together?

Goddamn right! …The Artistic Plan

Next week, I’ll post my foreword to The Artistic Plan 101: The Course but for now, I’ve gotta run. I’m in the middle of working on the electroacoustic project. That’s right, I am literally sitting in a library, typing the SMNP while listening/commenting via skype to some fantastic BC heavyweight musicians recording parts on the electro EP. And yes, that’s why the SMNP is late this week. What can I say?… I’ve never been one for multitasking.

Thanks for reading everyone, have a terrific week!

Readers, this has been one exciting week! Let me tell ya,… wow! It’s just,… I mean, geez,…things are just rocketing ahead around here as I,…um… break new ground on, em… this cool new thing that you’ll, um,… I just can’t fucking wait to show you the, em,… Hmm.

Okay, fine. I got nothing this week. Nothing terribly exciting is happening in Danderfer-land. It was bound to happen sooner or later. But, you know, we had a good run,…didn’t we?

Let’s see now, disciplined scheduling took a turn for the worse as I got cocky/lazy and stopped preparing well thought-out daily schedules. I pulled another all-nighter on Monday to have a 10-piece jazz chart ready for Tuesday,… Tuesday was thus a write-off. The rest of the week just kind of flew by. Yes, I was busy working but just not really focused work. Anyways, this week I am not only getting back on that scheduling horse, I’m going to one-up myself and schedule the entire week in advance! Oh yeah, and I’m going to base the week’s schedule on relevant deadlines for the coming months. Uh-huh! Take that self, you little BITCH!

In other news, the 2010 Winter Olympics have begun in my hometown of Vancouver, B.C. I watched the opening ceremonies on TV last night, and although nothing could compare with Beijing’s unbelievable “Listen up bitches! We’re the next world super-duper power and here’s the pyrotechnic/light/acrobatics/lip-syncing display to prove it!” opening ceremonies last summer, Vancouver still had some good, more “intimate” moments. (For the record, I’m pretty sure there was some lip-syncing in last night’s ceremony as well,… I’m looking at you Bryan Adams!)

There were also some awkward/comical moments, like in the very beginning where the event organizers, in all their wisdom, decided to “streamline” (that is to say, cut out half of) the national anthem, thus leading a crowd of 60,000 (most of all Prime Minister Stephen Harper) to look proud, then lost, confused, and finally disgruntled. Well done!

And then of course, who could forget the olympic torch lighting finale? Watching all of the torch bearers standing out there in the fake snow, waiting for an eternity while the hydrolics temporarily failed to raise the torch out of the floor. I was glued to the television at that moment, because after a while of thinking “Wow, they’re really milking this dramatic pause!”, I started looking closely at the uncomfortable facial expressions of Nancy Greene and Gretzky, (Rick Hansen managed to maintain the stoicism of a confident general staring down an army,… bravo) and then Steve Nash’s forced smile and worried eyes gave it all away,… HAHA, the torch isn’t working!!

And finally, watching Wayne Gretzky get carted through the rainy streets of Vancouver on the back of a pickup truck with a bunch of drunks running beside it was somewhat,… shall we say, anti-climactic? But hey, despite all my cynicism I still felt kinda proud. Now I just hope that Vancouver will avoid an Olympic sized disaster by getting some snow! (Fun fact: this is Vancouver’s warmest winter in 75 years! Man, talk about a kick in the balls for VANOC.)

That’s all I got for the week, next week I shall report on my adventures with Logic,… the software. Have a super Valentine’s Day everyone, may you all have a charming day with that special bottle of bourbon, vat of Ben&Jerry’s, anti-depressant, someone!

Thanks for reading!

I’m in the thick of it now folks, donate your fans, bring me your ice-packs, yours truly is a hot jazz composing/arranging machine and I’m burnin’ up! Specifically, writing hot jazz for the 10-piece “Chamber Jazz ensemble” at McGill so this SMNP is going to be an appropriate length for a change.

I pulled an all-nighter last Wednesday in order to have a new chart ready for the 10-piece band to play on Thursday morning and I’m pleased to say the music sounded pretty good,… I think. Not having slept the night before, I was pretty brain dead on Thursday (after rehearsal the only thing I was able to do was watch “Amazing Billiards Trick Shots” on TSN and then pass out).

