Re: [Harp-L] Re: Open Jams

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

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