Jam Band defined
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today's Relix news feed informed us that
On October 1, Merriam-Webster added 200 new words and definitions to the dictionary, including “jam band,” a noun defined as “a band (especially a rock band) whose performances are distinguished by frequent and often lengthy jazzlike improvisations.”
seems close enough.
years ago i read an interview with an artist who didn't like being labeled "jam band"; I mentioned this to a friend who said "if your audience consists of pot-smoking hippies, you are a jam band". I consider this also a pretty accurate definition, though I understand why the dictionary wouldn't use it.
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Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Ken D.
>>>>>“a band (especially a
>>>>>“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."
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Alan R
I like Ken's add on.
I like Ken's add on.
Can you have a jam band without drums / percussion?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: cultivate kindness
Dictionaries usually provide
Dictionaries usually provide antonyms for words that are defined. Would the opposite of jam band be jelly band?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Dr. Benway
the definition of a jam 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.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: cultivate kindness
When the music plays the band
When the music plays the band, yo.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Dr. Benway
yup. there are elements of
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.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: cultivate kindness
> the vast majority of jam
> 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?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: joy
Were the Allman Bros. a jam
Were the Allman Bros. a jam band?
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Ken D.
>>>>Were the Allman Bros. a
>>>>Were the Allman Bros. a jam band?
According to Gregg (who disliked the term), they were a "band that jammed."
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Dr. Benway
regardless of how any of the
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.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Dr. Benway
> there are elements of that
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.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: El Nino
I would say it is an audience
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.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Briank
Oh shit, based on that
Oh shit, based on that definition the Dixie Dregs are now a jam band.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Mice elf
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu32TgPeXM8