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Labor of love

Rene Worst considers himself lucky
he can earn a living as a musician

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Evelyn Jacob
SPOTLIGHT FEATURE

Sr

T’S FAR from the Worst
case scenario.

But Rene Worst may best ex-
emplify just how hard it is to make
a living as a full-time musician in
Vancouver.

Not because he’s busking on
Hastings Street during the day or
dining on Tender Vittles at night,
but because he’s the busiest bass
player in the city, and he says he’s
just getting by.

“The curve of how my career
has gone is totally unpredictable.
After all, you have to pay your
mortgage and live in the real
world. That's a problem for a lot of
musicians — living in the real
world,” says Worst, who lives in
Deep Cove with wife, Suzanne,
and four-year-old daughter, Emily.

Steady gigs and studio work
allowed Worst to quit teaching
three years ago, but he still lives
on the edge.

“I've noticed that my income
has gone down drastically in the
last few years, and I’ve met musi-
cians in New York who say there

| an
-when a second Lunch or Dinner entree of equal or greater value is
purchased from our menus.
1200 Lonsdale
North Vancouver 985-TACO

(Reservations Recommended)
COCO OSEOHT OOOO OSE mE 0000 OCOSSOOSTEODTZARZEO

NEWS photo Cindy Goodman

BASSIST RENE Worst explains how hard it is to make a living as
a musician in Vancouver. North Shore fans can hear him and jazz
ensemble Skywailk perform Thursday, April 16 at Centennial
Theatre. The band was invited as special guests to Capilano Col-
lege’s first jazz festival. Proceeds of the concert will go to the

isn’t much work there, either. I’m
lucky | can still make a living asa
musician,’’ he continues, ‘’but if
you're just doing gigs and creating
musical situations for yourself to
play in, it’s definitely a labor of
love.”

Things could be worse. Not only
is he playing professionally full-
time, Worst is in the select com-
pany of musicians who can say
they’re playing the music they
want io be playing 90% of the
time.

And Worst says he’s even con-
sidered himself ‘‘a big fish in a
little musical pond” at various
junctures in his career.

One of his fondest memories
was in 1980 when he played with
jazz legend Chet Baker at the Hot
Jazz Club.

“| remember we picked him
(Baker) up from the airport and
took him to Whytecliff Park. He
was looking pretty bad even then,
but he was a really nice guy, even
if he was a bit quirky.

“He was like a little boy lost all
the time, so you had to take care
of him. But once you played
music, he took care of you.”’

college's Jazz Studies Program Scholarship Fund.

Worst's steadiest and most suc-
cessful gig has been with Skywalk,
the jazz sextet he co-founded in
1979 with former bandmate
Graeme Coleman.

The band has just released its
fifth album on the Mesa/Bluemoon
label (also home to Dizzy
Gillespie), Larger Than Life, and
the recording is quickly climbing
up the ‘“‘new adult contem-
porary” charts in the U.S.

Worst also belongs to local band
Creatures of Habit.

His own labor of love began by
watching his two older brothers,
who played in local R&B bands.

“was the obnoxious little kid
at the door listening in,’’ he
laughs, leaning back into a
leather-upholstered couch.

His brother joe sold him a bass
cheap and some years later, when
a schoolmate introduced him to
the music of Miles Davis, Worst
became a jazz snob for a time.

Ironically, he was the orl
member of the family to fashion a
professional career in music.

Worst says he owes it all to his fa-
ther, who encouraged him to get a
formal education in music theory.

Not many bands make it past
the 10-year mark (ail the players
are original members of the band,
with the exception of pianist Miles
Black), and Worst acknowledges
Skywalk is a rare breed among
jazz ensembles.

“We all love each other as
guys,’’ he says. “‘We have an in-
teresting chemistry, When we first
started out some of us focused on
jazz and others on pop and our
music fused together. Now our
focuses are getting closer.”

The group is targeting the 25- to
45-year-old baby boomer market,
and for some curious reason,
larger Than Life is topping the
charts in hot climatic spots like
California and Florida.

It might have something to do
with the album's “easy listening
style.” However Worst is quick to
distance Skywalk’s sound from

See Skywalk page 38

|

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