I just got home from a cruise and spent some time visiting with the musicians on the ship. I asked them some questions that some of you may be interested in hearing.
The ship was one of the largest and the band was from all over the globe. The instrumentation was two trumpets, one trombone, two saxes, a bass, keyboard, and drums. Every musician was a good reader and the trumpets were very fine solo players. The tenor, who you would expect to be the jazzer, was a little light. The best musician in the band, in my opinion, was the drummer.
The responsibilities of the band were to back the three big on board shows and play in the lounges with a smaller group for dancing and drinking. The last job for the band was on the last night and it was billed as a Jazz in the Lounge performance. I was very interested in hearing the players “open up” so my wife and I went, even though it was late for a couple our age. That was the biggest disappointment of the cruise. The advertised “Jazz singers” turned out to be just a medley of “Elton John doing Ethel Merman” tunes all night. The band had invited me to come back that night to sit in on the last number and after seeing the speed with which they left the stage, I realized that there was not going to be any jazz played that night.
The bands responsibility on board was to play the shows as well as serve food or any other chore they could be given during their time off. Some served the hamburgers and some waited on tables. Most of their off time was taken by odd jobs around the ship including marching in the parades (without their instruments).
If you are looking for a Jazz job, you will be very disappointed. If you are looking to make a lot of money, you will again be very disappointed. But if you are single, wanting to travel and see interesting places as well as get some experience, make contacts, and build chops, sign up. If you have a tendency to gamble or drink in excess, stay home and practice your Arban.
As far as the difficulty of the playing is concerned, half of the show music was prerecorded and the band was only seen when they performed live. Careful use of the curtains and the hydraulic stage made it feel as if they band was playing all the time, which it wasn’t.
Playing on a cruise ship has some benefits and some draw backs. For me, I’m very happy keeping my feet on the shore and playing in town.
