Visit the new Hip-BoneMusic.com from Trombonist Mike Davis

My friend and co-worker Mike Davis is the trombone player at Priscilla Queen of the Desert on Broadway. We brag a lot about Mike over there because he’s a monster player and, when he’s not hanging out with us, the trombonist for the Rolling Stones.

Mike has completely re-designed and restructured his website, Hip-BoneMusic.com and he’s looking to get the word out. I told him that I would tell you about the site and recommend that you check it out.

Aside from the Stones, Mike has toured and recorded with a huge list of legends like Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Sting, Aerosmith, Tony Bennett, Sheryl Crow, Jay Z, Buddy Rich, Bob Dylan, Sarah Vaughn and Bob Mitzer. He’s also has his own signature trombone made by the S.E. Shires company.

I’m serious. They made a trombone and named it after Mike. He’s, like, totally famous.

Mike’s website is a great example of how modern musicians can use the power of the internet to connect with other musicians, create a brand and sustain a career. It’s also a great example of the transition that a lot of A-level recording-industry players have made in the past 20 years.

From Mike’s blog:

The New York free­lance music scene, like the rest of the world, has under­gone dra­matic change in the past 10 to 15 years. At first glance it can seem over­whelming and a bit scary, but on closer inspec­tion we come to realize that this change is our best oppor­tu­nity for growth. It may seem a bit harsh, but the expres­sion “change or die” has never been more applicable.

Some of the most enjoy­able work I do is recording music in a studio. These recording ses­sions can be for a cd, a motion pic­ture sound­track, a tele­vi­sion theme or com­mer­cial. Coming out of col­lege, my goal was to become what was then called a “studio musi­cian”. Everyday you were pre­sented with a new, fresh musical chal­lenge that you were seeing for the first time. A chal­lenge that you had to deliver on imme­di­ately. A pres­sure packed envi­ron­ment for sure, but also an extremely rewarding one at times. As the music busi­ness has evolved over the past decade, the role of the studio musi­cian has con­tracted. While I still get calls to record on a reg­ular basis, it’s def­i­nitely less.

For­tu­nately, New York has a thriving musical the­ater scene also known simply as “Broadway”. Most free­lance musi­cians in the com­mer­cial end of the busi­ness find them­selves playing in the pits of Broadway. You either have a full time posi­tion, which enables you to per­form 8 shows a week, or you are in the very tal­ented pool of sub­sti­tutes who fill in for the reg­u­lars when they take off to do other work.

Check out more at Hip-BoneMusic.com