I’m really starting to get into writing music for larger ensemble because it gives me that which I covet so,… control. Musical control that is. Composing for a small group (3-5 pieces) is similar to drawing a sketch and letting the band fill in the texture and colours. Writing for a larger group however, feels more like architecture: you have to consider the look of your house, the style, how people (the band) will function best within it, and most importantly it has to be structurally sound. (hehe, excuse the pun.) I can almost feel the different parts of my brain flexing while considering the balance of harmony, melody, voice-leading, tonal texture, balance, phrase shaping dynamics, and form. It’s fun,… and who doesn’t like a little flexing?

The only part of the process that takes getting used to is the turnaround time involved with reading music with a student band. By “turnaround time” I mean the time in which it takes for the band to play your music at performance level. If you’re the composer, this period of time kinda hurts because you’ve spent many hours/days/weeks to write this music just so; you’ve poured all of your energy into the fine-tuning of it and so once it’s done, the song is already deeply ingrained in your brain. Then, when the band reads it and plays mistakes, it feels like you’re being prodded with small pointed sticks. I know that sounds dramatic but it’s true damnit!

It’s during this learning process where professional musicians stand out. How? They just “deliver” on the music so much faster. It’s not really a question of talent (there’s a lot of talent in this 10-tet at McGill); I guess it’s because students get used to weekly rehearsals and just having lots of time to prepare things where as pros have gotten used to the whole trial by fire approach and hardly ever have much time to get the music concert worthy. Pros know that time is money, and part of the reason you get called for a gig over the someone else is because you can focus, sight-read, and get into the spirit of the music quickly.

Now to be fair, sometimes the students are doing everything right and it’s just my music that needs fixing but it takes a fair amount of prodding time before I can tell how many of the problems are on them and how just how many are on me. Anyways, I’m not trying to be asshole here (who needs to try?) it’s just interesting to see how pros and students differ in ways beyond just how well they play.

Meanwhile, as the music’s being rehearsed, the chamber jazz ensemble director Joe Sullivan has been extremely helpful. Joe’s showing me it doesn’t pay to be overly critical of a composition during this prodding learning period. It’s easy to hear the first run-through and think “Oh Jesus, I just spent a week of my life, most of an ink-cartridge, and a small trees worth of paper on a big steaming pile of horse shit. Back to the drawing board” but I’m learning that oftentimes the problems in an arrangement only need minor adjustments and not a complete reworking.

Gotta run now, I’ve got another song to arrange and I’m going to try and get the bulk of it done today.

Thanks for reading, have a great week and enjoy Super Bowl XLII (42) tomorrow,… GO SAINTS!!

(above painting by Kandinsky)

This week it really is all about me…

Discipline and the Schedule

There’s nothing quite like starting your week with a clenched fist and the word “ffffffuuck!!” And so it was that I began my 2nd week of disciplined scheduling when I awoke on Monday to find I had slept in,… by several hours. Like a driver having fallen asleep at the wheel, my eyes opened in shock to see everything had gone off the rails. Completely underwhelmed with myself, I quietly wondered whether or not Monday was even worth bothering with or,… perhaps better I just go to the liquor store now for some Crown Royal, tuck myself in, and call it a day.

I know, it’s no big deal. Of course not, but it feels like a big deal when you’re still half-asleep, realizing that the new leaf you so recently turned has apparently just turned back! However, the silver-lining is that throughout the week I’ve been learning from my scheduling mistakes and sticking with it. Why am I so fixated on being more organized with my time? Because being an independent artist is like training to be an olympic athlete while running your own small business at the same time: both jobs are all-consuming and require as much time as you can pour into them. Always working to be the best you can be at your craft in a very competitive field and always working to promote what you’re doing, booking shows/tours, writing new material, etc., so you can get your work out there and ideally, make a living. …That’s why.

Here are the mistakes I made and learned from this week:

1. Not scheduling in meal times, or scheduling several other things at the same time: It doesn’t always pay to be a “go-getter” Danderfer! “Sure I can practice singing, do dishes, send emails, and make some phone calls during lunch. Why the hell not?” … Because when I’m really hungry I could give a damn what my schedule says, lunchtime is lunchtime asshole! Book the hour, make a sandwich, and do it right!

