Re: [Harp-L] LRBC Pro AM Jam: Hash Brown chime in!

["Bret Littlehales" <blittlehales@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi-

For some reaqson I didn't pick up on this thread when it first came
around, maybe because it involved a Blues Cruise which I feel are
elitest. (Read: I could never afford to go on one.)

I run a long-standing jam here in Washington DC (Thursday nites, Zoo
Bar, 8:30- 12:30) under my nom d' blues Big Boy Little. 

I have one rule at my jams: if you sign up before 11:30, you will
play. You'll get a minimum of three songs. It doesn't matter how good
you are, you will get to play. The rest of the rules I make up as I go
along.

My jam usually has a mix of pros and amateurs, and sometimes whole
bands will come in and want to play. I don't discourage this, but I'm
not wild about it. (There aren't a lot of venues in DC, so bands will
use the jam as an audition, knowing the owner tends bar on Thursdays.)

The thing is, it's very difficult to decide who goes in what grouping
if you've never heard the musician before. I've tried asking,
politely, away from others, how good the would- be jammer is, but,
guess what? they always tell me they're great! It's kind of like
hearing someone say, "Trust me..." I've put some of these great
musicians up and had the entire rest of the band walk off the stage.

Point is, not too many amateurs have the ear to know how good they
actually are. I had a guy tell me he could play "Juke" note for note.
Well... sort of... unfortunately he played it all at once... every
phrase right after the other. He finished the song and the band hadn't
finished the first verse!

Then there are the guitar players who can't play in certain keys, harp
players w/ one harp ("Can I borrow your harps, man?") and the prima
donnas who won't play with certain other musicians because of totally
unknown, non-musical situations. Or the singers who call tunes w/ non-
blues changes, thinking everyone else will know the song.

I think a good jam-meister has a lot of obligations to the musicians,
but he has obligations to the non-playing audience as well- you don't
want a grouping up there that will cause your audience to walk out.
Of course, on a ship, you don't have this problem.

I love running this jam. It's a study in psychology for certain. At
its best, the jam can be an inspiration to others, and at its worst it
can be a public humiliation. My job is to ALWAYS shoot for the former.

Bret