[Jazz Is All]

I'm curious to know the times and days of the jam sessions where other people live to compare them to here in Barcelona.

Are they during the night or on weekends and what time do they usually start and end? When does the host band go on and the actual jam session start?

If you are not a full-time player and work a day job, do you go to jams during the week if they start late? How does that work out for you in terms of sleep, health and personal/family life?

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In this city the jam sessions are mostly during the week and mostly start late. Jams on Friday and Saturday nights are naturally rare as those are gig nights.

The blues jam I went to for 3 years (which is no more) and the new one I've been going to since December are on Thursday nights once a month and the host band usually kicks off at 10:30. So the jam doesn't get underway until 11:15 at the earliest and runs until almost 2 a.m.

There currently are also blues jams at other clubs on Tues (one at 7:45 and the other at 10:30), Wed (10:30) and Sunday (6:30 and 11:00).

As to jazz jam sessions, currently there is one on Sunday at 10, one on Monday at 8 and one on Wed at 7:45.

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Is this the norm in your city? Do they start earlier? Are they also on weekends?

Please share the situation where you reside.

Thanks

 

[mrpeebee]

I don't often go to jam sessions, but I sometimes join the one at >Cafe Ruimzicht (Red Kees)< here in Holland. The jazz session is twice a month at Thursday evenings and often hosted by tenor players with a big and bluesy sound (Ruud de Vries, Rinus Groeneveld, Wouter Kiers, Boris van der Lek).

On paper the host band starts at 21:30, but in reality it's more around 22:00. The open jam session starts around 23:00 and will go on till about 1:00 AM. The last set often has less people because of the late hour.

I have a (heavy) day job, but for me the late hour isn't an issue. I always go late to bed and don't need much sleep (4 to 6 hours a night is enough).

 

[Selmer Fudd]

One jam in my town right now, once a month on a Saturday night in a nice bar. The host band plays a short first set then takes a short break and others are invited to join. Downbeat is at 10:00 and goes until midnight. We used to have a jam on Thursday nights, once a month from 7:00 until 10:00, that one was in a different venue and welcomed everyone, all ages and skill levels. I get up for work at 5:30 AM, but I'll do a jam no matter what. It's really a lot of fun for me, sometimes friends or family come, and I just enjoy playing. If the jam will put up with me, I'll keep going.

 

[DanPerezSax]

There are a lot around here. There is one every night in NYC. Many are late, but I think there's a late afternoon one at Smalls on Sundays if I'm not mistaken. Fat Cat has one every night late night. Of jams I actually attend once in a while, Sundays (gospel) 9PM-1AM or Mondays (R&B) 9PM-1AM at the Village Underground. Tuesdays (jazz) 9:30-12;30/1AM at the Crossroads in Garwood, NJ, Wednesdays (jazz) 8-12AM at Hat City Kitchen in Orange, NJ, Thursdays (R&B/fusion) 8-12 at Hat City Kitchen, Thursdays (top 40/blues/r&b) 7-11PM at Delta's in New Brunswick. There are others but I don't really get out to everything.

 

[Dave Pollack]

There are a lot around here. There is one every night in NYC. Many are late, but I think there's a late afternoon one at Smalls on Sundays if I'm not mistaken. Fat Cat has one every night late night. Of jams I actually attend once in a while, Sundays (gospel) 9PM-1AM or Mondays (R&B) 9PM-1AM at the Village Underground. Tuesdays (jazz) 9:30-12;30/1AM at the Crossroads in Garwood, NJ, Wednesdays (jazz) 8-12AM at Hat City Kitchen in Orange, NJ, Thursdays (R&B/fusion) 8-12 at Hat City Kitchen, Thursdays (top 40/blues/r&b) 7-11PM at Delta's in New Brunswick. There are others but I don't really get out to everything.

How are the sessions at Crossroads and Hat City? People keep asking me to go but I haven't been over yet.

 

[BillyGreece]

Well jam sessions period i think,in my country has expired...i mean that only in winter few clubs offer jam sessions.Nearest jam session in my town,was in Patras but i guess that this activity is off due to summer period.But there will be gigs and jazz festivals!

http://jazzonline.gr/ --> Best greek jazz portal...

