ABSTRACT
This chapter explores sociologically the conventions and constraints that influence the activities of semi-professional jazz musicians in Britain. It presents ethnographic material on an area of musical activity which is at present unrepresented in the literature and the data are organised in such a way as to make them theoretically relevant to Howard Becker's discussion of Art as a Collective Action. Only a minority of active part-time jazz players are now under 40 and many are over 50. This demographic fact indicates that at least some of the conventions and constraints which influence semi-pro jazz musicians today arose during the time when they were learning to play jazz and getting their first experience of band playing. The chapter outlines different strategies of band formation in order to explore the interconnections between the prevailing conventions and constraints within concrete settings. These strategies can be summed up as: the Topsy method; the formal method; and the personal selection method.
