Jam Session Journal (June 2024)

[JazzPadd]

June was a month full of jazz jam sessions! Out of the 10 sessions available, I participated in 7. There were 4 at Venue C, and 1 each at Venues A, B and D. Among the available 10, I missed 1 session at Venue A, and 2 at relatively new venues, to which I haven't yet been, 1 of which was at the same time as my usual sessions. Even so, I thought it might be interesting to start by describing the logistics and economics of the sessions I attended.

Of the 10 venues, all are within a 40 minute drive one-way from home. Most last between 3 and 4 hours. For those I attended in June, this amounted to a total round trip driving time of about 8 hours for perhaps 24 total hours spent at these venues. Of the hours in attendance, depending on the venue and the day, I can get in anywhere from 15 to 90 minutes of playing time per session. But to me, going to jams is not only about how long I get to play. It's also about socializing with, as well as watching, others, some of whom are friends, others strangers, some full-time musicians, others part-timers, playing and enjoying the music that I, and presumably they, love.

Some of these jams are managed. In the 2 venues that have something like a house band, they don't do a full set; at most, they'll play 1 or 2 tunes to get things rolling and then join the rotation of players. One session, with a pedagogical intent, is more managed than others, and the pianist who manages that jam offers advice to participants; perhaps this one's more like a workshop than a jam session.

Among the 7 sessions, 2 were daytime on weekends, 4 were nighttime on weekdays, and 1 was nighttime on a weekend. Some, but not all, have a food / drink minimum or charge a participation fee. None of the venues are full-time bars, although one is a coffee shop or bar depending on the day of the week. Alcohol does not play a big role at these sessions, though people drink some, along with coffee, tea and soft drinks, and some may have a light meal or snacks. Overall, it appears that these venues set aside part of their weekly schedule for jam sessions, rather than catering to and entertaining bar customers on a nightly basis. Although there are observers at times, participants are the main customers on session days. For June, I spent in total about 9,000 to 10,000JPY (the equivalent of around 60USD).

Although I've been to a couple of jams in Tokyo and in the US, I actually have comparatively little jam session experience outside my local Japanese context. It raises a question about which I'm curious: How does this jam session scene that I've described compare to those in your locale?

Regarding the content and general flow of the 7 sessions this month, instead of the play-by-play descriptions typical of my journals, here I'll just offer some overall thoughts, grouped by venue.

Venue A is a Mom and Pop shop. Pop is a musician and Mom cooks and serves drinks. They've been in business over 30 years in the same location and their shop is a local hangout for full-time, part-time and devoted amateur jazz musicians. Venue A hosts concerts several times per month, some by touring musicians, others by regional musicians, and they hold open jams twice a month.

This type of venue may be an outgrowth of the "jazz kissa" tradition that emerged in 1920s Japan. In the beginning, these were jazz listening spaces with a high-end audio system playing vinyl. Most resembled coffee shops, some bars, but the purpose was providing a listening space for jazz. Beginning with several dozen, the number of jazz kissa blossomed to hundreds by the mid-20th century, but have been in slow decline since. The atmosphere of a jazz kissa is evident at Venue A, with its walls lined with jazz LPs and more recently CDs, and with a high-end audio system. But in my limited experience over the past several years, Venue A is now mostly a performance space.

At the jam in which I participated in June, I was the only guitarist. There were 2 pianists, 1 a full-time musician and the other a devoted amateur. There were 3 drummers and 3 bassists, 1 tenor sax and 1 trumpet, and a vocalist. Some of these are full-time professional musicians, but most are part-timers or amateurs. The term "amateur," in some usages, refers to low quality, poor skills, etc., as opposed to a "real" musician. But from what I've observed, that connotation of the term doesn't apply. These people are only amateurs in the sense of not getting paid to play; in terms of skill level they rival some of the top players I've seen. Beyond that, there is a healthy mixture of professional and amateur musicians at Venue A, who all genuinely seem to enjoy jamming with one another.

Most tunes are called from the 2 volume Jam Session Bible (a Japanese equivalent to the Real Book). When I arrived, which was some time after the session had begun, a quintet with the two horns and a piano trio were playing Four. Next, a vocalist took the stage and did Shiny Stockings and Smile with another piano trio. Toward the end of the session, the trumpet player called Misty.

When my turn came, I stepped up with a different drummer to join the pianist and bassist, and asked if it was OK to hand out a chart. The tune, Makin' Whoopee, was not in the JSB, but I brought lead sheets from one of the Real Books. It's a fun tune to jam on, though I call it a little faster than the usual tempo for a vocalist. We went around taking choruses and trading fours, and it was very well-received. The drummer later asked me about it, and one of the vocalists asked for a copy of the sheet. After that, the pianist swapped with a pro pianist and the drummers swapped. I called Sugar, a favorite jam session tune for me, and set a fairly fast tempo with my intro based on Cm7, Am7b5, G7b9. The pianist really took to this tune, and was going off on various tangents. It was a great experience, pushing me to the limit of my abilities. The pianist later complimented my playing. Later in the session, I was also able to call Beatrice and Dindi.