 

[Saxy in San Diego]

For scheduled regular jam sessions in San Diego, CA there are jams at two different locations every Sunday evening (6 or 7pm 'til 9 or 10pm). Another is a monthly jam (8pm 'til 11pm).

 

[DanPerezSax]

How are the sessions at Crossroads and Hat City? People keep asking me to go but I haven't been over yet.

Crossroads is good. It's the oldest running jam in NJ... been at that location for some 20 years and another location before that. Most of the top young guys around NJ now studied with Radam at some point. Sometimes very few people show up and it's just the house band (Radam Schwartz, Don Williams, Kevin Hildebrandt), which is good straight ahead organ jazz with that hard swinging kind of traditional organ trio sound. Other times it's packed and you get a ton of great players. I've seen Jeff Hackworth, George Benson, Russell Malone, James Gibbs, Matt Janesc-- Jan a chef ski, Irwin Hall, Marcus Miller (sax player), Anthony Ware, Bruce Williams, Mel Davis, etc. etc.

Hat City is a great session... on the jazz night, it's Mike Lee's band and he's a monster. You'll see guys like Dave Stryker, Alvester Garnet, Steve Turre, Mike Karn, etc. there. I've only been once or twice cuz it's kind of a trek and I teach in Princeton that night.

The R&B/fusion night is good, too. The house band is always on point. That's Todd Shefflin and Jacob Webb's band, The JT Project. As for the people who sit in, it's more hit and miss. There are often very good players in the house... major label touring guys like Emanuel Washington, Kevin Bowden, Walt "Wizard" Williams, my buddy Les Cleveland (Anita Baker's and Lil Kim's MD), etc. You also get scrubs who smoke weed and own a guitar so they think they're musicians, and if they put their name on the list, the get to play. For the good players, it's more informal, but the list does ensure that mostly everyone who wants their two minutes gets a shot.

 

[Aldevis]

In London the "Cinderella syndrome" hits at about 11.30, when public transport becomes an issue. Jams finish before that.
Except Ronnie Scott's, where young players wait until 1.30 am to get depressed about their limited 25-choruses opportunity.

Italy, when I lived there, had no public transport. My regular Tuesday jam (in Florence) started at about 10.30 with our house band. At about 1.30 the owner kicked us out.
Once I did a 10 days residency in Perugia, during Umbria Jazz, and timing was usually 1am-7am.
Followed by spaghetti oil garlic and chilli.

 

[MartinMusicMan]

In the SF Bay Area, there's a jam every night of the week except Saturday, and several on Sunday afternoons. Almost all the jams I know of are rock/blues jams. I don't know the jazz jams because I'm not a jazzer, but there are a few around. I believe there's still one that's supposed to be good in the Dogpatch neighborhood of SF on Sunday afternoons.

As for the rock/blues jams, the weekday night ones usually start around 7:00 or 8:00 and go to 11:00 or midnight at the latest. We're very non-European in our hours around here. Some places have a once a month jam on the same night, such as the El Rio country rock jam on the 1st Tuesday or the Woodham's rock jam on the first Friday. A popular jam is at the Club Fox in Redwood City every Wednesday night. There's a big stage, lights, sound man, video, the whole 9 yards. The host band is different every time and they do an opening set, then come back later for another set towards the end of the evening. There's a $7 cover charge to get in to that jam. I don't go there any more. There's another popular jam at a club called the Pioneer (everybody calls it the Pio) on Sundays from 4:00 to 8:00. The host band is the Running With Scissors band. They may play a short opening set. I haven't been to that one in a while. Nobody goes there any more, it's too crowded. (Sorry, old joke.) The regular jam I go to is on Sunday nights from 6:30 to 10:00. I get to play keyboard all night at that jam. And if there's a real keyboard player, I play sax so I get to play all the time, not just 3 tunes like at most other jams. Also, it's about a 15-minute drive down the coast from my house so it's made to order for me – my home jam.