Life on the road isn’t always easy; but for musicians, it’s the norm. We’re used to the tour bus life and it’s become a part of us. All of us bandmates have shared so many special memories on the road. And as clichéd as it sounds, living together makes us feel like family.
Our jazz band—The Razzmajazz Dixieland Band—has been performing all over Dallas since the 1980s. We’ve formed a strong connection by being on the road together, both during practice sessions and gigs.
If you were to ask us what the top things we’ve learned are, the answers are probably a little different from what you’d expect.
Practice sessions still take a significant amount of time
Our band prides itself on the quality of sound and music we perform. Having been together for over 30 years, people often assume we no longer need to practice for a gig.
But in reality, to make every performance both outstanding and novel, we practice, a lot! As a genre, jazz is known for improvisation. We always put our spin on the classics to give every audience a new flavor of our music.
Every week, we make sure we practice our instruments. We take this time to also prepare some more original music, which you can listen to online or buy our CDs.
Time management
The touring life may sound fun, but it’s your livelihood and passion, you need to be disciplined about it. Our band members are always ready on time for a performance. We have stringent routines so that we don’t delay anyone.
Often, bands get a bad rapport because they’re known for being late to gigs; but not us! Our band is always there ahead of time. We take into account the time it takes to set up and have everything ready before the show hits the road.
Performance prep
Setting up at an event usually takes time, but our band has managed to cut down the time spent on setting up by a huge margin. With the many years of experience we have, we’re able to easily adjust the sound for the venue we’re performing in. Having been in this business for over 3 decades, we’ve performed at multiple venues multiple times too.
Get in touch with the Razzmajazz Dixieland Band for your next big event. We perform at medium to large events like parties, weddings, corporate events, and as part of a marching band. Our band members have mastered various jazz styles like Dixieland, Swing, Ragtime, and traditional jazz.