the art of the jam
fell by the wreck wednesday night for the lee allen invitational jam before and after taking in a bit of dave and daver's cd release party -- about which i'll just say that dave williams' tunes have even greater authority live than on the record, which is well worth hearing, altho it woulda been nice to hear the musos talking it up more from the stage. then again, not everybody is a marketer. nor do they need to be.
jam sessions are like forrest gump's box of chocolates: you never know what you're going to get. jams can range all the way from the sublime to the ridiculous, sometimes in the course of a single song. it helps, of course, to have a guiding intelligence on the set, which lee allen definitely provides in spades. playing his six-string bass, he started out with a spanish theme (which he later said was by chick corea, "although we never got to the 'b' section") with fort worth symphony violinist steven huber (formerly a regular at the black dog jazz jams). then he called up goodwin/pablo and the hemphill 7 drummer damien stewart to add some riddim. after a bit, he said, "i wonder what this would sound like with another drummmer?" and as if by magic, another one appeared. (when was the last time you saw anyone playing double drums in fort worth?) finally he added a guitar player to the mix, then proceeded to direct the band, cueing solos and finally ending the tune, in a manner that recalled frank zappa's onstage band conduction. (maybe that's why, at times, huber's mad gypsy violin put me in mind of zappa's idol/early '70s collaborator sugarcane harris.) even the bartenders were getting into the act: woodeye bassist graham richardson joined in for a minute, and it was a real treat to see ex-gideons frontman carl pack sitting onstage rapping for a couple of numbers.
all jammers, of course, are not created equal. the best are the ones who listen and respond empathetically to what's going on around them. the other kind are those that treat each piece as an opportunity to showboat rather than interact. (that's right, kids; "plays well with others" matters long after grade school.) you see some of both in any jam situation; the wreck's is no exception. but allen is such a great bandleader, transforming warhorses like hendrix' "manic depression," zappa's "muffin man," funkadelic's "maggot brain," and the fonky meters' "cissy strut" into evolving, spontaneous compositions that take on a life of their own, that it's worth sitting through the occasional dodgy bits to hear the diamonds.
jam sessions are like forrest gump's box of chocolates: you never know what you're going to get. jams can range all the way from the sublime to the ridiculous, sometimes in the course of a single song. it helps, of course, to have a guiding intelligence on the set, which lee allen definitely provides in spades. playing his six-string bass, he started out with a spanish theme (which he later said was by chick corea, "although we never got to the 'b' section") with fort worth symphony violinist steven huber (formerly a regular at the black dog jazz jams). then he called up goodwin/pablo and the hemphill 7 drummer damien stewart to add some riddim. after a bit, he said, "i wonder what this would sound like with another drummmer?" and as if by magic, another one appeared. (when was the last time you saw anyone playing double drums in fort worth?) finally he added a guitar player to the mix, then proceeded to direct the band, cueing solos and finally ending the tune, in a manner that recalled frank zappa's onstage band conduction. (maybe that's why, at times, huber's mad gypsy violin put me in mind of zappa's idol/early '70s collaborator sugarcane harris.) even the bartenders were getting into the act: woodeye bassist graham richardson joined in for a minute, and it was a real treat to see ex-gideons frontman carl pack sitting onstage rapping for a couple of numbers.
all jammers, of course, are not created equal. the best are the ones who listen and respond empathetically to what's going on around them. the other kind are those that treat each piece as an opportunity to showboat rather than interact. (that's right, kids; "plays well with others" matters long after grade school.) you see some of both in any jam situation; the wreck's is no exception. but allen is such a great bandleader, transforming warhorses like hendrix' "manic depression," zappa's "muffin man," funkadelic's "maggot brain," and the fonky meters' "cissy strut" into evolving, spontaneous compositions that take on a life of their own, that it's worth sitting through the occasional dodgy bits to hear the diamonds.
posted by stashdauber at 4:06 AM
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