JAM Sessions

Our Club Loves to Jam!

Every Wednesday evening in April (Jazz Appreciation Month) and also in October, The Jazz Club of Lafayette hosts weekly JAM Sessions at a local club or music venue. A sound system, guitar amplifier, music stands and an amazingly talented House Band are made available for attendees to participate in an entertaining, collaborative musical experience: a Jazz Jam. Musicians of all skill levels are invited to add their names to a sign-up sheet, write down their song selection and instrument (including voice) and, when called, come to the stage and “jam” with the house band and other musicians in attendance. The vibe is very welcoming and encouraging, and both onstage participants and audience members enjoy the opportunity to be part of something that is organized yet improvised.

If you’re planning to sign up and sit in, please remember the general principles of a Jazz Jam:

  • It’s a gathering to perform and listen to Jazz music. Of course, Jazz is a fairly broad genre, and extends back into its Blues roots, and forward into the early days of Broadway musical reviews and the emergence of Popular music via live radio broadcasts and affordable, mass-produced recordings. From these sources and from ever-evolving iterations of the Jazz genre, a loosely-defined catalog of musical compositions called “Jazz Standards” has emerged. Included alongside–and often overlapping–is another loosely-defined catalog of songs and tunes known worldwide as “The Great American Songbook.” Many of early Pop Music’s hits and scores of Broadway showstoppers are part of the Songbook, and all are “good calls” for a Jazz Jam. Bluegrass and Country and Metal and Hip-Hop and Folk are all wonderful genres and are amazing in their creative brilliance and cultural equity, but it’s a Jazz Jam, and Jazz–or one of its near kindred genres–is what everyone in attendance has come to hear.
  • If you want to sign the list and call a “Standard,” consider bringing 3-4 copies of your selection, in your intended key, for the house band. It may not be essential–The Jazz Club of Lafayette’s house band members are deeply experienced and have played hundreds of these Standards many hundreds (in some cases, thousands) of times; however, it’s always a welcome option to have charts, in your intended key, for the house band.
  • Be courteous to band members and other performers. It’s a jam; unexpected things will surely happen. A song ending or turnaround might be a little rough, a starting note might not be obvious to the singer who is in front of a Jazz Jam audience for the first time. It’s a jam; it’s all okay. What’s not okay is giving “side eye” to a participant if your time onstage isn’t going as hoped and you feel the need to assign blame. The best attitude for participating in a Jazz Jam is: “What can I do to help everyone onstage have a fun experience, and what can I do to make sure the audience knows ‘it’s all good?'”
  • Improvisation is encouraged, but not at the expense of others on the list. If you want to take a couple of solo passes through your number, go for it. Unless the band encourages you to take more than two solos, please consider not taking more. The list may be long, time may be short. Unless you’re one of the folks described in the next point, be aware of the time. You can always come back next week and have another opportunity to solo.
  • If you get bumped down the list because someone extraordinary walks in, don’t get upset.  A weird and wonderful thing happens at Jazz Jams sometimes: an unexpected local or regional “serious talent” walks in unexpectedly and–even though not on the signup sheet–is called to the stage ahead of everyone on the list. This is normal. Serious talent showing up at an unpaid jam gets onstage early for the benefit of all in attendance–especially the audience. It might not seem fair, but it’s well-established practice, and the night ends up being all the better for it.
  • It’s always nice to offer a word of encouragement to folks who “put themselves out there” at the Jam. It’s fun and also intimidating, and (as mentioned) can be fraught with mishaps. A kind word means a lot to participants at all skill levels.

We’d love to have you at our JAM Sessions. Hope to see you Wednesdays in April and October!