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This month’s journal is based on two jam sessions, the only two at which I was able to participate due to work and other obligations. One jam, in early June, was at Venue C and the other, in mid June, was at Venue B. I’ve provided details about each of these venues, including cost, in previous journals. Briefly, both are Mom and Pop shops near where I live in Japan. Both host jam sessions, weekly for Venue C and monthly for Venue B, as part of their other music related activities (hosting concerts, events, teaching, etc.). Venue C jams are more or less self-managed by the participants, while Venue B has something like a house band, but they don’t play a set. Both venues are “pay to play” in the sense that there’s a cover charge and/or drink minimum; the venues are not rented by players. Venue C is an open jam and tends to have younger players, while venue B is by invitation and leans toward older players. Both sessions have a mix of men and women who are amateur (like me), semi-pro and professional full time jazz musicians. Reading charts and apps is fine at both, and there are copies laying around of the 2 volume “Jam Session Bible,” the Japanese version of “Real Book” in other locales.
The jam at Venue C began at 8:00 PM. I’ve been a regular here since several years before corona and usually arrive a little early to have a cup of tea and chat with Mom and Pop or watch videos of recent concerts and events. While waiting for others to arrive, Pop and I played “You and the Night and the Music” as a duo. I’ve been working on this tune for several months and like to explore it at jam sessions. While we were playing, a regular pianist and drummer arrived. So we now had bass, drums, piano and guitar.
The pianist, who tends to call different tunes at each session, called “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.” It was in the JSB, so I read the chart since I had never played it. I find navigating a chart off the cuff is good practice for spontaneous reading. Sometimes, there’s a little discussion when a tune is called to be sure that everyone is OK with it, and call another if necessary.
Next, Pop asked me to call a tune, so I called “Out of Nowhere.” I don’t need a chart for this, though others read. I used to call this tune often at sessions before corona but haven’t played it much recently. I was a little off, dropped a beat here and there, but found my way back. I feel that getting a little lost is not a bad thing if the session has an open spirit of learning, and it can actually be a good opportunity for ear training.
By 9PM, a trumpet and second pianist arrived. So far, all those who are present are playing, but with two pianists now some rotation will begin. The second pianist, an occasional regular, called “It’s Only a Paper Moon.” Everyone read it from the JSB and it was a pleasant, easy swinging jam. Next, the trumpet player called “When You Wish Upon a Star,” and some of us read on that one, too, although we did it as a bossa. After that, we talked a little and decided to do “On Green Dolphin Street,” a fairly popular tune at these jam sessions. I still don’t have this internalized nor a good strategy for soloing, but each time I play this tune at a session I get a better sense of the form and changes from bossa to swing. I managed to eke out a one chorus solo, though the others were more adept. I thought this would be a good time to sit out, so had another cup of tea to enjoy watching the others play.
Soon after, two other guitarists arrived, both regulars. One was a pro who gigs and teaches regionally and the other seems to making a go at going semi-pro. Sessions at Venue C are often meeting grounds for players, and sometimes they’ll form or join a band for gigs, or put together a one off show. I haven’t done much of that, though get invited from time to time.
The first pianist returned to the stage and called “I Thought About You,” with one of the guitarists playing bass, while the second pianist and I became the audience. Sometimes regular patrons of the venue stop by for a drink and to listen to a few tunes, but tonight it was just us. One of the guitarists called “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” after which the pianists rotated with the next one calling “Lover Man.” This tune has been growing on me, so I bookmarked it.
The drummer took a break and I rejoined. Pop, can hold his own on several instruments and sat in on drums. We now had three guitarists, one of which was playing bass. The trumpet called “Left Alone,” which is a new tune for me, and based on everyone reading, for the others. Sometimes these sessions alternate between a practice session, when most are reading, and a jam when everyone knows the tune. Everyone knew the next tune, “Like Someone in Love,” which was called by the pianist and we all took a solo.
At around 10PM, another guitarist arrived so I sat out. This guitarist is also having a go at going semi-pro, so the pro guitarist played bass while the other stayed on guitar. We now had four guitarists in the house! The one that just arrived called “Speak Low,” another oft-called number. Next up was “Girl from Ipanema,” for which I joined on congas. The drummer came off break and Pop picked up a guitar, so there were now three guitarists on stage, one of which played bass. The pianist called “My Favorite Things” after which one of the two guitarists called “Softly as a Morning Sunrise” (another jam session favorite around here). I picked up my guitar and played along acoustically, to take the opportunity to work out chord voicings in situ.
