it's a hard knock life

Awesome article on the economic reality of being a "creative musician" in a marginal genre. While people often mention "paying the rent," it's still fairly rare to go as in-depth into the issue as this article does.

It's interesting that this came up today, I'd just been thinking about how it is that situations like Frank Hewitt's happen. The problem is that, by definition, it's almost impossible to know how frequent this kind of thing is.

My favourite quick quote:
"The first time my name showed up in the Downbeat Critic's Poll," Mahanthappa tells me (referring to the highly respected poll of top talent in the nation's most august jazz publication), "I couldn't afford to buy the magazine."

[first spotted by Darcy]