I'm an old school guy, actually I'm just old but I associate a Jam Band with a Garage or Basement Band. No offense meant to anyone and I'm not trying to start an argument.
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What about Jam bands??
- Thread starter On the down low
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Absolutely. Didn't get to see Coltrane, but i've seen Miles live. Without a doubt, he was controlling the jam. With cue cards for notifying the soloists no less lol. But folks maybe get bent on semantics a bit too much perhaps. Regardless of genre labels, music of all types have very common threads running through them. Improvisation is universal.
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
I play drums in a jam band. It's a complete blast to play off each other dynamically, rhythmically, and melodically. It's pretty common for us to start on one song, at one tempo and sound pressure, and evolve into another song and then another, with tempo changes, quiet passages, loud passages, quietly intense bits, and all kinds of other things. It only happens once, because it's different the next time. It's a complete blast. People seem to like it, or they are very polite.
No. Miles Davis is not a jam band.
Ok then, anything intelligent to add to the conversation or are you just trolling?
How about this then to get you going, one band i've enjoyed working with is Melt Banana. Sudoh improvises his noise scapes quite a bit. Those guys jam hard, in their own way. Pissed yet?
If you are too hung up on yourself to hear the common things that flow through all types of music, that's too bad.
"Jam" is just one of those words that instantly turns me off. I spent quite a few years in the "jam" scene - WSP, Phish, Gov't Mule kinda stuff. It was just what I ended up involved in for work, and those bands are just what I think of when I think of "jam." Its sort of a washy, random, miscellaneous type of music, just a total hybrid of styles, but in a way that comes off as jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. And I don't like jam band style improv, where anything goes at any time - I was brought up in the jazz school of improv, where you can stretch as far as you want, but keep it in the pocket, keep it melodic and simple, keep it relevant to the melody/theme/changes, etc. Jam band improv is more like anything goes, which looses me.
Now, Lettuce is a great band, and I never have considered them jammy. They did their homework, have a great pocket, have a decided style, have the funk, know where they came from, can hang with jazz and funk cats, and make memorable music. In fact, their pocket is so funky that I think they should be separated from the jam genre...I guess there is a "pocket" in jam music but it's the whitest of white (again, to me).
I respect Phish for their successful career, although I admit it really bothers me that so many people just love them head-over-heels when I find their music so flaky. To each their own....
Now, Lettuce is a great band, and I never have considered them jammy. They did their homework, have a great pocket, have a decided style, have the funk, know where they came from, can hang with jazz and funk cats, and make memorable music. In fact, their pocket is so funky that I think they should be separated from the jam genre...I guess there is a "pocket" in jam music but it's the whitest of white (again, to me).
I respect Phish for their successful career, although I admit it really bothers me that so many people just love them head-over-heels when I find their music so flaky. To each their own....
Fully agreed, except about Lettuce because I never heard of them until now. And I will be giving Phish another listen in a few nights because some of the head-over-heels guys are sort of dragging me out.
Thing is I totally respect them musically, Im just not into their music. It sounds to me like a fratboy's attempt at Zappa.
Well, that's the thing, it's coming down to arguing semantics. Funny how wording some things a certain way can really set people off. Jamming, to people like me, is just educated improvisation- and you are going to find varying levels of that. But it occurs in pretty much every genre, except maybe classical (as far as arrangement).
Yes, I agree. Its weird - I love all the bands that influenced Phish - Dead, Zappa, Talking Heads, Meters, jazz in general - but Phish is just completely irritating to listen to! And trust me I've tried, hundreds of times - if i had a dollar for every time someone said, "dude, I get where you're coming from, but check out xxx song from this show from X city on xx/xx/xxxx" - I'd be loaded.....
Weird Jason, I was listening to the latest Lettuce disc in my yard today and thought " I think Jason would dig this" if you don't have it I'll leave it at Avi's shop. I love Lettuce!