A high point of the evening was the pro pianist and the trumpet player (also a full-time musician) doing Freddie Hubbard's Little Sunflower. Although it's in the JSB, it was my first time hearing it at a jam. The changes on the head are deceptively simple based around modes of D, with a 16 bar A section in Dm7, then a 16 bar B section consisting of 4 bars each of Eb Maj7 to D Maj7, and then another A section with 16 bars of Dm7. For solos, it alternates between the A and the B sections. The pianist and trumpet got into a zone on this one, playing intuitively with one another, with the bassist and drummer offering sensitive support. The dynamics ebbed and flowed organically and, to me at least, it was a masterful as well as an enjoyable performance.

Venue B is another Mom and Pop shop that has also been in business for more than 30 years, and which also has earmarks of a former jazz kissa. It was closed for a while before corona, when Pop's touring schedule was busy, and after corona re-opened as a part-time venue hosting monthly jazz jam sessions. The house band consists of Pop's piano trio, while Mom cooks and serves drinks. They also hold other events, such as teaching children the arts of the Japanese tea ceremony and flower arranging.

The monthly jazz jam session is by invitation. I got on the list by chance when it was mentioned by a trumpet player who I knew from another venue. The session is hosted by Pop's piano trio, which sometimes, though not always, starts the session with a tune or two before inviting participants up. It's much closer to home than the other venues and I've been participating as a regular for 2 years. Last October, I was asked by Pop to sit in on a gig, an invitation which he recently repeated for next October.

Beside the host trio, regular participants include two or three guitarists, a couple of horns, a couple of pianists, several bassists and drummers, and several vocalists. Pop teaches vocals, so on occasion he invites his students to a jam session to get some live playing experience, a good example of what I referred to in other journals as "situated learning." There's usually a small audience that appears to be made up of acquaintances of Pop; today there were 4 in the audience.

Pop's trio didn't start with a tune this month, and straight away invited the trumpet player and I to join them. Last month, the two of us agreed to work on Sugar, so we began with that. I counted it in at a moderate, somewhat more bouncy, tempo, than at Venue A. We played the theme in unison, with the trumpet and guitar blending well. The trumpet followed by calling Horace Silver's Song for My Father, which I enjoyed, and we agreed to work on Strollin' for next month.

After I sat out, a second guitarist stepped up, calling It Could Happen to You and Billie's Bounce. He's a somewhat modest up and coming player that I've seen at other sessions, and for a while he was playing with a regional big band. I don't think he gigs often, but he is a jam session regular.

After a pianist called Girl From Ipanema, for which I sat in, 2 vocalists joined and we did Stardust and This Masquerade, after which I sat out. Next, there was a vocal set, followed by my doing a duo on Freddie the Freeloader with one of the bassists. We were then joined by a pianist and did Summertime and All of Me. That was followed by another vocal set, including the second time for Girl from Ipanema, as well as Candy and Sunny, followed by the trumpet calling But Not For Me.

The Venue B sessions are laid back and are attended by more or less regular and repeat participants, with an occasional newcomer. I’m most relaxed at these jams compared to others, and feel more comfortable taking chances. For example, calling Freddie the Freeloader as a duo with the bassist was interesting, and I don't think the bassist knew the tune. But it's in the JSB and is more or less a blues in Bb with an Ab7 in the last 2 bars of the first A section. This reminded me of a discussion on another forum about guitar trios, which prioritized filling in the open sonic space of a trio with high volume, block chords, and busy playing. But rather than trying to fill in all the available sonic space with guitar, for this duo I tried an approach that was, at least to me, more akin to what I see as the inherent minimalist qualities of guitar. With some careful listening, we gelled nicely. It was fun and well received.

Turning to Venue C, at which I played at 4 jazz jams in June, the social and musical ecology is different from Venues A and B. Like the others, Venue C is also a Mom and Pop shop, but both are gigging musicians in a variety of genres. In business for about 20 years, Venue C began as what is known as a "music house," a small performance space seating perhaps 20 or 30 people with a stage that fits perhaps 5 musicians. At first, it was pop and rock music, but by the time I started coming here, it had also added a weekly jam session billed as "blues, bossa, funk and jazz," and an acoustic open mic. Unlike Venues A and B, which are more jazz-centric, Venue C is eclectic, attracting participants who are interested in jazz but are coming from other genres. So, at times, it's more on the funk and blues side than on straight up jazz, and tends to be guitar focused and a bit loud. But nevertheless I enjoy these sessions for the variety and the social relations. Venue C is a regional hub for musicians, of any genre, and Pop is very active in the local music scene. Once in a while the venue hosts international and national touring acts and an occasional workshop.

Overall this month, there were several guitarists, a trumpet player, a couple of keyboardists, and 2 or 3 each of bassists and drummers. One evening, I was the only guitarist and played with a piano trio and trumpet for 90 minutes without a break, mostly taking turns calling our favorite tunes from the JSB. On another evening, two guitarist dominated the stage playing "crossover" tunes, like Roberta Flack's Feel Like Making Love or Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely. The guitarists also seem to prefer funky jam vamp tunes like The Chicken, or 12 bar blues tunes.

