For October, there were two open jam sessions at Venue C, and one invitation jam session with a rehearsal at Venue B, and a live performance with a group from the Venue B sessions. Although there were other sessions available throughout the month, I only participated in the above due to work and other obligations. In the interest of brevity, I'll first combine my notes for the 2 Venue C sessions before moving on to the Venue B session and the associated performance, and then wrap it up with some general reflections.

Venue C is what is known in Japan as a "live house," a small independently owned performance space, of which there are many. There are also large concert venues, but the live houses are to me the most interesting and attractive places for live jazz. Venue C, like many live houses, is what can be called a "Mom and Pop shop," run by a couple. Of the five places locally that hold jazz jam sessions, as well as one blues club and an indie rock venue, most are Mom and Pop shops. Venue C charges 500JPY to enter, plus a one drink minimum, for a total of 1000JPY (about 7USD / 5BPS). It's about a 40 minute drive each way for me, and there's a pay to park lot nearby.

For October, I had the opportunity to jam with several musicians, some regulars, some occasional participants, and one newcomer. Venue C is a regional hub that is on the radar of those passing through or returning to town. At the two sessions I attended, there were 3 guitarists, 2 bassists, 2 pianists, 3 drummers, and 2 trumpet players, as well as 2 vocalists. Most participants this month were regulars, although one of the singers had recently relocated from the Tokyo area to his hometown near the venue. Most of the participants were like me, casual players who love jazz, though a few of the participants were part-time gigging musicians.

Tunes played across both Venue C sessions included the vocal tunes Autumn Leaves, Black Orpheus, Corcovado, Cry Me a River, Day by Day, Dindi, Fly Me to the Moon, Georgia on My Mind, It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that Swing, and You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To. Instrumental tunes included All of Me, Autumn Leaves, But Not For Me, Bye Bye Blackbird, Candy, The Chicken, Days of Wine and Roses, Fly Me to the Moon, Georgia on My Mind, Girl from Ipanema, Lover Man, On Green Dolphin Street, Shiny Stockings and You and the Night and the Music. Some tunes were done both ways, though the keys for the vocal tunes may differ from those of the instrumental tunes. In general, vocalists bring their own charts, while instrumentalists call tunes from the 2 volume Jazz Standard Bible (which resembles the Real Book, consisting of about 500 tunes). Venues have these volumes on hand, and some bring their own, including on tablets. Reading, if needed, is not frowned upon and on any give tune some are reading and others are playing without charts. Those who call a tune don't usually read for it. Vocal charts almost always involve reading on the fly.

Within the six hours of session time across both sessions at Venue C, I had about 4 hours of of actual playing time. When there are multiple guitarists, we rotate so everyone has a chance which means there's not more than two on stage at any given time. Participants who arrive later are given priority to call tunes over the ones who have been playing a while. Generally, the rotations among musicians are cordial and smooth, and there's no host or house band. Those who sit out become the audience for those playing. On occasion, customers who don't play music stop in for a drink and watch a couple of tunes. The dynamics of players and audience vary among the different venues in town. I go to all of them, and am a regular at Venue C. I also go to sessions at the other local venues, some of which are only attended by regulars. So there's a community dimension to jam sessions, but also opportunities to play with people across venues, though for October I only went to jam at Venues C and B.

Another local Mom and Pop shop, Venue B has been open for over 30 years. Mom and Pop are of an older generation than their counterparts at Venue C. Pop at Venue B is a gigging musician who has lived and played in New York and Tokyo, though now lives locally and mostly plays regionally. Mom does booking and cooking, and the Venue B performance space is attached to their home, which is common for small businesses in Japan. Participation at the monthly sessions is loosely based on invitation, though not restricted to invitation only. There are some remnants of a jazz "kissaten" (jazz cafe) around the venue (high end audio system, lots of jazz on vinyl) but Venue B has been a performance space since I started participating two years ago. There is a grand piano, a drum set, a couple of guitar amps (including a Roland JC-90), a PA with mics and a bass rig.

The Venue B jam sessions are held once a month, and hosted by a piano trio. The entrance fee is 2000JPY (about 15USD / 10BPS), which includes coffee, tea and snacks. People come from as far away as an hour's drive each way to participate, but in my case the venue is a 5 minute drive from home. I have been going every month since joining. The range of players is a mix in terms of age, gender and skill level. Some are senior citizens learning jazz. Pop has several students, mostly women, who are learning to sing jazz standards. The session give them an opportunity to have some live performance experience. Seasoned players participate, too. There is some overlap in participants from the other venues I attend, but I seem to be the only one who goes to sessions at all the regional venues.

The Venue B session started at 1PM and ended by around 4PM. An addition to the piano trio, there were two guitarists, three vocalists, a tenor sax and a trumpet player, plus another pianist and drummer who alternated with the host players. There were also several guests who came to watch, mostly friends and family of those participating.

We started with Strollin, called by the trumpet player, and we used the last 4 bars as an intro. The theme sounded good with TP and GT in unison, and the drummer picked up on the accents, so we had a good ensemble sound. Ad-lib order was TP, GT1, PF, BA and then fours. We used the ending from the JSB, which seems to be from one of the early Horace Silver albums. I have been playing this song on and off for years, and tended to have a worked out solo, based in part on Emily Remler's and partly on Chet Baker's. But as of late I've been trying to do a more spontaneous ad-lib. It reminded me of a discussion here on JGO about about some iconic players who tended to play more or less the same solo, or solo from the same contours, on many performances, compared to the school of thought that prioritizes spontaneous ad-lib.