2. Being unrealistic about the amount of time an activity requires: i.e. If I’m going to the gym for an hour, I should not only schedule an hour when it takes 30 minutes on either side of that to get to and from the gym. This is probably obvious to most people, not me though!

3. Adjusting to the right amount of time for any given task: Similar to the previous point; I can schedule an hour to write music but after an hour I’m really just getting into it, 2 hours, or even just 90 minutes is better. Practicing the clarinet or voice however can be broken down into smaller amounts of time spread throughout the day because I can get into it faster.

4. I could use more time in the morning to get ready for the day: I enjoy taunting women who wake up super early to get ready for their day as much as the next guy. However, I’m going to have to concede that it does make a difference to face the work day with a decent breakfast, a shower, and looking, you know,… somewhat presentable.

Moving on,… MUSIC, MINE. In the words of Marvin Gaye, WHAT’S GOIN’ ON? Well,…

Electroacoustic EP: This is still in the works but I love what we’ve got so far. During the Christmas holiday I was back in the studio with pianist/recording engineer Chris Gestrin piecing songs together and redoing all of the vocal parts. (The previous vocal parts weren’t bad but 4 months after the fact, I knew I could do better.) We’re aiming to have it mixed and mastered by the end of March, at which point I don’t know if I’ll just release it by myself or if some major record label will miraculously appear and offer some support. Either way, I’ll keep you posted.

Performing the electroacoustic music live is another challenge altogether and that’ll be my main focus for the month of February. This requires upgrading the Logic software I’m using and then really diving in to the tech end of using that program (the tech end is deep and cold and I have avoided it for as long as possible) I want to have to get this ready to rehearse with some other musicians at least a couple of times in February. Once I can get it going in rehearsals then the next step is to book some gigs in town.

The Acoustic Jazz Playing: I’m transcribing the Johnny Dodds‘ solo on Wolverine Blues (w/ Jelly Roll Morton) as part of my continued studies of the great clarinetists. Dodds’ is my guy right now, the more I check him out the more amazed I am by his music and how many tonal colours he could produce from the clarinet.

The Acoustic Jazz Writing: I’m supposed to be composing a lot of music for the “chamber jazz” band (a 10-piece band) at McGill this semester but I’m still wrestling with how to combine the more classic sounds of jazz (like Johnny Dodds’ era) with something that’s, well,…. “me.” I feel like my compositional style (and playing style for that matter) could use a stronger jazz foundation, hence all the listening to guys like Johnny Dodds. However, trying to play like them, or write in that style just doesn’t feel right to me somehow, because, um,…. I’m not them! At this point it seems like the only thing to do is keep them separate and hope that one day some more of the spirit of this classic jazz will seep into my own playing/composing. I’m still not sure. One thing is for sure, I can’t sit around thinking about this any longer because the good professors at McGill are expecting some new works from me pronto!

The Podcast: It’s gonna happen folks because you the readers so overwhelmingly supported it! Actually,… your support was more luke-warm than overwhelming but I’m doing it anyways! Why? Because I need something to kick my ass to write more, and if I go a second year having written more SMNPs than hot tunes, I’ll scream. Besides, I think it’ll be fun. Expect to see the podcast drop in March.

School:

So far so good. Again, it’s very self-directed but I’m used to that now. I’ve got a paper to write for Jazz Pedagogy on the subject of my choice,… surprise, surprise, I’ve chosen to write about Artistic Planning. What I’m writing is essentially an outline for a course that could be taught to undergrads and grad students alike. Sooo, if there are any major University HR reps reading this, I’m available as of January 1st, 2011. So get while the gettin’s good, this Artistic Planning course is a HOT ticket.

…And What About Post-School?:

I would love to be so busy touring that I couldn’t possibly take on that 6-figure University job teaching Artistic Planning (HR reps, you’ve been warned!). I really want to be playing my music as much possible once I’ve wrapped up this Masters degree. And at the risk of over-hyping the electroacoustic thing and raising your expectations to a sky-high level which could never possibly be met, I believe this project would be great to tour with as something new, different, exciting, and…economical (doesn’t require that big of a band). Fingers crossed that I can find an booking agent who will feel the same way.

