NY Times: Freelance Musicians Hear Mournful Coda as the Jobs Dry Up

This is via the blog Jazztruth by pianist George Colligan- a NY Times story about the collapse of the freelance market for classical musicians in New York; much of it also applies to jazz musicians, only more so. I've officially banned discussions of how much the business sucks/is dying/is killing us from my presence, but I wanted to link to it to share a comment from the wife of legendary bassist Henry Grimes:

My husband is a great "avant-garde" jazz musician and poet. He is a 75-year-old African-American free-lance musician named Henry Grimes, educated at Juilliard, with no current academic affiliations, no salary checks, no benefits, no pensions, no security. He lives by his faith in, passion for, and dedication to his music. He constantly surpasses himself artistically and has gone far beyond levels most musicians or poets will ever achieve. He has to keep playing until he dies, and he wants to. We can only hope that this deadly system we live under will let him, if not help him, keep on. 

You can learn more about him, including something of what he has been through and something of how he has overcome all obstacles so far, at henrygrimes.com.