Jam Bands
 

Never seen a thread dedicated to jam bands in specific, so I thought I'd start one.

First of all, there is a lot of controversy as to what really defines a jam band. So, let's try to settle that.

Is a jam band simply a band that puts emphasis on improvisation during their live performances? I think that's part of what makes a jam band. I've been to a few music festivals in my day and have seen a lot of concerts and there's no doubt that a lot of bands play their music just like they do on the albums, but then there are the bands who change things up and do a lot of extended improvisation. But can all bands who improvise be considered jam bands? I don't think so. If that were the case then bands from nearly any genre could be considered jam bands.

This is how wikipedia defines jam bands:

Jam bands are musical groups whose albums and live performances relate to a fan culture that originated with the 1960s groups such as the Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers Band. This jam band environment continued in the 1990s with bands like Phish.[1] The performances of these bands often feature extended musical improvisation ("jams") over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns and long sets of music that cross genre boundaries

I think that's a fairly accurate description. Not just Any band who plays long improvised songs can be considered a jam band. If that were the case then I'd say jazz would be the primary genre of the jam band scene, rather than rock n roll (although a lot of those rock bands do incorporate a little jazz). Like I said previously, I think it's more of a cultural thing that started with bands like The Dead and The Allman Brothers and has continued with similar bands like phish.

However, I think the best conclusion to draw would be that the term is pretty pointless. Just another label to thrown around.


What do you guys think?

I think that jam bands can be any genre, including jazz. The term "jam" is actually drawn from the jazz scene, and many "jam bands" which are widely considered as such draw widely from jazz influences. Phish is a perfect example, with their very heavy emphasis on jazz conventions, particularly from their percussion and keys.

I've seen numerous jam bands, and not all of them have even had much if any rock influence. There are bluegrass jam bands, folk jam bands, jazz, electronic...

I think jam bands are just improvisationally based, and that's how I generally use the term.

Yes, that's true. But the most notorious jam bands are bands like the allman brothers, The Dead, Phish and Widespread Panic To name a few. All of which are bands whose style cover multiple genres, but I would still say that they're primarily rock bands, but I guess that's arguable. They're multi-genre bands, I suppose, which is a big reason why they're so notorious as jam bands.

I agree that bands from any genre can be jam bands, but how many jazz bands are so commonly associated with the word "jam band" as The Dead or Allman Brothers? None that I can think of.

Agreed. The whole notion of jam bands is rock borrowing from jazz, not the other way around.

Medeski, Martin & Wood are VERY heavy on the jazz, and they're certainly on the line-up at numerous festivals with the likes of WSP, Phish, Gov't Mule, Lotus, Bisco, and what-have-you. Then, there are legitimate jazz outfits I can't recall right now I've seen at shows, world music, things like that. I think that as an umbrella term, it encompasses all of that, but as a common term, the connotation is "bands hippies listen to," if that helps at all.

I was just about to mention MMW. :laughing: Great band who is certainly more jazz than Rock. I just think the term is a little more specific than "bands who are known for improvising" The whole cultural thing has a lot to do with it, I think. The same people who followed The Dead from concert to concert are the same people who follow Phish and WSP. Its a very tight-knit hippie, music festival thing.

And while I agree, it really could be a band from my genre, it's more popularly associated with the things I was saying above.

Another thing to factor in is how many bands welcome the title "jam band"? I think nearly any jazz band would prefer to stay away from that title. Theyd probably think it was somewhat derogatory. Even Gregg allman has said he'd rather be known as "a band that jams". Members of WSP have also been quoted as saying they wanted to Lose that title.

In my journal I use the term 'jam bands' quite liberally regardless of whether the band are just doing extended jamming to really lengthen things out or are doing what I call a more dedicated improvisational jam. For example, Grand Funk Railroad especially their earlier stuff would fall into the first section but somebody like Amon Duul would fall into the second category. I see them as bands of other genres that have just incoorporated heavy jamming into their music.

So, who are some of your favorite Jam Bands?

Ill start.

