#thejtproject

Jam sessions.  Great for musicians, but how great are they for the audience?  After watching a recent jam at HCK, I realized that jam sessions can get out of hand quite quickly.  What starts out as a recognizable song deteriorates into a solo fest where each musicians improvises for at least 5 mins.  Superstition (a 4 minute and 26 second song) went on for 15 mins the other night.  The audience was with the players when they stuck to the script, but once minute 2 of a solo rolled around, I could see their attention was waning.

I think it's great to have open jam sessions at a venue.  They foster a sense of community with artists, are great networking opportunities, and can be a lot of fun.  But sometimes I think people forget that they're playing for a mixed audience, not just their musician friends.  Not everyone is interested in hearing a 10 minute solo.  Some people just want to hear some good music that they already know.  I hate to call music a "product", but in this business that is what you're selling.  The product has to be accessible to a wide audience so people keep showing up for the jam.

Part of being a successful musician is being able to captivate the non-musical.  It's one thing to be able to entertain a group of trained musicians, who are already predisposed to liking music.  But when you can grab someone who doesn't devote their life to music, that's when you know you got it.

Jam sessions are great, but please people, remember that you're playing for a mixed crowd.  Keep it light, keep it simple, keep it grounded and keep it fresh.  Pretend you're playing music for a child; you want to expose them to something great, but you have to spoon feed it to them.  I'm not saying to dumb it down completely, just keep the solos at a manageable length so people don't tune out.