I saw the open blues jam scene begin in CA in the early 80's. Bar owners found Sun/Mon to be slow days but if they hired a local blues band for cheap they could fill the club with people wanting to jam and they paid to get in and paid for their drinks. They became so profitable that they grew to what they are today. The pro only blues jams remained in the real deal blues clubs and were also profitable because they got world renown players to come in for free. It was good publicity for them, got free drinks, and often times made new gig connections with audience members that would pay them good $ to come out their way. ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year in the Tunnel of Dreams Studio. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Dallas in the late 70's boasted a lot of jams and a lot of venues. D-FW area you could find live music almost every night of the year then. I got to see a few notables over the years at jams. ----------
This was a typical blue Monday jam as I grew up watching and later getting to be a part of. I got told they would get me right up and I sat never to be called up. This could go on for months. Finally I got a shot and things got easier but never easy to get on. They don't got this kind of stuff anymore. Walter
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year in the Tunnel of Dreams Studio. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
In Chicago in the 50's and 60's it may not have been what you think of as a "jam" but guys went from club to club sitting in for one or more songs with house bands that might be playing 3-6 hours. In the 50's Muddy, Jimmy Rogers and Walter would go from club to club to sit in and cut head. In the 60's there was a young drummer who had toured with Junior Wells who would hit all the clubs on a given night to play guitar and sing "The Thrill is Gone". Every night, every club, same and only song. Lots of guys would come by to sit in with Hound Dog Taylor who might play from 4-9 on a weenend afternoon. These weren't set up as jams but people showed up and jammed. ---------- BnT
Another thing about those old blues jams was you could find great musicians for your band. I put this band together after only a week after arriving in the Bay Area. We recorded this in the living room with no mic for my vocals or harp with 2 mics. This demo got to Tom Mazzolini who played it on his radio show. That basically led to us playing 20- 25 gigs a month in the Bay Area and North Bay. This helped get on the Naftlin Blues I found the left coast a whole new world with incredible musicians my age and old timers that wre my heros. The blues jams then were about much more than getting up to wank away rock star fantasies that are more the norm today. 9 below 0
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year in the Tunnel of Dreams Studio. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