The Allman Brothers in their original form and in the modern form with Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes on guitar. This is the quintessential jam band, in my opinion. One of the bands that this whole "jam band" thing started with. They were great in the studio with songs like "melissa" and "blue sky" in their repertoire. I know their songwriting has been criticized but I completely disagree. The stage, however, is where they really shined. Their dual drumming and guitar attack is Hard to match. They were one of the more advanced rock bands of their time, as well. They used many different time signatures and jazz and classical techniques.

I love The Dead and Santana in general. I'd say most recently I enjoy Robert Randolph and The Family Band and Los Lonely Boys if they qualify.

They might as well. I've seen the Lonely Boys twice and they were great concerts. They certainly do "jam". So many bands qualify as "jam bands" (depending on your criteria), that it almost becomes a pointless word.

Anyway, i think the Lonely Boys are a little underrated. I know a lot of people who just dismiss as being lame because of the song "heaven". I personally kind of like the song. They can definitely jam, all of them are pretty good instrumentalists. Henry Garza is a pretty good guitarist.

Thanks to DJ and Frownland, I've found a Jam Band thread to bump!

This one has a good OP, but not many bands are mentioned beyond the trinity of Allmans, Dead and Phish, so I'd like to add a recommendation for Tea Leaf Green, whose music I'm currently exploring :



New Monsoon are another band that has impressed me in the past, though I've only dipped into a little of their catalogue. That is likely to change, thanks to Psy-Fi's post in another old jam band thread :

Click on his innocuous-looking link, and you'll find a monster collection of live jams. I side-stepped The Grateful Dead forum (10,000 items), but can recommend this page for a taste of what New Monsoon can do:

https://archive.org/details/nm2004-03-13.shnf

( Click on track five to stream a great version of the old War favourite, Cisco Kid and more.)

Finally, I'd like to make a comment about the Jam Bander's dillema. There you are, up on stage, playing away for hours, aware that your concert is being recorded; you presumably want to explore your musical limits, but you don't want the audience to accuse you of noodling, so you have to walk some fine line. Fred Hale Sr. mentions Robert Randolf and the Family Band, but on the basis of the "Live at Wetlands" cd I have, I'd add a word of warning; RR doesn't noodle, but goes to the other extreme; too many tracks are stomping crowd-pleasers with too much singing and too little soloing for my liking. Great fun on the night, I imagine, but rather unsatisfactory as a cd, and not deserving of multiple listenings.

For Sale:
"Live at Wetlands" cd: as new, Price $1, postage & packing $20

Re-mega-bumping this thread, because as long as I'm here, jam band music will never die, however much MB tries to starve it of attention.
And incidently, I also wanted to post this song by Garcia Peoples that I've just come across. Notice the nod to Grateful Dead in their name - that'll give you a clue to what to expect on this song. Lilting, mellow guitar playing and a nice melody:-



Earlier album, One Step Behind has a more experimental style with cool opening saxophone to the album's title track, which runs for an unusual 31 mins. Worth a listen if you have the time:-

This thread needs some Goose:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQoPBmmZ7XE

Thanks for your post, Plankton. I've never heard of Goose and was cautious for the first 10 mins, but by 20 mins in I was a total fanboy!! :thumb:

What a great band! Not just the songs and the musicianship, but the quality of the sound -surely exceptional for a live concert. Also, mercifully, they don't go in for any humming and hahing between numbers either. Stella recommendation!

It's a pity EPOCH is not around any more: he would have so like this band. Perhaps you remember this thread, in which we were all searching for just this kind of music. I'm linking it here because it's a good source of, er, "Videos no longer available" :(

https://www.musicbanter.com/general-...nce-music.html

Oh yes, I remember EPOCH. We collaborated on a tune way back when. I rec'ed Tedeschi Trucks and even Widespread Panic in that thread, but it wasn't received very well.

I just found Goose last year or so while listening to a Sirius Jam Band channel and have been trying to keep up with them a bit ever since. I just missed seeing them live in Denver over the summer too. They started off with Arrow in that ^ NYE concert I posted and it seems incomplete without hearing them segue right into Nights In White Satin (which is something I play a lot):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDIdrrBHqp0

Their Halloween show was a fantastic mix of covers, if you like that sort of thing like me:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfdTv4V-hmc

So happy you're enjoying them too! :beer: Cheers!