And that was the State Of The Danderfer, likely more than you ever wanted to know. If you read the whole thing, you’re a true fan and deserve a medal. Thanks to Thomas Arne Strand for the photo of yours truly, and yes, I’m standing in a bar.

Thanks for reading and have a great week everyone!

As of last Tuesday I’m back in Montreal, and it feels pretty damn good to be in my own place again!

Don’t get me wrong, I love going home and spending time with family and friends of course, there’s nothing better really, but it’s all about balance. I can be a people person but then I like to get away from it all and just be on my own, getting down to business. And when it comes to business, Montreal is like my personal office: friends and family don’t call me in the office, there are few distractions, chores can wait, and my task is simply to work.

That said, too much time alone in the office comes with it’s own challenges. Sometimes you could use that extra person around, the one who looks at you in disbelief and says “Dude, what the fuck are you doing?” Any self-employed, work-at-home person out there knows exactly what I’m talking about here.

Like, for example, when you accidentally lose track of time (and your long to-do list) whilst reading Esquire men’s magazine at the breakfast table, or watching the Ellen show when your schedule clearly states you should be composing (hey! It only happened once a few times), or still wearing a robe at 3 in the afternoon. Or, when you’re simply staring in to your near-empty kitchen cupboards, standing idiot still for what seems like an eternity while that little white rat in your head runs on it’s wheel trying to decide what to make for dinner,… “Wellll,… Let’s see now, I’ve got some eggs but no bread for toast, I’ve got some peanut butter but again, the bread thing. I should start cooking more Chinese food, I used to really enjoy that, yes, definitely more Chinese food, and then Indian food for when the weather’s hot, I hear spicy food actually cools your body. That’s crazy. I wonder how that works, because whenever I eat spicy food I start to perspire; maybe you just have to stick with it for longer. I never stick with anything long enough. Will I even stay in Montreal this Summer? What if I don’t get any gigs this summer? How much debt can I incur before I have to work another cruise ship? I should start looking into getting a cruise ship gig for at least a month or two. Let’s see, how much would I make if I did 2 months on a ship?….Oh for Christ’s sake, that’s not the answer! Start thinking bigger picture for once; is 3 months playing cruise ships really the best use of your time? That reminds me, I’ve got to get my watch fixed, I can’t believe that stupid alarm has been going off at 3:24am for years now, maybe that’s why I feel so tired these days, it’s probably the alarm pulling me out of REM. What’s the name of that lead singer? Michael Stipes? I should check out Atlanta, Georgia some time, wait, no, it’s Athens, Georgia. What a strange name for a town in Georgia. I hear there’s lots of music happening down there, maybe I should move there after I get my masters degree, maybe then I wouldn’t have to…

… HEY! Dude, what the fuck are you doing!?

Oh, um, nothing. Just thinking about what to make for dinner. Well, back to work now.

Etc., etc.. Anyways, I’m happy to report I haven’t really needed that person this week and that the discipline is coming along. It’s a work in progress, but I am very slowly getting better at it,… or, em,…at least my first week has been pretty good. For starters, I spend a fair amount of time each night scrutinizing my schedule for the next day. I go over and over it like I’m prepping for a bank heist. It’s got to be focused, it’s got to be realistic, and it’s got to be 8 hours.

Now for my inspiration of the week: Clint Eastwood

For those of you who didn’t pick up the December issue of GQ (like any of my readers would miss that! OMG did you see that 5k Tom Ford suit Kobe was wearing? WTF! So cool!) there was a great interview with “the only guy alive who makes you envy crow’s feet,” Clint Eastwood, who apparently was a late bloomer in most everything he did, including acting, directing, fathering children, and eventually winning oscars.

To read the full article, click here

I like reading about people like this, people who to be sure, had a fair degree of talent but more than that, people who set there eyes on a goal and were determined to get there no matter how long it took. Yeah sure, those who rocket into success at an early age are rare and therefore “special” (not even in text can I hide my bitter envy of natural talent) but those who continue to work on their craft well past the accepted “expiry date” of a rising star? Well, I think they’re equally rare and at the end often have more character and maturity in the work they produce. Hell, just look two of the all-time jazz greats: Charlie Parker and John Coltrane.

