Jam nights have a terrible reputation. They promise some kind of Albert Hall blues super-group experience and often deliver a mind-numbing dum-de-dum-de-dum in 12 endless bars. Or at least you'd be forgiven for thinking that.
It doesn't have to be that way. There's a weekly jam night in the town I live near that is great. I know it's great because a.) musicians turn up b.) people in the bar don't leave and c.) the same people keep coming back to listen.
It's run by a couple of stalwarts from local bands and this is how they do it.
1). They have a host band made up of people who have played together over the years. They kickoff with 25 minutes of standards while calling out for musicians to come and play. The host band provide the back line too which surely is the true definition of plug and play.
2). Then they start cycling the players in and out of the band. So when you get up to play, you call out the song and the key, and maybe explain the tricky bits, and off you go. So you are comfortable that you're in a band rather than on your own.
3). It's about songs NOT endless jamming. Choose standards or at least something simple, and it all just rolls along. It doesn't mean there are no extended solos - there are plenty of opportunities to let the dog bark - but it does mean it's not all solos, and definitely not all guitar solos.
Last week I played with three completely different bands over the course of two hours. I have never had so much fun keeping up with new people.
Long live jam.
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