[Tango-L] live music

[bradley cox]

  As a non-dancer, musician it has been quite interesting to follow this discussion. Many of the comments about what bands need to provide for dancers at a milonga have been presented in terms of market economics--the dancers, as the buyers, should control what the musicians, as the sellers, play.  The problem with hiring an existing musical group is that the buyer, in hiring the group, also hires that group’s repertoire, and it sounds like, for many of you, that it is not the repertoire you want for dancing. I would suggest that a better approach would be to simply contract exactly the music you want played at your milonga. By this I don’t mean that you should hire an existing group, and then assume (incorrectly) that the by paying for their service of playing music, you have also paid for the band to transcribe, learn and rehearse any repertoire you request, but rather to contract exactly what you want, thus forming the group and repertoire from the ground up. If you have
 the money, you will have no problem getting the musicians and arrangers together, that’s just how capitalism works.
   
  I play piano for Tango Lorca, a group whose repertoire has been described in the discussion at hand as everything from “magical” to music that “sucks,” but I also do a lot of commercial work in which the client contracts exactly what they want, and I provide that service. I would be thrilled to arrange and organize a group for any milonga on such a purely commercial contractual basis--Truly, I would jump at the chance, as it would likely be a very large and lucrative project. If any one is interested please sent me a detailed list of the material you want played and the recordings on which you want the transcriptions based, and I will be happy to send you a bid for the service.
   
  Look forward to hearing from you,
   
  Brad Cox