Now be honest, what jazz musician out there doesn’t relish in the fact that both Bird and Trane kinda sucked for quite some time before their perseverance led the way to their brilliance? Right?… That’s what I thought. And yes, that makes me a little small, and yes, it makes me feel better about myself but I’ll take comfort where I can get it thank you very much!

In other music news, I’m rediscovering Louis Armstrong’s Hot 5 and Hot 7 recordings and digging on Johnny Dodds’ work more than I ever did before. Also, listened to Sidney Bechet’s “Blue Horizon” again the other day,… wow. Nobody plays like that anymore.

I think my composition/arranging goal for this semester is to expand on the “Tribute To The Great Clarinetists” show I did last year. Instead of just a sextet, I’ll arrange the music for the 10-tet here at McGill. Then I’ll learn some of these classic clarinet solos (like Blue Horizon) and kind of “frame” them with my arrangements. It won’t be that creative from an improvising point of view but it’ll be good arranging experience and will help me to get deeper understanding of the music of the “great ones.”

Of course, true to form, I come up with this idea once I’m already a quarter way through the semester,… awesome.

Well, times a wastin’, time to arrange some hot tunes!

Thanks for reading and have a great week everyone!

It is in fact Friday evening as I write this SMNP, from the Patricia Hotel (Vancouver) where CBC Radio will soon host their musical event in honour of the late great Jelly Roll Morton who graced this same venue back in 1919 for over a year.

All the musicians involved were at the CBC studios yesterday to rehearse (and some fine musicians there were, including Bruno Hubert, Brass Roots and the great Henry Butler), then we all had a sound check at The Patricia Hotel this morning. Following that, my trio went back to CBC studios to rehearse some more after lunch, then I came back to The Patricia to play for CBC’s pre-show live radio broadcast (with Ndidi Onukwulu, a very talented singer in town who I just met yesterday), and now here I am, hanging out in the hotel lobby, blogging, while the other musicians drink beer and have a good time. You see? You see what I do for the SMNP?

As for the 8 hours a day thing, well, I’m pretty sure I’ve been working at least 8 hours a day but it’s been anything but organized. I’ve just been racing to get everything ready for this CBC show tonight and making many trips to Chris Gestrin’s studio to work on my electro-acoustic project.

So yeah, I feel like I’m getting stuff done but this is solely deadline driven work, it’s chaotic and all-consuming. As of tomorrow however, I’m going to spend more time designing some structure to my schedule and working out what to work on. I’m also going to pay more attention to something a friend of mine hipped me to, and that is to distinguish what’s important to get done as opposed to urgent. Often times things that seem urgent, like answering the phone, replying instantly to emails, etc, take up a lot time and dominate your schedule over long-term goals which are actually more important to you.

Did that last part make sense to anyone? I know it’s a solid idea but now I’m having trouble explaining it. I might expand on it in the comments section, we’ll see. For now though, I think it’s only civilized that I cut the SMNP short, go back into Pat’s Pub (in the Patricia), order myself a pulled pork sandwich and a beer and shoot the shit with some musicians.

Have a great week everybody!

First off, thanks to everyone who made it out to The Cellar last weekend for my “Party Like It’s 1929!” trio show. The band had a blast, the crowd was great, and I came one step closer to familiarity with this older style of jazz,… and that’s a win-win folks.

But just in case you missed it, we’ll be playing in Vancouver one more time (and featuring my CBC commissioned suite for Jelly Roll Morton) at a CBC Radio event (picture below) on Jan. 15th.
Click here for details.

So here we are. 2010 already. I think that was the most stealth decade ever that just blew by. The 20th Century was full of legendary decades, even the “Big 80’s” and the “Gay 90’s” had names for Christ sake! But the “2000’s”? That last decade didn’t even get a name, so as a result I didn’t pay that much attention to. …Shit. Those were my 20’s that just got kicked to the curb goddamnit!

But never mind all that because now we’re in the 10’s BABY! At least the number 2010 looks cool. (2009 was an unimpressive number that we all started counting down to move on from since Jan. 1st of last year.) This decade needs a name though “The _____ 10’s”. Something catchy that starts with ‘T’, hmmm… Terrible? Tacky? Taciturn? Timeless? Telling? I don’t know, I guess we’ll see how it turns out.

