Jam Culture

When I was young, my buddies and i would call each other and say "let's jam today", meaning lets get together and play some music with no real goal other than playing. Later on when we said "jam" it meant improvising with no predetermined structure, as in "jam band".

Later on, when I started playing clubs there were after hours jams and Sunday jams at clubs. These often attracted top area players, and the Sunday music was often way better than what happened all week.

In the past 20 years we have witnessed a whole "blues jam" culture sprouting up. From maybe 2 a week at the old Torch Club we now have 10-20 a week just locally. What is cool is that it gives players who don't play gigs a chance to play regularly, gives pro payers a chance to hang out and play with people they don't normally work with, people get to network, hone their skills.

It's also a way to get a crowd any night of the week, a well run jam will draw players and listeners who get a multi act show for usually no cover. Some nights and Sunday days there might be 4 or 5 happening in town.

Each jam seems to have its own culture, it's own set of unwritten rules. The tone is set by the hosts, each one does it a little different. Hosting a jam is not an easy task, the jammers show up with high expectations of a great musical experience. For some it is there only chance to play and they got a lot invested in it.

The challenge for the hosts is to let everyone who signs up to get a chance to play and hopefully have a good time, while keeping the show rolling a long and the quality of the music high enough so people will come to listen. We need those listeners, they fill the seats and keep the till ringing.

It's a hard job, harder than it looks and you are never gonna satisfy everyone. It's like soup: you got to have the right mix. The jammers can be demanding, they want to play at this time with these people, and sometimes it gets ugly when people don't get their way.

At it's best a blues jam is a combination of the excitement of a big revue type show, a place to learn the art of playing in musical ensembles and fellowship akin to church.

Jerry Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) One Man Gone

This being Garcia Week (between his birthday and his yahrzeit (anniversary of his leaving) I figure this to be as good a time as any to ruminate on his meaning to the world and his meaning to me.

I didn't snap to the Dead as quick as my friends did, there was so much new music every week, they were just one out of many. I remember a photo spread in Look Magazine on the SF bands, and the Dead looked scary. I heard the first album, it was OK, Anthem and Aoxomoxoa kind of went over my head. In October of 69 we went to the KZAP(underground radio station) 1st birthday party at Cal Expo, in Building A, the amphitheater was years away and the Dead headlined. They had some technical difficulties, but certainly got my attention. Still got memories of an early Cumberland Blues, High Time, Pig Pen singing Good Morning Little School Girl and Weir telling the yellow dog story. Years later I was gifted with a tape of the second set, only High Times was on it from the memories. I was pretty blown away, it seemed like a three ring circus, all seven of them seemed to be doing something significant, who to watch???

Couple months later, night before New Years eve, Paul shows up at my door with a very early copy of Live Dead and some 60s style refreshment. At the proper time we put on Live Dead and I GOT IT!! never been the same since. I had been trying to play free improvised music with my friends for a couple years, it was always more miss than hit but occasionally amazing things happened, but these guys DID IT!!! The Dark Star on Live Dead still blows me away to this day. What a feat of collective improvisation!!

So I started listening to them all the time, went to shows at Winterland when I could. They touched me on so many levels, they seemed to be doing something different than all the other bands. It was like church!! It was so keyed into life and so renewing!

As the years went by I kept on listening and reading everything I could find. When I learned of Garcia's folkie roots a lot of threads of my life were tied together. I came to love them like big brothers I admired from afar and tried to emulate. They were rock stars but not, they seemed to bring their real selves onto the stage, and what a motley crew they were. I loved them all but it was Garcia that got my attention the most.

In early 71 I got a copy of American Beauty hot off the press. I was kind of let down, no more "machine eating" jams, it was a record of songs. As years went by I came to realize that it was a landmark work of art, art for the ages. It seems timeless, never gets old.

As my musical career progressed I pursued jazz and funk. The Dead became a sort of guilty pleasure, one I didn't let on about. I saw em in 74 and a few times in the 80s. I missed the whole Deadhead phenomenon, by the time people "toured" I was a night club musician with shiny shoes and a family to feed.

I remember being in SF in the 80s for my bass lesson and eating in a little cafe I read about Garcia's heroin bust. I was pretty flabbergasted, hard drugs seemed the antithesis of everything they meant to me.

A few years later I remember hearing a live broadcast of a solstice show and Garcia sounded quite awful, sometimes in the wrong key. Hmmmm?? What was happening?????

Later when my hippie reformation began I reconnected. I bought CDs of Anthem, Aoxomoxoa, and Live Dead. They became a soundtrack of what was happening to me. Went to a couple shows at Cal Expo, just loving the communion and fellowship.

Aug 9, 1995 TJ woke me up with a call. She said, please don't flip, but Jerry Garcia died last night. Man, I felt a piece of me die right then, like losing a family member. I went to the garage and brought in a big stack of speakers and my bass amp, turned on the radio and the rock stations were playing nothing but the Dead. I plugged it into my amp turned it up. Went across the street and I couldn't hear it so I went back and cranked it up even louder.

That night we went to a hastily organized vigil in Capitol Park. The radio station basically co-opted the event. I remember the DJ saying "don't bring drugs to the park, thats what jerry would have wanted" yeah right! When we got to the Rose Garden(how perfect) the station had set up a big mobile unit and insisted on playing a long interview from Bob Weir from sometime in the past and plenty commercials. I went looking for Bob Keller(great DJ) and told him how weak that was. But try as they might they couldn't contain the event. it turned into the biggest drum circle I ever saw, with hundreds of people, people dancing, people crying, dozens of people in the trees.

