Re: [Harp-L] Why Blues Jams are Important
On 04/11/2011 01:43 PM, Rick Davis wrote:
A big shout out to my brothers and sisters who host blues jams. It doesn’t
pay much, it is often chaotic, and you have to deal occasionally with drunk
and/or egotistical jerks. But it is service to the blues tradition. It is
helping to keep the blues alive.
nicely put, rick. i applaud you and all the others who take this on. in my
experience, the folks who run jams put in a whole lot of effort for little
material return; they get to hear every complaint but seldom thanks.
after a rather difficult first year when i started playing at a poorly
run jam,
i lucked into another one run by a guy who saw it as his mission to help the
new guys come along. another guy, this young hotshot guitar player, started
around the same time i did. johnny had great technique, but was all
technique.
over the next year or so he was turned into a serious blues guitarist.
now,
5 years later, he fronts one of the best bands in the area, and i play
harp in
one of the others.
the other thing that matters, a lot, is that you are providing an outlet for
all of those musicians out there who *need* to play, but for whatever reason
aren't in a band. how great is it that there's someplace they can go and
find kindred spirits to make music with, even if it's just a couple of
songs.
so again, hats off to you and the rest who take this on. may there always
be people like you, and always be jams.
--
We make a living from what we get,
but we make a life from what we give.
- Kathy Moser
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