Alonzo Bodden – HuffPost 12.6.13

Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for new artists?

Alonzo Bodden: It is so difficult. And really quick, on the whole social and racist thing, wouldn’t it be great if we could follow the example of musicians? Musicians have never done racism, it’s just, “Is he good? Can he play? Is he cool?” Miles Davis had a white keyboard player, you know what I mean? This was back in the fifties when everything was segregated. You look at the bands on these stages. Nobody checked with Brian Culbertson saying, “Hey man, you’re white,” or check with Earl Klugh, “Wait a minute, you’re black. You can’t play guitar with the white guys.” So I wish that we’d reach the level that music as reached. New artists? Man, I don’t know. I’m not a musician, so it’s difficult for me to say I have musical expertise, but so much now is created and studio-driven in pop music that it’s tough for a true artist to make it. A lot of these guys, their love is jazz, but they make a living touring with Madonna or Patti LaBelle or someone like that. That’s where they make a living, because that’s where the market share is. Now for new artists, so much of it is marketing and self-promotion–I tell new comics that all the time, half of their job is marketing. I wish it was just about being funny, but they’ve got to learn about marketing themselves on YouTube and Twitter and all social media. I guess for music, it’s the same thing. I call it the lottery now. In comedy, the lottery is TV. You get on a sitcom or you get in a movie, now you’re a big name and you’re suddenly rich. You’re not any funnier, but you’re suddenly a big name. I think it’s the same thing with musicians, the lottery would be a pop hit and then suddenly people are listening to you. For a young jazz musician–and it’s pretty much always been this way with jazz musicians–you’ve got to love the music, because you’re playing it for nothing. Europe follows it more, Japan follows it more, a lot of these guys make their living internationally, but it’s not easy.