If you’re looking to network and meet new musicians, try going along to some jam sessions or blues/jazz nights. Regularly hosted in venues around the country, jam sessions can be great fun.
There are many different career paths in music that attending a jam night might help you get onto.
For instance, if you’re looking to become a session player (potentially performing in an artist’s backing band or in the studio), attending a Jazz jam night will give you some invaluable experience of playing with new musicians and a chance to practice a few of the vital musical skills you might need.
There are lots of different jams going on in most major towns and cities throughout the UK. The genres will vary, but they will generally either be Jazz or Blues-based, although there are also many Folk music-oriented events.
You can also read our LMM blog on finding musicians to jam with.
Key skills you might want to brush up on before attending a Jazz night
Improvisation
The first order of business for any Jazz night is the idea that anyone sitting in gets the chance to improvise.
When someone nods in your direction, you want to be ready! Think about playing over different changes, what scales work over what chords (and why!) and playing around/extemporising on melody lines.
Changing key
If you’re having a singer sit in with the house band, they may want to change the song’s key they are about to sing to better suit their range.
Having a good handle on the Nashville number system is a good way to make this easier.
Stylistic awareness
Having a good knowledge of different styles of music is going to become invaluable when it comes to jamming along to a song you might not have heard before.
Try and become familiar with some of the most popular players in a certain genre and pick out a few of their particular trademarks and subtleties – this can be an exciting and mind-expanding experience!
Jazz standards & real book tunes
The songs below are considered “Standards” of the jazz world and will be really popular for local jazz nights, so it’s worth taking a look at them. Here’s a few of our top picks, with some from Learnjazzstandards.com “50 Jazz Standards You Need To Know”:Attend a Jazz night!
Here are some venues in London who run weekly jazz jam sessions, google them for more information.
- Oliver’s – Greenwich
- The Amersham – New Cross
- Pangea Project – Stoke Newington
- Spice of Life – Soho
- Troy Bar – Shoreditch
If you’re looking to book a Jazz band for a night like these (or any other event), please check out the Last Minute Musicians directory.
There are also many jam sessions in London which are not solely for jazz musicians/bands. Here are a few venues in London who run different jam sessions:
- New Cross Inn – New Cross
- Electric Blues Club – Soho
- The Wheatsheaf – Lambeth
- RamJam Club – Kingston
Outside of London…
- Alexanders Live – Chester
- PARRJAZZ – Liverpool
- Bedford Street – Leamington Spa
A few sites for looking up other Jazz or jam nights across the country:
- http://ian-ritchie.com/jams.htm
- http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/music/londons-best-improv-jam-sessions-10442489.html
- http://www.northwalesjazz.org.uk/
Don’t forget! If you’re looking for more gigs as a Jazz musician, head over to LastMinuteMusicians.com and register for a listing.
If you have any other good suggestions of jam nights, please post them in the comments below…