I went home and wrote a song, a blues song called:

One Man Gone

Woke up the other morning, didn't have the blues

Till my baby said "honey I got some real bad news

One more good one has bit the dust and there's nobody left that we can trust"

One man One Man Gone, left us here to sing this song

So I got a bunch of speakers from out of my shed

I didn't give a damn about what the neighbors said

Hooked em all up, turned it up to eleven

So they would know who was knocking on the doors of heaven

One man One Man Gone, left us here to sing this song

We went down to the park later that

From miles around, from left and right

Dance and drum, sing and shout

Till the heat came 'round and threw us out

One man One Man Gone, left us here to sing this song

Dark Star crashes on the Golden Road

I still don't know but I've been told

On the other hand I'm here to say

Don't let the music stop, we won't fade away

One man One Man Gone, left us here to sing this song

Rest in peace, and thanks for a lifetime of inspiration!!!

Let there be songs, to fill the air!!!!!

Joe Lev and Friends

Of course by now I need to tell you that I do most of my work as a sideman for various recording artists and bandleaders. I love being an "essential sideman" to paraphrase Ron Carter.

On occasion I get a call for a gig myself and I usually assemble some of the fellas under the name "Joe Lev and Friends". This time I was contacted by the great jazz piano player Jim Martinez. He said a friend of his worked at a winery and was interested in doing a a blues show and he thought of me!!

So after some negotiation, I booked a show for JL &F at the Gold Hill Vineyard Aug 28th @1 PM.

Now the fun part!! I have a lot of very talented friends so who to get?? I told Bryna at the winery that I was gonna bring her a band of bandleaders. Putting together a band is like casting a play or making soup, you need ingredients that compliment each other. I was also loking for maybe some guys that could help sell tickets. I really want this to be an off the chart success.

I got the line up booked, it's an embarrassment of riches, the Miami Heat of the blues.

Read it and weep: Steve Foster guitar/vocals

Aaron King guitar/drums/vocals

Kevin Burton keyboards

Wingnut Adams drums/harmonica/vocals

and your humble blogger on bass/vocals

Looks good on paper, I just hope there is enough ball for LeBron and Dwayne to stay happy. Everyone of these guys can carry a whole night by themselves, it's a gas to call them my friends.

Advance tickets are just $20 and you get lunch and wine or beer.

And another..........

Another great gig, 2 back to back. I played at Constable Jack's with Mick Martin and the Blues Rockers last night. This version of the Rockers: Mick, Bruce Pressly, Russ Skarsten and Ted Stancliff. This was far from Mick's regular band, we had never all played together. In spite of that we had great chemistry right from beat one and a splendid time was had by all.

What made it so good once again was the ensemble concept of all the players. Everyone listened, blended and grooved. Lots of dynamics, lots of funk. What a joy to play with such great unselfish musicians!!!!!

It's all about ensemble playing, music is a team sport. You are only as good as you are at playing together. Some get that, some don't. These guys get it!!!!!

The Nameless Ones become "The What?"

Back at school in 8th grade,Paul, ever the instigator found some more guys for us to play with: Jim H(bass player, I was playing lead); John, guitar; and Jim S., vocals.

We started rehearsing at Jim H's house. His step father was a professional bass player, the first real picker I knew. He let us use some of his gear and would hang out when we were rehearsing and would smack Jim with magazine when he messed up. With Dad's direction we learned a bunch of tunes he knew by Jerry Lee Lewis and maybe some Elvis. I remember being in the car when Jim's Mom dropped him off at a North Sacramento dive bar for his gig. One time they took us to Travis AFB where his friends Sandy and the Showcase where playing at the NCO Club. We got to listen to a set then get up and play a couple tunes. What a thrill!

Now we just needed a name. Our first draft was The Nameless Ones but after seeing the Who on TV we changing the name to "The What?" and got some business cards made. Apparently we had identity problems.

I don't remember a lot of gigs, but we did play a school dance on a bill with the Transients, the the other band at school. They inherited the name from one of the better bands in the neighborhood who just changed their name to The Working Class. I remember them kicking our butts because they were playing a lot of hip stuff like Secret Agent Man and Keep On Running.

We were hopelessly behind the times playing Great Balls of Fire.

We entered a battle of the bands and made it out of the first round. We got to go to an agent's office and have our picture taken. When it came time for the second round my guitar quit working just as we hit the stage and our set was just a disaster.

I got a call the next day and the band imploded amongst great finger pointing. Now that could have been a wake up call, if I realized at the time that all this stuff was show biz as usual, I might have made an informed decision to find another life path.

Probably not!!!!!!!!!!!!

Towards Blues and Rock

I spent many hours with my parents record collection, I would put a stack of albums on the changer(remember changers?) and let the wonderful sounds just take me away. I remember loving the Weavers, the famous folk group that included Pete Seeger. They played with such energy and conviction and I already idolized Pete.
Other records I dug were by Sam Hinton, a folk singing marine biologist from San Diego who we got to know, Ed McCurdy and Oscar Brand. Another record I just loved was called Sandhogs. It was a folk opera written by Earl Robinson about the poor Irish immigrants who built the tunnels under the East River in NYC.

One day I discovered a record on the Folkways label whose name I have long forgotten. But it was a blues record featuring Brownie McGee, Sonny Terry and Big Bill Broonzy being interviewed by the incomparable Studs Terkel and performing songs. The first song was Key to The Highway and it just blew my mind. I must have listened to that record 100 times that month. Somehow the music just grabbed me and the interviews as well. When Studs said "Charlie Parker said you got to live it or it won't come out of your horn" I had no idea who Charlie Parker was but I wanted to LIVE IT too.

Thus began my life long love for the amazing art form of blues music.

Sing on brother, play on drummer............