TOP Horn Section Salaries

Rick · Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 5:33 pm Post subject:

Not that it's any of my business but does anyone out there have any idea about the salaries of the pro players such as those with TOP on possibly Maynard Ferguson?? I've heard anywhere from $400 per week/per player in Maynard's band to $50,000 per year/ per player in TOP. I would have guessed they were paid much more. Maybe some one who has played in a high profile horn section/band could give me an idea??

How about studio players??

Thanks---<Rick

wiseone2 · Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 5:54 pm Post subject:

_dcstep · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 7:13 am Post subject:

I doubt that Maynard pays his guys $1000, at least on average. There might be two or three guys making that, but I bet that the rest are making considerably less. Does anyone know?

Dave
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highnote · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 8:05 am Post subject:

Maynard's band salaries start in the $400-500 range (pre tax). Most guys basically do it for the exposure and experience....

Kevin
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fuzzyjon79 · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 8:12 am Post subject:

I'm not sure if each "style" of music is different or not... but my brother is a pro bass player and he plays for a pretty well known country artist and he gets paid on a "per day" basis. Each day he is out on the road on tour, he gets paid a set amount. It could be different for each genre of music though.
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jazz_trpt · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 8:23 am Post subject:

My information would be way out-of-date, but some additional perspective may help.

Ray Charles pays his band a weekly salary while they're on tour, regardless of whether they're playing or not. Hotel and meal expenses come out of pocket, so the musician has to keep pretty good records for tax time in case of audit (I know from experience). I think this is an unusual way of working things.
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BeboppinFool · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 8:34 am Post subject:

I did one tour with Maynard immediately after 9/11 (just about two years ago, now). The starting pay was (and probably still is) $400/week. You always get a meal every day that you have a gig, but the rest of the meals are on you. After 6 months you get a weekly raise of $25.00. That would mean that a guy like Mike Dubaniewicz (who's been on the band 7 years) would be getting $400 + $350 = $750/wk.

At the time, I was the only guy on the band who didn't smoke, drink, or use drugs, and I was able to send about $275/wk home to my bank account. Needless to say, after two months I was almost broke . . . trying to maintain my residence in NYC, etc.

Doc Reinhardt once told me that, for the most part, "the bigger they are, the cheaper they are." I know this is not always true. A buddy of mine toured with Sinatra for awhile, and Frank took incredibly generous care of his orchestra. And I've heard that Barbra Streisand has to pay her band fabulous sums because nobody can stand to work with her. What a legacy, eh?

Some would say that it's unethical to talk about pay on a public forum such as this. I say that since the leaders are making their own beds, they also have to lie in them. What they pay is part of the legacy they leave behind.

Rich
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wiseone2 · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 11:36 am Post subject:

ALLCHOPS · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 12:55 pm Post subject:

Back in 1995 I was fortunate to get a call from Lee Thornburgh - T.O.P. He needed some dates covered w/ T.O.P. because he was going to do a stint for the other Lee from the band Chicago. The business manager called me and we had sort of a 3 hour phone interview. Compensation was obviously discussed and it was specifically explained to me that each horn player was paid the same which was $450.00 - $500.00 per gig. Also explained to me was that the horn section made more than the rest of the band for obvious reasons.
When I got out to LA, I had a discussion about this w/ the sax player who at the time was David Mann. He told me that the previous year he made about $50,000.00 total w/ T.O.P which included all recording sessions w/ other artists.
My buddy did a bunch of tours w/ Aerosmith and that paid $4,000.00 per week + perdium which was usually $50.00 - $100.00 per day. Do the math for 2 - 16 week tours in one year. Especially when you only have to play 6-8 songs the entire night!

Now we're talking!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tony G

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[ This Message was edited by: ALLCHOPS on 2003-09-08 17:39 ]

fuzzyjon79 · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 12:59 pm Post subject:

Oh yea.... pop rock gigs pay out the wazoo if you know the right people and can get a gig!
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DaveH · Heavyweight Member Joined: 20 Nov 2001 Posts: 3861

Well, I had been told many years ago, and I have no reason to disbelieve the information - that back in 1968, Herb Alpert was paying each of his six sidemen that made up the touring Tijuana Brass ensemble the sum of $50,000 per year (that is 1968 dollars). I heard in the same conversation, that these were probably the highest paid sidemen at the time...

If you use an inflation calculator, that would be more than $250,000 now...

PhxHorn · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2003 8:01 pm Post subject:

A friend of mine invited Emilio Castillo of TOP to give a talk to a local college business class a couple years ago, and Emilio mentioned that he made $50,000 as a horn player for TOP, which is the same as all the horn players. But he makes another $70,000 from songwriting royalities on top of that. He told the class that years ago, when he got his first royalty check from "Harry Fox" for $1300 or so, he thought someone had made a mistake and was thinking of sending it back.

A couple years ago, I was lucky enough to play a gig with one of MF's former lead trumpet players from the mid 80s. He said the gig paid $325 a week at the time, and you paid the hotel bill out of that. I know MF's band members were paying their own hotel bills at least until the late 90s, but apparently the hotel rooms are now provided.

I checked out Maynard's contract rider at http://www.paradiseartists.com/roster.html and noticed that the client is the one who pays for the hotel rooms, rather than MF's organization absorbing it. Either way, that amounts to a bit of a raise for the band members. At that salary, every little bit has to help.