At that point, Pop sat out and I rejoined, so we now had two guitars, trumpet and a piano trio on stage. I called ”Straight no chaser,” and we all played the head in unison and had a blast with bluesy solos.
Next, the pianist called a tune that back in the 1980s, when studying with Remo Palmier in NYC, I learned as a chord melody: “Nica’s Dream.” But I rarely played it in a group setting, so this was a good opportunity to revisit an old number. Most everyone had the JSB1 chart out and the drummer got the Latin to swing shift, but the changes are a bit tricky to solo over. The tempo was quite fast, too, so it was a shot in the dark.
Last tune of the evening, at around 11PM. was called by the pro guitarist who till now was filling in on bass. The tune was “Have You Met Miss Jones.” I know of it and like the head and changes, but haven’t played it much, so bookmarked the page for future reference.
The only other jam session I could attend this month was at Venue B, which holds a monthly invitation only session. This time there were 4 vocalists, 3 bassists, 2 pianists, 2 guitarists, 2 trumpets and a tenor sax. I’ve been coming here for about a year, and this was the first time another guitarist joined. On occasion there are some guests who come to listen only, but this time everyone that came also played. This session is lightly managed by Pop, who also invites his vocal students to get some stage time. His gigging trio plays, too, but they rotate with other players on their instruments.
Arrived a little after 1PM and was still unpacking and tuning up when the first tune was called by one of the trumpet players, who joined the piano trio on stage. It was a standard but I couldn’t remember the title. I joined on the next tune with same instrumentalists and the trumpet called “I’m a Fool to Love You.” This tune was in the Jazz Standard Bible Volume 2, while most of the other tunes at jam sessions at this and other venues are drawn from Volume 1. Between the two volumes, there’s about 500 tunes and, as said previously, the JSB functions something like the “Real Book” in other locales but with some different tunes.
The pianists rotated and I called “Summer Samba” (also known as “So Nice). I used to play this song often when I was in a wedding band way back in the 1980s, and recently revisited when it turned up as muzak in film (the name of which escapes me). It’s a fun tune and interesting changes. However, it’s not in other volume of the JSB, so I gave out copies from one of the Real Books. After that, to keep the bossa set going, someone called “Blue Bossa,” but something was off with the groove. The pianist was kinda busy, so I turned my volume down while comping to listen.
As there was a new guitarist in the house, I sat out for a while and they joined. Pop also invited four of his vocal students to sing two songs apiece. Each had their own hand written charts in their keys. The tunes included “But Not For Me,” “Tea For Two,” “All of Me,” and “Night and Day.” I remembered a discussion on JGO about the first chord, and I noticed the version on the chart provided by the vocalist was the m7b5 chord. However, the JSB version of this (which is in a different key) begins on the Maj7 chord. (By the way, that was a fascinating discussion. Thanks everyone!). After the four vocal sets, the new guitarist called a standard from the JSB vol. 1, but I didn’t get the title.
I swapped seats with the guitarist, and one of the trumpeters called “Minor Blue” (which is not in the JSB volumes) but they were kind enough to provide charts in Fm, including the breaks. Pop invited me to call the next tune, so I called one I have been working on for the past few months, “You and the Night and the Music.” I played a CMaj9/G to Db9/Ab vamp to set the tempo, but flubbed the first couple of notes of the head as I was off balance turning the volume up after the intro. It was cookin’ along nicely after that, and soloing is a fun workout in Cm, though I am still a little shaky with the changes and get it confused with other Cm tunes. A little bit off in my playing today, I also flubbed the cadence at the end. However, as they say around these parts, “daijoubu desu, seshyun desyou!”
At around 3:00PM, I swapped with the new guitarist, who did a nice set of standards with the trumpet, tenor and one of the pianists. It included “Autumn Leaves” (which goes by the title “Kareha” in the JSB, a rough translation of the original French title), “Blue Bossa,” “Stella by Starlight” and “Body and Soul.”