While the funk and blues tunes are fun, I tend to enjoy playing the straight ahead standards more. Over the June sessions, I called Beatrice, Freddie the Freeloader, Shadow of your Smile, Stella by Starlight, Strollin', Sugar, Summertime and When You Wish Upon a Star. The pianist, although in a Japanese "city pop" band, also likes to call jazz standards, and seems to be working their way through the JSB, calling different tunes each week.

Of all the venues, jams at Venue C are the most unpredictable. What we play depends on who is there. Mom and Pop occasionally join, and when Pop is on stage he lightly manages the session (mainly to make sure the guitarists don't hog the stage!). But for the most part these sessions are self-managed by players. Once in a while there are total newcomers, and sometimes there are beginners. Once in a while jam session veterans, who have moved on to Tokyo or other large metropoles to work as full-time musicians, return (usually for a holiday) and join these sessions.

As an aside about my own playing, prior to one of the Venue C jams I had gotten aggravated by something unrelated to music, so when I got to the session I was "hot" as in "under the collar." But wow, I played great! At least it felt so, and judging by the applause others seemed to agree.

On another evening, when I arrived before anyone else, Pop and I played as a duo, doing Out of Nowhere and a couple other tunes. We've played as a duo on and off over the years, including on occasions that I participated in the acoustic open mic, so playing together is intuitive and fun.

Toward the end of the month, I went to a Venue D session. This is a monthly jazz jam that's held at a multi-purpose venue and billed almost like it's a workshop, or a pedagogical event, for which participants are asked to bring charts for any tunes they'd like to do. It's hosted by a regional pro pianist and bassist, often joined by one or another gigging drummer. The pianist tightly manages these sessions. Usually, they'll play 1 or 2 tunes as a piano trio, and then begin inviting the participants up to do 2 tunes apiece. After a short coffee break, the pianist offers some remarks about playing jazz, various theoretical or performance notes, and then moves back into the jam session by inviting participants up, this time 2 at a time playing 1 tune together with the piano trio.

After the opening tunes, I was invited up first and handed out lead sheets for Makin' Whoopee. This tune got on my radar a couple months ago, when my brother (a drummer) was visiting Japan and we talked about playing out. He mostly plays at home, and is studying bossa percussion and also brushing up on his brush work. He sent me a link to Makin' Whoopee done by the Taylor Grisman Jazz Quartet, asking if we could do that. I fell in love with the tune! For me, it was loosely associated with various crooners, but it works quite well as an instrumental jam tune. We did it at an acoustic open mic with another guitarist. After that I started working it into my jam session repertoire. At the June Venue D jam sessions it went over well, and I think was seen as a breath of fresh air among the participants, including the host pianist, who was surprised by the choice. I also had an opportunity, later in the day, to call Dindi and Sugar, my more or less go to jam session tunes lately.

The first set also saw a vocalist doing 2 tunes with the piano trio, and another who sang and played guitar on 2 tunes. The 4 vocal tunes included What a Wonderful World and Moonlight in Vermont. There was a second guitarist, who I knew from other jams, who called There Will Never Be Another You and Softly as in a Morning Sunrise. The second set mixed and matched participants with other participants, for which I joined a vocalist on a couple of tunes.

The venue owner, themselves an amateur jazz musician, did 2 tunes in the second set, first taking over on piano and singing a tune as a piano trio, and then later joining the host piano trio to sing My Favorite Things. I haven't been to a Venue D session in a while, but I noticed they were remarkably better on both piano and with their singing. When I complimented their playing and singing, they noted that it was due to "practice, practice, practice."

After a coffee break between sets, the host pianist played a few notes on the piano and asked the second guitarist what it was. They responded Melodic Minor, and the pianist then invited them up on stage to copy what he was playing. They first started with the same sequence of notes, which it took a while for the guitarist to get, and then linked that sequence to a minor chord progression. The guitarist muddled through as the pianist explained points about the relationship between the notes and chords, and demonstrated how placing specific pitches on certain chords makes a difference. When I later asked the guitarist about the experience, they exclaimed, "It's difficult to play something you haven't practiced!"

Reviewing my previous journals, the Venue D sessions sometimes felt to me like an audition, and that aspect of the jam session / workshop came out in this episode with the second guitarist. Even though it was done gently and nothing at all like the stereotypical "cutting" of jam session lore, it appeared uncomfortable to be made vulnerable in front of others. But upon reflection on my own reluctance to return to Venue D jams after a similar incident last year, I recently came to the realization that it's perhaps valuable to have someone in a sense put us on the spot on occasion, drawing us out of our comfort zones, which is another aspect of what I previously referred to as "situated learning."

As always, thank you very much for taking the time to read this. Feel free to post a comment or question. I hope my reflections encourage others to participate in and reflect upon jam sessions in their own locales. If you do, please share your thoughts and experiences with the forum. Thanks!

Edit: Fixed typos and clarified wording.