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Feature
Article - July 2000
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The Jammys:
A Celebration of the Scene |
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Photos by Janene Otten & Mike MacNamara
Article written by Dan Alford |
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"It's your thing, do what you wanna do." Jen Durkin
and Peter Prince belted out those famous lyrics
during the all-star jam that closed out the first
Annual Jammys Awards held on June 22 at Irving Plaza
in New York City. In retrospect it seems particularly
appropriate that the assembled cast chose to perform
that Isley Brothers classic to help celebrate the
Jamband world, because it gets right to the heart of
what it is to be a jamband.
 People may argue one way or another about the validity of the term, the reasons for its use, and who is included under its wide umbrella, but there are some basic ideals contained within the term to which everyone can agree. First off, jambands are exploratory. It is an unspoken expectation that bands will be improvisational in nature, that they will respond to the amorphous energy of a room best known as the vibe, and create something with it, that they will push the envelope. Stagnation is unacceptable.
 Next, jambands come from every corner of the musical map. Take at look the bands that pass through your local jam venue, whether it's the 9:30 Club, the Middle East, the Gothic Theater, Legends Lounge or countless others. The list includes live techno bands, bluegrass bands, freaked out fusion, and a little taste of the Good Old Grateful Dead. And that just scratches the surface. A jam can come from anywhere at most anytime.
 Finally, and directly connected to the diversity of the jamband scene, is the open acceptance of influences from a variety of sources. Your favorite groove guitarist may find an 18th century composer to be his greatest inspiration, while your favorite singer may claim that Miles or Trane had the most influence of the development of her voice. A jam really can come anywhere, but more often than not it comes from everywhere. And so it truly was appropriate that Peter Prince, with his trademark quirky movements, spun around the stage pointing to members of Deep Banana Blackout, Soulive, The Slip and others, shouting "Do what YOU wanna do." Indeed the Jammys, in essence, was a celebration of people, musicians, fans, and the folks that make it all happen, who have done what they wanted to do, people who forged ahead into new areas, and mostly people who jam.
 Long before the last jam, though, there was the first. The Jammys Orchestra, led by DBB's Fuzz (and included a few members of that group: Eric Kalb, Rob Somerville, Rob Volo and Johnny Durkin), The Slip's Marc Friedman, Foxtrot Zulu's T.K., San Francisco legend Merl Saunders and jazz master John Scofield, began the festivities with a nice walk-through of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man." That set the theme for the evening, as most of the musical acts were tributes to some of the giants that have had a profound impact on the scene, its bands, and its fans. These included a P-Funk number performed by Scolive ("Knee Deep"), with a song from the Scofield/MMW collaboration A Go Go ("Hottentot") sandwiched in the middle; a tip of the hat to Santana ("Everybody's Everything" and Frank Zappa ("I'm The Slime") from Deep Banana Blackout; and Strangefolk, Merl Saunders and Percy Hill's John Lecesse pulling out a "Scarlet > Fire." The Slip played an especially beautiful medley of Dylan tunes, ending in "Don't Think Twice It's Alright." Their agile, off kilter jazz sound was the perfect match for a man whose words and music changed the world more than will be realized in any of our lifetimes. One additional highlight was the appearance of Butch Truck's Frogwings ensemble which brought together Derek Trucks, Jimmy Herring, Oteil Burbridge, Marc Quinones and Kofi Burbridge. Grammy-nominated Susan Tedeschi joined Jammys-nominated Frogwings for the blues standard "Feels So Bad."
 The strangest tribute of the of the night went to the New Deal's nod to Blue Grass godfather Bill Monroe, with a wild, technofied 15 minute version of "Oh Susanna." The unlikely convergence of disparate styles worked well, as the Canadian trio referenced the song to start, shot across the solar system and returned to the staple of Americana, using it like a tease more than anything else. A close runner up could've been the Disco Biscuits' performance of a piece by Schubert, except that classical music has long been a staple of the Bisco diet. They were also joined by Les Claypool for a Primus tune, and a jam of Pink Floyd's "Have A Cigar" into the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows."
 The Disco Biscuits were also one of the award winners at the Jammys, taking home Jam of the Year for their New Year's Eve Akira jam, an improvisation done while the anime classic "Akira" was shown behind them. Two staples of the jambands scene took home the Album of the Year awards. moe.'s "L," their long awaited first live official release won for Live Album, and New Hampshire's Percy Hill walked away with Studio Album honors for their acclaimed "Color In Bloom." Other winners included groove-Jedis Soulive, picked by their peers as the Future Jam, while Fat Mama were given the New Groove award by the fans. Scene-based awards went to Strangers Helping Strangers for Community Service, www.etree.com for Fan Web Site, Music Never Stops (KPFK, Los Angeles) for Radio Show, and our own newsman supreme, Jeff Waful for Jambands.com Writer. There also were two special awards given out. The first was a lifetime achievement award given to Mr. B.B. King who was playing across town at the opening of his new club in Times Square. Shapiro caught him earlier in the evening just prior to his set to present him with his Jammys Bowl (a silver Paul Revere-style engraved award) and a pair of Jammys-emblazoned pajamas. Midway through the evening, a movie screen dropped down to present a video of Shapiro's presentation and King's acceptance speech. The second special Jammy was the Topper award, designated by moe. manager and long-time scenester Jon Topper for tireless effort in support of the scene. For this award he tapped Chris Zahn, who worked for years as the talent buyer at the jambands Mecca, NYC's The Wetlands. Chris was instrumental in helping many jambands get their starts and has long been a fundamental member of the jambands scene. He still plays a crucial role as the manager for the Disco Biscuits.
 The evening's co-hosts were Dean Budnick (resplendent in his tuxedo and black Chuck Taylor high-tops) and Peter Prince (effulgent in his bald-pated glory). Prince also performed a tune with the Jammys Orchestra written for the occasion. Award presenters included John Scofield, music critic Richard Gehr, Rolling Stone scribe/VH-1 mainstay Anthony DeCurtis, High Times journalist Steve Bloom, Grateful Dead publicist/biographer Dennis McNally, and Jambands.com writers Benjy Eisen and Carol Wade. There was also a particularly heartfelt eulogy for the Grateful Dead's tape archivist Dick Latvala, who left us in 99, given by the Allman Brothers' vault man, Kirk West.
 The final two awards went to the two bands whose influence is most keenly felt in our music and our lives. Live Set of the Year went to Phish for their marathon 8 hour set on New Years Day in Big Cypress, Florida. As the group who has truly blazed a long and winding path for all the bands in the scene, they are the true founders of this modern musical movement, and that set declared that with 16 years down, there is still a lot of terrain left to be explored. Mike Gordon accepted the award via email, as Vermont's Phinest were opening their summer that night in Nashville. Gordon stated in part, "Being able to play all night was something we've always wanted to try. For us, the idea of going out there for seven hours without any sort of plan whatsoever seemed to encapsulate the essence of improvisation. The location was beautiful and the jamming was relaxed. And, from my perspective, watching the sun come up over Page's piano was sublime." Finally, Release of the Year went to "So Many Roads" the first-ever box set from the Grand Daddy of 'em all, The Grateful Dead. Yet in their acceptance letter the Warlock's of the Bay downplayed their paternal role, saying that they are still out there trying to tap into the vibe, the same as everyone else. They did, however, give a little piece of advice, a lesson that saw them through 35 years as a band and will see them through many more years in their new and varied incarnations. "And remember, the one is always wherever you think it is." List of award-winners
Release of the Year- Grateful Dead, So Many Roads |
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