re: Jam Bands - I just don’t f*cking get it

I just listened to this song as I’m very familiar with Jerry and Merle. I have a half dozen of their live CD’s and the Keystone Berkeley shows are superb since many were recorded by Betty Cantor-Jackson. a.k.a. “Betty Boards” if you’re into Grateful Dead live recordings. I think this Jimmy Cliff classic song and “jam” went right over your head. If you have an ear for music, you can clearly make out the improvisations between a quintet of musicians and their respective instruments.

The first 4 minutes and the last 4 minutes (8 total) is Jerry singing the lyrics to one of his favorite songs. There is an 11 minute instrumental jam where you can clearly hear Jerry playing Wolf (guitar), followed by Merle on his famous Hammond B3, then John Kahn on Bass, Bill Kreutzmann on drums, and an amazing set of lungs by Martin Fierro on saxophone. Each musician jams for 1-2 minutes and then you can hear each musician teasing and playing off each other. Then all 5 play together for 1-2 minutes before Jerry picks back up on the vocals.

If you’re into the JGB and Merle from the 70’s, this song is epic. I understand not everyone likes Jerry or the GD. Just like not everyone likes country, reggae, classical, and/or rap music.

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It’s called jazz.

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It's interesting because I enjoy jazz but don't really enjoy jam

I think part of it is expectation/use - I don't get worked up over jazz and I don't enjoy it the same way I enjoy texas country music. It's great to work to, to have a glass of wine to with the wife, to drink coffee with on a Sunday morning.

Meanwhile I put jam bands in the same category as any other music where I tend to "require" them to more actively stimulate me. So perhaps it's not really a fair comparison.

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think the sweet spot for most jam bands is that 7-9 minute range.

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I don't disagree. A lot of the most famous jams a la Oregon 72 Playin in the Band, Providence 94 Bowie, 6.3.16 Shem Rah Dribble etc all exceed this mark by quite a bit but if you were to compile an overall high quality jam database the median time would be somewhere near your description.

Fellow e-Legend CheeseburgerEddie and myself discussed the 'microjamming' phenomenon at length on a recent excursion to Charleston. And yes, Bisco Boys, this includes Barber and Co as evidenced by the 2.4.16 Muchkin Invasion > Tricycle . The runtime is 26 mins but in reality the jam is from ~5 mins to ~15:15 - clocking in at just over 10 mins.

This is what made Houser so fricking good man... He was so smooth and a 7 minute song could easily blast off and take you to another level in the blink of an eye. Nothing ever felt forced. You take an Airplane from '98 or '00 and it's this harmless little tune that The Telecaster Master just absolutely rips. It just comes out of no where. The long meandering jams are sort of like the advanced listening for jam bands. It would be similar to playing from the tips the first time you ever played golf. Or trying to hit a 90 mph fastball before you even played Tee Ball. I'm not trying to say it's anything that's hard to get or understand, but you need to give yourself a chance to warm up to it. Are some jams more entertaining than others? Of course. But it's all about the creative process.

'72 Playin's are a conversation for a whole different thread.

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most famous jams

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6.3.16 Shem Rah Dribble

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The head scratcher for me is people labeling all jams as "meandering". The interplay in the Dead, Phish, and Panic is remarkable at times. Yes there are times when I'm stuck wishing someone would steer the jam, but when they do it's typically euphoric.

TLDR: some people tell me Breaking Bad was too slow for them. I get it, but I also don't.

WSMFP!