Frequently, in the "club-date" end of the business, bands often have to back up JM singers they don't regularly perform with. This happens either when the client has a special request for a "name" vocalist, or when said vocalist is a guest at the affair and is either asked to/or decides to come up and sing.
(I'm not referring here to the friend or relative who "has a good voice." I'll leave that can of worms for perhaps another post.)
Oftentimes, these vocalists show up without sheet music and want to sing their latest "hit" with the band. These are not complicated songs, and usually, the band has no trouble 'comping' them sans music. It is annoying though. The assumption that the band is familiar with their music is presumptuous -- especially when it's not a "hit" song. Also, the music would sound better if the band had the chart in front of them. I think that if a vocalist knows that he's going to sing a few songs at a gig he ought to bring sheet music for the band -- not because we can't get the job done, but because we'll sound better if we know what we're playing. It's much easier for musicians to voice chords and play appropriate melodic fills when they know where a melody is going, and the end result will actually be musical.
During the dance set at one recent gig, the vocalist segued into a tune no one in the band knew. Following him was challenging because his intonation was off and he was singing almost a quartertone off. It's not that easy to comp a tune you've never heard before when you're not sure what key it's in and the vocalist is singing "in between" two keys. I know that he had the lead sheet to that song at home and it would have been simple courtesy to bring it. In general, musicians do their best to make these vocalists sound good, sometimes under extremely adverse conditions, and it would be nice if it were reciprocated.
Some vocalists do bring charts when they are singing at a wedding or performing at a small concert, and invariably, they sound better then their peers who don't bring music. In general, these performers appear to have much more respect for their audience –as well as the band – and it shows in the way the audience responds to them.
Also, as I've noted in the past, some vocalists send their new CD's and the accompanying sheet music to musicians/bandleaders so that they can familiarize themselves with the material and perhaps play it at gigs. For those who don't do this, sending these to a bandleader before an upcoming gig would ensure that they have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the tunes that will be performed.
If the artist does bring sheet music, then he should make sure that it is correct. A bad chart isn't better than no music, and quite often is worse!
One time, the band was hired to back up a vocalist at a concert. He showed up with a bunch of lead sheets, handed them to us, and started the show. While we were playing one song, we realized that it was missing the second half. It was a two page lead sheet, and the performer had only brought the first page. Of course, we only realized this when we got to the high part of the tune, which we didn't have music for. We got through it just fine, but the lack of professionalism was startling.
More than once, a vocalist has handed us a chart for one melody, and then proceeded to sing a totally different melody with the same words -- sometimes in a different key. These glitches are easily avoidable. A little bit of prep before the gig will go along way towards making sure everyone sounds good.
Obviously, there are exceptions to this and a good "jam" can be a lot of fun, but there's a time and place for everything, and in general, a little respect for the band and the audience will go a long way towards helping a singer sound as good as possible.