For the last set I swapped again with the other guitarist. All the horns joined and after someone mentioned doing a blues in F, I called “Straight No Chaser.” That was followed by a horn player calling “Night in Tunisia.” On the latter, which gets called often at sessions at these venues, I’ve been trying to find a way to navigate the changes to take a chorus or two. It struck me that the whole tone sequence F G A works over both the Eb7 and Dm6 chords, and if you extend that whole tone vibe by adding chord tones B on the Dm6 and Db and Eb on the Eb7 to complete the whole tone scale it becomes a nice workout over the vamp section. It’s a lot of fun but I noticed that I still need to get all that under my fingers, especially at the cooking tempos the horn players seem to enjoy. And with that, the jam session ended at around 4:30PM.
Tell us about your jam session experiences. Do you play the same tunes? Does a house band play a set first? How are the sessions managed? What charts, if any, do you use? How often are there sessions? Who shows up to play and what instruments? Thank you for reading!
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I appreciate the detailed description!
I've only gone to a few public jams. Some were kind of free for alls.
Others were run by a leader. He'd pick the musicians to play on each tune. Generally that was one drummer, one guitarist and an organist kicking bass. Also, as many horns as wanted to solo. If a bassist showed up, the organist would stop kicking bass.
The leader, a well known player, was considerate about giving everybody a chance. In fact, I thought he did a terrific job at a potentially thankless task.
Walk-ins included guitarists, a drummer or two, pianist, sometimes no bassists, and a bunch of saxophones. Don't recall brass at that jam.
Most of the time, the tunes were commonly played standards that you might see on anybody's top 30 jazz jam tunes.
The participants were not using charts except for the house organist, who had IRealPro on his phone.
I did not get the idea that, as a newcomer, I could hand everybody a chart.
Sometimes the band became all guys he knew and they might call anything. One example, Monk's Evidence iirc.
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Thank you for reading and replying! Interesting observations, thanks for sharing them.
The session you mentioned run by a leader is similar to one I used to go to. It was held monthly with a house piano trio, plus whoever showed up. It cost about the equivalent of US$15, and the pianist would invite one player at a time up and ask what tune they’d like to play. After their tune, he’d invite up another instrument or singer to join and call their tune. It rotated around the room like that until everyone had a chance to play a couple of tunes. Who played was decided by the leader, but what tunes to play were decided by the players. After a while, it sorta morphed into a workshop where the pianist would critique the playing of whoever was invited up. Not that it’s bad to offer advice, but it became, at least for me, less of a fun casual jam session and felt more like an audition.
If I listed the more frequently called tunes at the various sessions that I go it, it’d also be about 30 common standards. There’s several Monk tunes in the mix, too, usually “Straight No Chaser” and “Blue Monk, some times “Round Midnight.” The JSBs also have “Well You Needn’t” and “Think of One” and a few other Monk tunes, including “Evidence,” but they don’t get called as often. I brought a Real Book chart a couple times for “Bolivar Blues,” and also made one for the “Japanese Folk Song,” but it does depend on who is there.
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I found a slew of jazz jams and some friends I made going to blues jams have started a little combo. Unfortunately (for them) I've been busy with my family. I did make it out to a friends gig, but the threat of rain cancelled it so I showed up to an empty tent, since I don't drink I had no reason to stay at the bar so I went right back home, helped my wife put the kids to bed and then practiced Lets Get Lost and Stompin at the Savoy.
A question to anyone who plays Stompin' with a group, how do you comp the A part? Keep the call and response? Switch to Rhythm Changes like Moanin? Something else entirely?
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Thank you for replying. It’s a real blessing to have places to jam at regularly!
There’s a blues club here that has open jams twice a week. I used to play there once in a while. They closed during the dark days of corona but have re-opened recently.
Between the four places that have jazz jams here, there’s usually eight sessions a month. I wish I had the time to go to them all!
it’s fairly common here to form groups from jam sessions. Once they start gigging they come to jams less frequently, but there’s enough new people coming to keep things interesting.
I’m not in a group, but Stompin’ gets called at jam sessions once in a while. In the “black book” we use in Japan for jams, the call and response is played for the head only; for solos, we comp basically the same changes without C&R.
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Thanks it’s something I’d like to call but I want some idea what to expect from the band
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