The next tune was Sugar, with I called with an 8 bar intro (Cm7, Dm7b5+11, G7b9, the latter chord with with G on top, and Ab on the bottom). I played the theme in the low register first, then TP joined for a repeat in the high register. I think it was a good tempo, though in other sessions I've played the theme faster (which some drummer prefer). The ad-lib order was GT x4 choruses, TP x2, PF x2, BA x2, then fours with DS for 2 choruses, and ending with the theme on GT and TP in unison with a GT cadence.

The pianist then called Kareha (the Japanese title for Autumn Leaves) in Gm, playing the theme. The ad-lib order was PF, TP, GT, BA, and then fours and out. It's one of a handful of tunes that, having played it live countless times, I have internalized it enough to be more attentive and free wheeling. It's also a frequently called "ice-breaker" tune for starting off a session or when there are new-comers in the house.
?A vocal set followed, with VO1 doing The Nearness of You. The form was the A section twice, followed by a short ad-lib section with PF taking a half chorus ("hanbun" in Japanese) and then back to VO1 and out. The same vocalist then did Candy, which we played 3x with GT1 hanbun on AA and PF hanbun on BA, ending with VO for a full chorus and a repeat of the last 8 bars to end. In the JSB, this tune is usually in Eb, although the vocalist provided charts in Ab. It was refreshing to play it in a new key and explore unfamiliar pathways through the changes. After the vocal set, I sat out.

GT 2 took the stage and did a Charlie Haden tune, First Song, with TS playing the theme, followed by There Will Never Be Another You, with GT2 playing the theme on that, along with a different PF while the host PF sat out, and BA and DS from the host trio.

VO2 then stepped up and sang The Man I Love. The form was AAB for singing, then GT1 ad-lib on A, PF ad-lib on A, and VO on B and out. Later, intrigued by the bluesy changes, I worked out a solo using double stops outlining the chords, more or less, on the two high strings.

We wrapped up the first set with Blue Bossa, a jam session staple, which I had been practicing at home with iReal to bring it up to tempo. Playing with a live trio was, needless to say, much more comfortable and fun, though the time spent with iReal helped me internalize the changes and the theme and bring the tempo up to speed, as it's usually played relatively fast at sessions. It's also among a couple dozen jam session staples that get called often, most often to end a session.

After a coffee break, the session started up again around 3PM, with the host piano trio playing Black Nile and Fly Me to the Moon, followed by VO3 (a seasoned vocalist) joining them for My Favorite Things and Route 66.

The October session at Venue B was partly a regular monthly jam session and partly a rehearsal for an upcoming gig involving the host piano trio and some participants from the monthly jams.

The gig was at the end of October, at an annual street jazz festival in a nearby city. Running for nearly a decade, the festival took place throughout the city center and had 12 outdoor stages, each with 4-5 acts. It was afternoon and evening on a weekend with seasonal weather, and for which there was seating for 40-50 people at each stage.

We were a quintet, with PF, BA, DS, TP and GT. The set list was as planned and rehearsed and described above: Strollin', Sugar, Autumn Leaves, Nearness of of You, Candy, The Man I Love, and Blue Bossa. On the latter, we were running late so were asked to take one chorus each.

There were some familiar faces at our stage in the audience of about 50 people, including musicians I knew from other venues and a few friends who came out to see me play. As this is an outdoor gig, and some stages were fairly close to one another, there was sound overlap. The band on the stage a short distance from us was doing fusion and quite loud, so on some of our softer parts it was distracting. There was feedback at a few points on our stage, not sure if it was my archtop and amp or one of the mics through the PA. The set was above 40 minutes of playing time, with 10 minutes set up and take down before and after. I brought my 1970s Gibson Johnny Smith through a newish Henriksen Blu Six.

I prepared quite a bit for this gig, including the rehearsal described above. It was nice to get some applause overall, especially for my ad-lib on Sugar. On Strollin' I jumped in with my ad-lib too quickly after the TP ad-lib while the audience was still clapping, reminding me to leave some breathing space within tunes and that it's not important to stick strictly to the bar lines, but more important to listen to what bandmates are doing. This is different on a formal gig, at least my limited experience, than the way it is in an informal jam session. The solo I worked out for The Man I Love, with double stops outlining the changes with hint of melody, worked very nicely.

My overall feeling of the gig was anti-climactic, over-laced with some disappointment. It actually took me back to my days as a regularly gigging musician decades ago, and reminded me why I quit gigging, and even music altogether, back then. When I took up music again after coming to Japan, it was primarily for fun, with an occasional gig combo or solo. There's something about gigs that doesn't feel right to me, perhaps it's having to take on the role of an entertainer, maybe a bit of stage fright. Although I gigged regularly for a decade back in the 1980s, I never really got used to it. Nowadays, I do gigs on occasion when invited, since it's part of being a member of a vibrant music scene based around a mutual love of jazz. However, I don't initiate gigs and don't play in a regular band (even though I've been invited a couple of times) and prefer not to do gigs at all, except maybe an occasional solo guitar set as part of a community event. I much prefer the more casual, spontaneous, intimate setting of a jam session. It's somewhere in between playing alone at home in my comfort zone, the purpose mainly being to practice, and playing in a more structured, predictable setting such as a public gig, where the expectation is to entertain an audience. For now, I'm looking forward to getting back into my regular routine of practicing tunes at home and playing them out at open jam sessions.

As always, thank you very much for taking the time to read this journal. Feel free to post any comments or questions. I'm particularly interested in your jam session experiences.