I didn't find thread about cocktail piano or lounge-style/piano bar etc, so I've made one
.Some of my background: I'm playing over a decade on so-called "events" - being it small parties for local gov or companies, or bigger ones. We usually played in trio (piano/bass/sax) with drum backtracks or even piano+bass in really small chambers. On "bigger" jobs we have drums/bass/piano/tenor/alto+voc and part-time guitar or female vocal so we are covered very well.
I don't like to play solo, 'cause chemistry between musicians and the ability to improvise over memorizing exact arrangements is quite painful. As pianist, I have to play melody, harmony and bass or a complete groove at the same time - I'm playing jazz for over 10 years (playing piano for almost 30), but it's somewhat limiting. Even with a bass player, which can give me some rhythm and bass line, I can still improvise - giving an energy is something that makes You - as a player - more "real" to audience.
But as times changes, there's a need to play solo A LOT - mainly due to lower request for bigger events or my mates living in another cities (so there's no point to play periodically in club/hotel/restaurant for a smaller fee 'cause of expenses). As COVID19 striked, I didn't play a single time since march 2020, so for musician (who loves to play) it's a bit frustrating. So I thinked - why not to start playing solo for real? Of course, I can give 2 hours performance, but I want quality over quantity, and playing several years in the band somewhat made my solo-skills duller (if I can say so). So it's time to change somthing
.GET TO THE POINT: I'd like to share experience with other piano players, who play mainly solo:
I. Your song list (and please describe the country You live in - some songs aren't so popular there and there)
II. typical song blocks (number of songs or duration of the block and a number of them)
III. gear You use (digital pianos, amps, iPad/notebooks etc)
IV. if You use software (iReal Pro or some other backtrack player)
V. genres (classical, blues, pop, jazz, smooth-jazz or "jazzified" standards, r'n'b etc)
VI. rates (if it's not a problem - country/city and size/"class" of the place You play)
VII. experience about "contracting" periodical jobs
VIII. any other thoughts about this job nowadays
I start from my experience from perdiodical jobs in one of the restaurants, where I played several years every week - mainly piano + bass or with trio, but sometimes solo:
I. songlist - a lot of evergreens from jazz (like "Take the "A" Train, Four, Bouncin' With Bud etc) and from pop (although "jazzified" or at least played with a little bit of cocktail-like style - adding 7maj or 9th to chords etc); some r'n'b hits, some local songs (I'm from Poland) - we had over 70 songs in repertoire
II. we usually played song blocks of 6-7 songs (25-30 minutes) from 19 'till 22/23, with 15-minutes breaks (so there were 6 or so of them)
III. we were using Mackie SRM 450 v2 x2, Peavey KB5 or similiar gear; as for piano, I'm (still) using Roland RD700GX (with pre-configured Setups with drum patterns), on top I was using Korg Trinity Plus but it was so heavy I changed it for Roland Juno Di (for those sounds I didn't get on stage piano); although I have very good notebook with audio interface and a lot of professional software, I didn't use it on that kind of job; as for now, I have Behringer K3000FX 300W-RMS combo, which is quite good, but still looking for the second active speaker for stereo image
IV. I was using iReal Pro (mainly for drum loops, but sometimes - when we were playing without bassist AND I wanted to improvise, I was forced to use drum + bass, so I played harmony only and was soloing). I'm thinking about iPad or something similiar - but didn't used it yet.
V. I don't play classic - there are already many players who do it a lot. Many people don't like classical music played all the time - they want the music they know, OR the music that's quality is hard to resist. Oldies, radio hits, evergreens, easy-listening - that kind of stuff, people want to relax and want to spend their time in nice atmosphere, so no point to play Armando's Rhumba or Donna Lee, when "Isn't She Lovely" or "We're In This Love Together" is putting the smile and smooth breeze over the people who goes to the place I play.
VI. Rates - I'm living in Poland, so the rates aren't so big. From what I heard, decent cocktail piano player can get for evening something like 300-500 PLN (1 PLN = 0,27 USD); we usually play bigger jobs for something like 120-150 USD per musician and that's fine. As for "per hour" rate, it's something between 100 PLN and 150 PLN. I'm teaching piano for 60-70 PLN/hour, so it's not that bad. When we were playing in the restaurant as trio, we're getting a flat rate (about 100$ for 3 people). But the free drinks, free eating, playing every Friday - we called it "band rehearsal with the catering and some money" and it really worked well.
VII. It's the hard part - every local owner want to spend as little as he/she can and to give You free food/drink as a part of the payment. Some of them have strict budget (around 200-300 PLN per evening) and for that money I can play solo for 2-3 hours, but the trio is out of question. I started to play in the restaurant mentioned above for like 100 PLN for 2 people (and food/drinks) - we had to built up our reputation and gain some experience
. Giving flat rate for one-time show is hit-or-miss, but "contracting" job has it flaws - You want to be the cheapest "option" to bring the crowd in the place or... the best one . We had a problem with the owner of the restaurant we were playing all those years - he started to skip several weeks due to lower frequency of the people. So we take a break - almost 2 years from now (my mates make families and went to another cities). He couldn't find the better option (it seems so), and from what I heard, he wants us back. So I have to talk to him about playing solo and a new conditions - but as we know each other very well, it should be a quick thing to do .VIII. Some of my thoughts:
a) we've got hardly no tips
b) somewhere it's a wise thing to have some backtracks and a singer in the band when someone want to dance and want to pay premium for that (heck, we even played at the WEEDING in the restaurant for our usual rate + a big tip from the married couple
)c) people don't care about what You play as long as it isn't too loud or too "complicated" - but they're tapping their feet anyway - it can't be helped if the music is good
d) the less, the better - people want to feel good, not to get a show
e) if You have capable solo player (sax/alto) and he looks and plays good, he's stealing all the show
; buut as a solo piano player if YOU look good, it's almost as important as the music You play - so it's not essential to be handsome, well-built man (or attractive woman); it's also a good thing to "look sharp" and have a really nice suit - for the performance part, You are part of the staff in the local You play. It's VERY important.Feel free to write some thoughts about this kind of job
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