![]() ![]() We always used the word 'session' a lot, and I think the expression 'jam session' grew up out of this playful yelling back and forth. Those impromptu concerts of theirs were generally known as 'cuttin' contests.' Our idea…was to play together, to make the improvisation really collective… Down in that basement concert hall, somebody was always yelling over to me, 'Hey Jelly, what you gonna do?'-they gave me that nickname, or sometimes called me Roll, because I always wanted to play Clarence Williams' '(I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None O' This) Jelly Roll'-and almost every time I'd cap them with, 'Jelly's gonna jam some now,' just as a kind of play on words. Long before that, of course, the colored boys used to get together and play for kicks, but those were mostly private sessions, strictly for professional musicians, and the idea was usually to try to cut each other, each one trying to outdo the others and prove himself best. I think the term 'jam session' originated right in that cellar. Thus these sessions became known as "jam sessions." Mezz Mezzrow also gives this more detailed and self-referential description, based on his experience at the jazz speakeasy known as the Three Deuces: When Bing Crosby attended these sessions, the musicians would say he was "jammin' the beat," since he would clap on the one and the three. One source for the phrase "jam session" came about in the 1920s when white and black musicians would congregate after their regular paying gigs to play the jazz they could not play in the " Paul Whiteman" style bands they played in. ![]() Jam sessions can range from very loose gatherings of amateurs to evenings where a jam session coordinator or host acts as a " gatekeeper" so that appropriate-level performers take the stage to sophisticated improvised recording sessions by professionals which are intended to be broadcast live on radio or TV or edited and released to the public. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one participant, or may be wholly improvisational. Both styles can be used simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Original jam sessions, also called "free flow sessions," are often used by musicians to develop new material (music) and find suitable arrangements. To "jam" is to improvise music without extensive preparation or predefined arrangements, except for when the group is playing well-known jazz standards or covers of existing popular songs. ( January 2011) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)īluegrass music jam at the Delafield Fish Hatchery in Delafield, Wisconsin on February 8, 2009.Ī jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. ![]()
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