[Harp-L] Thoughts on SPAH jazz jam

["Michael Polesky, MPA" <m.polesky@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

I will make a few statements here that are really assumptions on my part.  Everybody knows I have forgotten how bad my memory is, so don't expect 100% accuracy.  These thoughts are more about how difficult it really is to provide a good jam for SPAH than you might expect.  I am not privy to any special information and my observations may not be scientific at all, but this is what I "guess" has happened over the different years.

I think that we are very lucky that SPAH can have a jazz jam.  I have attended SPAH all but one year since the jazz jam started in 1998 and I am absolutely addicted to it!  Randy Singer, the SPAH board and all the great jazz harmonica players who have come out to share this experience with us have made this an institution.  I have always felt that any level player was welcome.  I have always thought of the jazz jam as a gift to players, like me, who don't play professionally on a regular basis.  You get a live, professional rhythm section and some of the best players in the world to share your time with.  On the other hand, I can see why it might be intimidating to some players at various times.

The setting and atmosphere for the jazz jam is always a surprise to me.  Sometimes I don't figure out where it is being held until 15 minutes before it starts.  I generally try to find one of the rhythm section and follow them around until they get to where we are supposed to be.  We definitely get a bigger crowd listening in when we are in a place where people can see us and I know that SPAH figured this out and is providing that kind of area as a general rule now - but it really depends on the hotel.  After all, there is no way to convince the hotel that it will sell more drinks or get more return customers in exchange for a bunch of harmonica players doing karaoke for two nights.  Having an "amateur night" is probably not something most hotels consider holding in the middle of the lobby, restaurant or bar very often.  I am guessing that in some way, arranging for that must become part of the overall negotiations for a hotel for the whole group.  Just because WE KNOW we are going to fill up the bar/restaurant/lobby and help sell lots of drinks doesn't mean that they do or that they want to promote that atmosphere in a family environment.  In the end, the hotel has a lot of say over what we do in their "public space" than in the private meeting halls.  Some hotels have asked the harmonica players not to play in their public spaces and have even complained about the blues jam.  Most hotels don't say anything, but it happens.

Another problem is putting together a rhythm section.  I know that one year they hired a rhythm section separate from the rest of the back-up musicians for the shows, but most years they have not done this.  Instead, they have opted to use musicians hired to back up the main shows for the jam rhythm section.  I assume they do this because it makes good financial sense.  Why hire a whole separate band when you have one already there?  The disadvantage is that it means that the timing of the jazz jam has to coincide with the availability of the musicians and, if the show runs late that night, the jam starts late.  Also, the rhythm section gets very tired and wants to leave right on time anyway, because they have been playing all night long.  Although Ron Kalina plays keyboard for us, there are not harmonica players from the convention itself to fill the rest of the rhythm section.  We are very lucky to have Ron and all the guitars hanging around for the blues jams at the convention as harmonica players for whom this is not just any job.  I know from experience that not all the hired musicians have felt that the jazz jam and also the shows were serious gigs.  Our peers approach it differently.  It would be great to have a professional drummer and bass player who were both harmonica players for the shows and the jams, but that just isn't the case.  Instead, we have to hope that the hired musicians like what's going on.

Another aspect, which I sometimes find amusing, is that not all the jazz players feel comfortable participating each year.  I have always felt welcomed - especially by those players who are far bittern than me.  I have seen us sit there several times and just drop our jaws and not take advantage of the rhythm section when we had a chance because we were embarrassed to start and too nervous to know what to do - myself included.  I remember one year when the rhythm section wasn't available until late and none if us wanted to go on first.  The first 10 to 20 minutes were like a Phillip Glass concert.  Absolute silence.  It is up to each one of us to make sure that everybody gets a chance to participate.  Randy is a pro at it, but it is also up to the participants.  I have never had a fear of going up because I already know that someone there is going to play far better than I will no matter what I do.  I accept that and, instead, it is a bit of a social occasion for me.  A chance to share with friends where I am at.  Everybody is so encouraging that I get over my nervousness and come up and play.  I do try to encourage and share with others.

It's not that I don't get nervous.  Each year there at at least 3 or 4 guys who out-class me by so much it makes me feel tiny in the whole cosmic realm of things, but they are all so warm and happy to share the stage with me that I get past that.  On the other hand, when the jazz jam starts, I immediately forget every tune I ever played in my life and - Randy can verify this - I can't think of a single tune to call except what I called last year and the year before (and the year before that).  I still get a case of the nerves out there.

I remember one year I hosted one night and it went by as such a blur because I couldn't get my nerves settled.  It didn't go over so well that year, but we survived.  One thing that happened that upset me very much was that the hired bass player brought a friend of his to come play starting the band up early before the break was over.  Then he proceeded to let his friend play a rather poor version of something like Whammer Jammer for 15 minutes on our dime.  I was seriously pissed off that this happened on my watch.  I didn't say anything to the bass player until after the show, but it was inexcusable.

These are just a few things that can go wrong with holding the perfect jazz jam.  It can get to be a complicated thing.  We really have to consider ourselves very lucky to have the jazz jam in a great venue.  I want to thank all the people like Randy Singer and the SPAH boards of past and present for giving me the opportunity to participate in the jazz jam.  It takes a lot more than you might think to get things going - plus you have to set up the sound system and rearrange the room for optimal enjoyment at the last minute.

Just a few jumbled thoughts,

Michael