Peter Williams

Here is a list of the things I find most useful, as a gigging jazz musician, to have in my kit bag when on tour. I forget to take most of them every time.

1. Headache tablets – Any musician who has played more than a handful of gigs is familiar with this. You’ve been driving for five hours, you haven’t drunk enough water and maybe had a few too many beers the night before. A headache starts making it’s presence known and by the end of the third set every noise is drilling it’s way into the back of your head and hammering nails into the back of your eyes. And you have to dance around with a big smile on your face! Ok, I exaggerate, but headache tablets in your kit bag are well worth remembering.

1. Velcro ties – These are actually the only way I have found to actually stop cables and leads tying themselves into knots. But maybe this is not so important if you play jazz trumpet.
2. An apple – So, maybe after a week on the road that apple won’t be looking so good in the bottom of your gig-bag, the point is to have something to keep your sugar up, and eat it before it goes rotten.
3. A spare lead – Well, obvious, I’ve carried 3 spare leads around with me for the last 15 years. I’ve never actually needed one, but I’ve lent them out to other band members more than once.
4. A Universal travel adapter – Obvious, really, but it is surprising how often one forgets.
5. An Extension lead – Here the trick is to find a multi-way extension lead that accepts as many different plug types as possible.
6. A Towel – I always lose mine, but really they are very important pieces of gear. Not just for wiping your forehead, but for keeping your instruments free of sweat. I remember one occasion where a backing singer turned round to me and asked if she could wipe her nose on my shirt to save her embarrassment on the stage. She had forgotten a towel. So had I. I’m afraid I was not as gallant as I should have been.
7. Some loose Change – In the correct currency! In this day and age you would of thought that a credit card would work anywhere. And on holiday it probably does. But you’d be surprised the number of small town service stations where you can get unstuck on the road.
8. Business Cards – Never miss the chance to pick up a new fan, or a chance gig.
9. Leatherman – In some countries these little life savers are supposedly illegal, but you can fix so many things, from a broken mic stand to a faulty trombone player!
10. One or more copies of your latest CD – You might not always sell them, but don’t let that depress you or put you off. How will that promoter know what your other band sounds like just from your enthusiastic description. And besides, every time a punter picks your CD up, regardless of how quickly they might put it back down, that is a branding success!