Past Events- Jam Session at the Spread

To those of you who missed it, Saturday’s jam session was a great success and a lot of fun. Too bad no one brought a camera.

The Spread is kind of a seedy little back street club. It smelled of beer and sweat and the floor was still sticky with dried beer from the last night’s bash. The stage was littered with old set lists from Reggae bands and alternative bands that regularly pound the stage at night. Overhead were old par light cans with colored gels in them and there was the spaghetti of PA wires and power cords coiled around the stained carpet of the stage. There on the sides of the stage was an old, huge 15’ PA speakers, too big for jazz but reminiscent of the ‘80’s hair band days. While I was setting up my amp on the stage the sights and smells reminded me of the old days in my twenties touring with the hard rock band, setting up in a smelly club and not knowing what city I was in at the time.

Dana Weary, Nick Schauer and myself started it off with a Bossa tune that we somehow managed to play medium swing (for no known reason, but it was fun!!).

Mike Frederick, Dana Weary and Nick Schauer continued with a blazing group of standards trading solos. The three of them generated an endless string of very tasty licks. One would play a chorus or two and then you would see a smile and another one would start soloing. One guitarist comped, another played a bass line and another soloed. Then they would trade. It was a great format with three guitars at a time. Dana was showing what his new Ibanez GB-10 and hand wired boutique amp could do. Mike was a melodic as a player can get and Nick was laying it down like the seasoned pro he is.

Gary Breckenridge got up with his vintage 335 and got a little Girl from Ipenema and Satin Doll going. Charles Tappa took the stage with his stunning brand new wine red Gibson L-5 and started playing some sweet sounds. Soon a bunch of players newer to jazz got up and jammed on some blues like Mr. PC; Janet Johnson with her Strat and Beringer amp, Bill Johnson with his Strat and Jim Myers with his red solid body.

Then there was a great duo of Nick Herman and Mike Frederick, trading beautiful melodic phrases, then massive complex jazz lines and at times with burning speed and amazing dexterity. Nick brought his brand new Yamaha hollowbody guitar and his Fender Twin. Sweet! Looking at each others equipment was as fun as hearing everyone play. Even more fun was seeing how the different players played together. The chemistry would change with every personal change on stage…but it was all good!

Pat Barclay brought only his Harley Motorcycle so he borrowed Schauer’s Epiphone, turned it upside down and jammed on a blues with Wendell Smith. Wendell brought his Heritage archtop and Polytone amp. A few members stopped by but didn’t feel like playing this time around…Shawn Wright and Marcus DeWood. Nice to see both of them.

The coffee was hot, the beer was cold, and everyone was having a blast playing, talking jazz, and listening to what was at times, some great jazz guitar. The bar owner told me this was a really cool thing that he had never seen anything like this before and we needed to do it again. A few people wandered in off the street and wondered what this weird soft pretty music thing was that we were doing. They seemed to have discovered a new, classier, more intellectual, more melodic music style in their favorite bar that day.

The best I remember was there was then a mix of different players. It all blends together after that point. Lots of players mixing it up on stage, Charles giving Janet an impromptu guitar lesson on cord voicings. I remember was Dana playing a solo tune from Bright Sized Life. (I hope I didn’t miss any player’s names here).

I got back up to jam and my amp pooped out, crackling and buzzing. I think it was just a shorted power cord on the tired old stage outlet because it worked fine when I got home.

The last notes played was when Mike borrowed Dana’s GB-10 and played a solo piece that was simply stunning, sweet and pretty. Nice when a player who can virtually do anything he wants to on the guitar is the guy who concentrates most on pretty melodies.

Can’t wait until next time.