If you are a semi-pro in a band with a former professional musician, how do you relate to them and vice versa?
I ask as I have recently spent/wasted four months putting together a band with an ex-pro keyboardist whose musical abilities far outshine mine. I pushed him as the musical director, but he stubbornly refused to direct; instead, he'd spend hours on the phone moaning to me about the shortcomings of our bandmates, who were rotated in short order. We finally found people he could tolerate, though the complaints continued.
Then the phonecalls stopped, and I now realise he was bending someone else's ear about me! Then came the email: 'It's not working, is it - everyone thinks so. I'm not the leader...' You can say that again.
I now wish I'd tried to be more proactive in the rehearsal studio to fill the vacuum that so frustrated me. In future, I'll not be nearly as deferential. And I'll not be so available on the phone!
Any parallel or more heartening tales?