Music, like any business, some will make a lot of money, others will fail, and most will survive somewhere in the middle.

A lot of it is talent, a lot of it is promotion, a lot of it is being at the right place at the right time and a lot of it is knowing the right people.

I met Tom Scott many years ago while playing at a Hyatt hotel. He had just gotten off a concert gig with Steve & Eydie. We got to talking.

In our conversation Tom said (and I'll paraphrase) I know there is a sax player playing in a Holiday Inn in a city like Valparaiso Indiana that can put me in his back pocket, but I was in the right place at the right time, knew the right people, showed up straight and on-time and did the job.

What a great humble attitude. This put Tom up 3 notches on my ladder of esteem.

Not to take anything away from Tom, he an excellent sax player, but if his father Nathan Scott wasn't a prolific film and television composer who had more than 850 television credits and more than 100 film credits as a composer, Tom may have not had the opportunity to enrich our lives with is playing.

Others "make it big" with little or not talent, but great connections. And like the sax player in a city like Valparaiso, there are some great musicians who simply make a living playing gigs.

I knew a guitar player like that. Before he died a couple of years ago, he made a living playing small gigs and teaching guitar. As a sax player who almost made it big, I've had the luxury of playing with some great playing, world famous guitarists. My late friend, Richard Mac was the best guitarist I ever played with. I put his talent up there with Jeff Beck, but he never got the break. Still, he made a living doing music and nothing but music.

Business isn't fair. McDonalds makes a fortune selling cardboard food while a really fine chef opens a small restaurant and fails. Jackson Pollock painted what amounts to the drop cloths of a house painter and makes it famous, while another truly great artist works a day job and sells his/her paintings at local art fairs. Some singing stars can't carry a tune and rely on auto-tune while other great singers are in that band with someone like the sax player from Valparaiso.

In business, you can't always equate success with quality. Two different things. Sometimes they go together, sometimes they don't. Especially if your business is something as subjective as the arts. But when an artist is famous AND extremely talented, the artistic output can be one of humankind's great pleasures.

Thanks for the links, Mac.

Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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