Jam Band defined

>>>>>“a band (especially a rock band) whose performances are distinguished by frequent and often lengthy jazzlike improvisations.”

. . . . ", danceable rhythms, and a fan base rooted in the culture of the Grateful Dead."

A lot of prog rock bands have "lengthy jazzlike improvisions" but if it doesn't make you want to dance, it isn't "jam band."

I like Ken's add on. 

Can you have a jam band without drums / percussion?

Dictionaries usually provide antonyms for words that are defined. Would the opposite of jam band be jelly band?

the definition of a jam band is kinda ephemeral, because the actual glue that connects all jam bands is hippie dippie woo-woo.

the grateful dead used musical improvisation and virtuosity to influence the audience's consciousness and perception of sound/music, in a way that is sort of analagous to the mass hysteria that can be seen in pentacostal churches when everyone is freaking out and speaking in tongues - sort of exploiting the human potential for mass hysteria and/or mystical experience in a secular, non-mystical way, for the purpose of entertainment and fun. 

bands who attempt to do this same thing are jam bands.

When the music plays the band, yo.

yup. there are elements of that sort of experience in all kinds of great live music - particularly high energy rock and jazz, but the bands explicit and main goal being those "when the music plays the band" moments, and the crowd specifically seeking that experience is what underpins the whole "jam band" thing regardless of the styles/genres of music otherwise being played. 

also an unfortunate fact here, the vast majority of jam bands fail miserably at this.

> the vast majority of jam bands fail miserably at this.

The addition of this definition is yet another milestone in the mainstreaming of our thing, so that's not too surprising. What was once a very narrow niche of just a few bands who were mostly from the Bay Area has broadened and now includes groups who just marginally fit the description. In other words, the term "jam bands" has become diluted.

> there are elements of that sort of experience in all kinds of great live music - particularly high energy rock and jazz

Perhaps the definition can be retrofitted to include those types, or maybe grandfather them in?

Were the Allman Bros. a jam band?

>>>>Were the Allman Bros. a jam band?

According to Gregg (who disliked the term), they were a "band that jammed." 

regardless of how any of the members of the allmans feel about it, they very clearly sit directly next to the GD as far as pioneering the jam band genre - they just had some setbacks that prevented them from achieving the same level of legendary status in american culture. if duane had lived, i think its pretty easy to imagine the allmans as a sort of alternate to the GD, touring the country, and the vast majority of deadheads who followed the dead around for long periods of time would have instead alternated between dead tour and allmans tour. i would imagine that happened to some extent anyway, but imo if duane had lived the two bands could have been more or less equal in scope. 

> there are elements of that sort of experience in all kinds of great live music - particularly high energy rock and jazz

Perhaps the definition can be retrofitted to include those types, or maybe grandfather them in?

i think most of this is covered under the stipulation that if your audience is mostly pot smoking hippies, youre a jamband. ive been to plenty of jazz shows that jam real hard but dont feel like a jamband concert, while on the other hand, i can recall lots of les claypool shows where he really isnt doing much long improvisation, but it feels much more like a jamband show not only because of the goals the music/band has, but because of the crowd that showed up. 

I would say it is an audience that likes to do drugs a little more intense than weed at a concert, improvisation, and varied nightly set lists. Phish audience for instance has hippies but I know a lot of ravers who are not hippies who travel for Phish. 

Oh shit, based on that definition the Dixie Dregs are now a jam band.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu32TgPeXM8

>>>Can you have a jam band without drums / percussion?

Ask BMFS

Guitars, bass, and mandolin all can carry the rhythmic/percussive side of Bluegrass.  Bluegrass festivals were some of the first jam friendly festivals.  The taping culture developed there before Rock and Roll.  Jerry Garcia and David Nelson were both participants in that scene.  It is definitively Jamband music.
 

Old-time string band music may be the original Jamband music, at least in North America.  The only thing earlier would be the chants and ceremonial drumming of the 1st Nation's peoples.

Any band that sounds like Phish

do the disco biscuits have tour heads?

It's a dumb term, and it's a dumb reason to be interested in a band. And, while the GD might have created a market for the "genre", most "jam bands" just don't have the same groove going on. Phish might be the "quintessential" jam band more than the Grateful Dead.

The term only really arose when all these other bands popped up in the 90's, right around the GD's market peak (and sudden demise). The H.O.R.D.E. festival probably had something to do with it- "how do we define what this festival is?". But the groups that fall under that umbrella really have nothing to do with the Grateful Dead, which was much more grounded in Americana and the '60's. And they don't really have too much to do with each other. But if there's a Jam Band North Star, it's Phish, not the Dead.

The term seems to have more to do with the fanbase- folks who like to party at dance concerts. And bands who play at the venues that put up with that.

"What did the Jam Band fan say when he ran out of weed?"

This music sucks?