And now down to brass tacks readers: Resolutions. You’ve got’em, I’ve got’em, who the hell knows if they’ll help.

Someone told me recently that they don’t bother with resolutions because they only end up feeling guilty about not doing them later. Hogwash! I’ve got a better idea,… Introducing my 2010 Resolution #1: Resolve not to beat yourself up over failed resolutions/plans/schedules or anything else that’s designed towards the pursuit of your goals. TA-DA!!

Besides, as I mentioned last year, statistically speaking about 40-46% of people who make New Years resolutions actually make good on them whereas those who desire change but don’t make a resolution have only a 0-4% chance of seeing change. That means I had a 10 times better chance of making good on the 2009 resolutions which I didn’t make good on than had I just remained silent. Folks, I’m not a gamblin’ man, but I’ll take those odds!

Now if resolution #1 strikes you as a little more Oprah-esque sensitive than Danderfer-esque sensible, well,… I guess it is, but for a very sensible reason. It simply means to be more objective about little “failures” and not to beat myself about the weeks days when things don’t work out as planned. Sometimes the “plan” (or just the day’s schedule) gets off the rails completely, it happens. But the “lag time” of moving on is something that can be lessened, I think it requires some maturity and probably (Resolution 2 spoiler alert!) some discipline too, to assess the failure or mistake, learn something from it, and move on. I’m all for holding one’s self to a higher standard but punishing yourself for mistakes is really nothing more than a waste of time. So that little voice in my head with the lead-lined boxing gloves can sit this one out, it’s time for a voice that’s on my goddamn team already!

My other 2010 resolution? You guessed it:

Resolution #2: To be more disciplined with my time and my work and not to rely solely on deadlines to drive me.

Oh I hear you. You’re saying “I don’t know Danderfer,… you seem to get a lot done; The Jelly Roll Morton Suite for CBC, the weekly SMNP masterpieces, the uh,… em,… did I mention the Jelly Roll Suite?”

Yes, it’s true, I could be less productive, but believe me, I could be a whole lot more productive and disciplined. I know this, because I know what a really productive day feels like and because I know how few and far between they are for me.

So I’m going to get back on track with the 8-hour work day thing. 8 hours with set start times and end times.

I tried it before and failed, at which point I decided it was not for me and I’d be better off just setting ambitious deadlines for myself as a “deadline driven” person. However, in turns out this method was compromising the quality of my work somewhat, and interestingly what seemed to suffer most was my free time, or distinct lack thereof. Without the discipline, days were still pretty unfocused (until the hellish few days/ hours/minutes right before the deadline) and so my working time kind of bled into my whole day, thereby leaving no time for other enjoyable things like drinking going out, or reading, or studying language, etc. Fun things that are actually pretty good for our brains.

Well how about that, I little feel good SMNP to get 2010 started on the right foot!

So how about you? Got a New Years resolution you’d like to share? Then go ahead and put it in the comments section below!

Thanks for reading and have a great week everyone!

Readers, I’m exhausted. It’s currently 3am and I’ve just finished the Jelly Roll Morton Suite,… Holy Hell that was a lot of work. That wasn’t no ordinary jazz composition, that was basicly a 5-part, through-composed suite. But, it had to be done tonight before my rehearsal with the band tomorrow.

I think my pianist is finally going to snap when he sees my piano parts. (pictured right)

Why so complicated James? you ask. I don’t know, this unusual instrumentation (clarinet, piano, drums) is just really piano-centric and if I didn’t write it all out then,… then, it might not sound the way I want it to damnit!

Anyways, I had a real interesting blog post planned for you this week but my time was consumed with this project.

So instead, why not start off the New Year with a boring punctual SMNP for a change!?

Deadlines. I curse them. Yet I need them.

I’m going to sleep now. Come and see the World Premiere of my suite commissioned by CBC Radio at The Cellar this Sunday if you’re in Vancouver and like hot jazz. We’ll be performing it for CBC to record at this event on January 15th which I’m also very excited about.

OK, I’m tapping out of this post now. Have a great week and tune in next Saturday morning for a more enthralling SMNP.

All the best in 2010!