Any open jam has a secret “code” for what is going on that anyone trying to play will have to navigate. Here is one report of an evening out observing the goings on at a jazz jam.
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I visited Arlyn’s on April 22nd to check out an open jam. I didn’t realize there were faculty playing beforehand at seven, so hearing the tail end of that was a treat. Afterward a student jam started up and I will give a fairly candid “ethnography” of what I noticed through the night.
the tier system
I find it interesting to think about the social dynamics that come up at these gatherings. The dynamics are pertinent because any musician who aspires to play has to navigate the social scenario. At this venue there are a set of regulars who know how things go and see who is around to play. They field the crowd a little bit and find out what tunes they play, and there is a dynamic of sorting them into who will play when. The social nexus outside of the venue plays a role here, because friends message each other about their plans and this has an impact on the weekly happenings.
The regulars play first, and they know which other players are going to show up later, what tunes they like to play on. These logistics sort of decide the action and what tunes get called, which becomes a weekly culture for the jam session. After the regulars play a few, some younger players might swap in, which indicates a sort of tier system to the arrangement. Naturally, you can see some body language come into play when a more experienced player has to accommodate a newer player. You can see what people the musicians like to play with, and when they are putting up with certain people.
handling errors
Since the jam is somewhat open ended, certain things will fall apart and the musicians will find their way back to a familiar path. A drum solo might turn into an extended cadenza, and eventually a horn player will indicate the start of a new head. Or a newer soloist loses the form and you will see them look to the other musicians to try and understand when their solo should end. These are things I have experienced personally (in both the lost and confident roles) and it’s a regular part of a jam session.
being outside the fold
Sometimes I do try my hand at joining the fray despite being an outsider.
A drummer was talking to another percussionist about going up and when they didn’t want to I figured I’d go up and play a tune on drums. I’m more comfortable playing some general swing stuff and watching the ensemble than I am playing piano. It was some sort of ballad and one of my aural skills students played bass. It was fun to see a normally reserved student more in their element and interacting with the instrument in an open way.
While I wouldn’t succeed on an up-tempo tune, I can still feel comfortable drumming on an easy swing tune and didn’t feel very self-conscious about playing, in contrast to my general experience with jazz. The bulk of my experience of jazz is feeling like an outsider and like I don’t know how to do it, whether on drums or piano. That is a result of a background where I haven’t played in many combos and don’t have the specialized knowledge of standards and piano voicings or up-tempo drum chops to draw on.
As a jazz-adjacent person, there are a few tunes I CAN play on piano, but I sort of have to choose a time to go up to do that. If the group will be particularly up tempo, it’s probably better if I wait. Some tunes I have studied are Autumn Leaves, 500 Miles High, and There Will Never Be Another You. Certain things like Mack the Knife I can play if I pull it up on iReal. All in one key, I can just comp for people.
In the past I struggled with following form if players were particularly over the barline. Not having early experiences with jazz has led to me being less fluent at hearing the music in four bar chunks or chord scale sections. This means that I might lose the form and be the person who isn’t sure when to end a solo if I’m just hanging on with my ear.
I also find that some jazz musicians tend to feel time in a very frontside way and I find that hard to follow. For example, on uptempo tunes it can be hard to hear whether the hi hat is chomping upbeats or downbeats and I start to feel lost. These idiosyncrasies of jazz performance can undermine people who are used to feeling time in a different way.
freedom to fail in public
Despite all these traps and shibboleths set for people who want to “hang,” there is still an additional “live and let live” component to the social scenario that allows for mistakes to happen. Maybe a player gets up and doesn’t remember the changes and solos for a bit, people let it ride and things move on.
There’s a certain anonymity-in-public aspect to a jam session. It’s not a performance, and people are checking in and out while they have conversations and plug back in when applause happens for solos– the choreography of audience behavior creates a rhythm that everyone is a part of. Inside of this, there’s a little bit of freedom to be a beginner and make mistakes, but as I’ve outlined, there are several social dynamics at play that create an exclusion to people who don’t have the basic skills to read the room, mostly having to do with who gets to play when, and whether you manage to get up there for a tune you actually know.
people evaluating what they hear: how people talk at these events
Sometimes a solo will be a little less interesting than another one. I noticed a player whose figuration was quite repetitive and returned to a similar note at the end of every phrase. I am still happy to support and recognize anyone who gets up to play. That is part of community. Some people talked like “oh yeah sometimes I have to remind them to relax” but also gave compliments like “sometimes they really shred but it’s hit or miss.” There are players on stage reacting to their own playing, but also the audience has conversations about players, and that is a part of this mixed-public social setting.
I heard a separate conversation in the bathroom(?) where an older guy talked to a student and said “yeah the students are sounding good right now.” This reminds me that there are different kinds of listeners in the audience. There are regular community people, jazz students, older jazz players, professors, and community people who know a few things about music. All of these people are reacting in their own way to this relaxed but attentive atmosphere of a jam session.
closing time
Later on a couple old heads got up and played and Lucas was on piano. Although they called a tune I knew, I decided to let them hang and enjoyed listening to a more experienced piano player play voicings I liked the sound of. In general I feel my sense of being anxious in these situations is shrinking, but I am still aware of everything that goes on to create the dynamic culture of live jazz music. All sorts of people come together at a social event like this, and I feel there is a lot to see, hear, and try to participate in at varying levels of musicianship. I hope with more time I will navigate the shibboleth with ease.
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