Re: [Harp-L] Re: Open Jams




On Aug 26, 2005, at 9:06 AM, Frank M wrote:


Respectfully, I can't comment on which term is technically the most correct (I simply don't know), but *everybody* around my neck of the woods calls these things jams.

Yes, I agree, you're correct. Most everyone DOES call these things jams.


There is a list, people are called up to play a small set of songs, etc. I've never heard it called a sit-in. The last thing I heard called a sit-in was a college protest gathering. :-)

Yes, correct again. Jam will (loosely) cover this and therefore is the most used term. The reason I expounded on it was that some jams are run incorrectly, such as Ice-Man eluded to yesterday. Depending on what is being run, the set-up would be different.

But I see the point you are trying to make RE: 'open jams' (like the blues jam at SPAH) vs. closed jams.


--Frank


I wasn't being from the semantics police. Jams started this way: musicians were sitting/standing around noodling out a tune. It was all impromptu and there was no chart. The musicians were playing by rote/ear.
There was no point to it except to make music and have fun with it. It was not something they were working on as a performance arrangement.
Another musician would sidle up with his axe and someone in the group would give him a nod to 'Take a ride on this'. As more musicians gathered around, it got fairly tight. Hence, musicians in their never ending quest to come up with words which were ginchy, dubbed this a 'Jam' (everyone was jammed together).
Bad meant something was good. Salad meant something was solid (or well done). A cat was someone who roamed around and hunted at night (as musicians are prone to do).


A sit in is where a musician is a guest or does a guest slot. A slot can be from 1 tune up to whatever. The 'sitter-inner' usually gets to pick the tune. Example: we don't hear " and NOW,Huey Lewis jamming with the Paul Shaffer band". We hear "and NOW, the Paul Shaffer band with Huey Lewis sitting in". Buddy Rich sitting in with the Doc Severensen orch., etc. Example: In 1961 I played a tune (Amapola) with the Royal Canadians. Am I Jammin? No, I am merely sitting in for that tune.
If you're playing for 1 or 2 tunes, get to pick them, and/or on a rotation list, you're sitting in (and actually something of a star, at least for those few minutes). If you're playing WITH the band for that session or set, and not an actual part of the 'Core' group, you're jammin.


smokey-joe





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