Jam Session *Ultimate Edition*

As a lover of music I often wonder what it would be like to jam with some of my favorite artists.  So I started thinking about whom I would want to jam with.  The clip below is ?uestlove, John-Paul Jones, and Ben Harper jamming.

Band Leader / Trumpet

Miles Davis the musical revolutionary and visionary is the obvious choice for trumpet because of classics such as So What from the album Kind of Blue.  What separates Davis as a Band Leader however is the Album Bitches Brew.  When looking at the liner notes he organized the sessions to include multiple instruments such as a right or left piano and acoustic and electric bass. Miles Runs the Voodoo Down is brilliant.

Drums

?uestlove the dynamic drummer of Legendary Roots Crew.  Why?  The reasons… First of all he is dynamic and knows how to stay in the pocket. He has the precision of a human drum machine.  However, he is not repetitive and keeps it interesting.  A classic example of the dynamics utilized by Questo comes from You Got Me off The Roots Come Alive.  During this track he makes great use of the off-beats and syncopation.

Bass

Victor Wooten.  Why? So innovative that he is credited with developing his own technique known as the double thump.  The prime example of his skills can be understood by listening to The Sinister Minister or Amazing Grace from the Bela Fleck and the Flecktones album Live Art.  I actually wanted to leave him off because I thought he might be too good… But, you cannot deny talent.  Note regarding the Amazing Grace recording: only one instrument is creating all those sounds.

Guitar

Jimi Hendrix.  If I have to explain why Jimi Hendrix listen to anything from the Band of Gypsys specifically Machine Gun.  If you still don’t get it, just stop reading this blog and listen to a lot of music.

Me… Why me well I play guitar and this is my jam session so deal with it.

Keys

Booker T. Jones  Leader of Booker T. and the MG’s which were the house band for Stax Records.  Just listen to any soul record from the  played on just about every soul record (not from Mo Town) in the 60’s and a ton blues records.  Notably Otis Redding, Albert King, and Wilson Pickett.  Versatile and understated, Booker T would be great on the Organ.

Dave Brubeck  is most famous for Take Five.  But the reason he made the list is actually because of another track from the same album Time Out.  Listen to Blue Rondo A la Turk.  The changes in that record are truly phenomenal.  Much of the record Time Out is recorded in odd time signatures.  Most Jazz up to that point was exclusively done in 4/4.  Brubeck was an innovator.

Sax

Here the easy choice would be Charlie Parker or John Coltrane.  I am not trying to be contrarian but, I am going to choose Jeff Coffin.  Listen to Scratch & Sniff from Outbound.  Not only is he a great player but I feel that he is an innovator by utilizing technology and adding effects such as a phaser to the saxophone.  Also, in live versions of Scratch & Sniff he will finish the jam by playing two saxophones at once.

Vocals

This may be the most difficult and a very easily debated section.  I am including multiple people because they all bring different talents and styles.

The Gza is one of the most intelligent rappers of all time.  Listen to Duel of the Iron Mic.    From the album Liquid Swords  or really just listen to anything else. This cut is from the Chappelle Show.

Jill Scott is phenomenal and not just in the studio.  She does not need something to be auto-tuned or any other effects.  What I most love about Jill Scott is how she will through some scat in her live performances and it doesn't sound contrived its completely organic.  She is the female vocalist on the live version of You Got Me mentioned above or this live  Clip from Soul Stage. 

Ritchie Havens.  Why?  He improvised Freedom at Woodstock because the next performers were not ready as many artists were late reaching the festival.  This lead to one of the most memorable moments at a defining event of the 1960’s.  It would also be great to have him playing some acoustic guitar as part of the rhythm section.  So this is really a no brainer.

Wildcards

Prince:  The guy plays like 50 instruments.

Bela Fleck:  How many jazz banjo players are there, really? Charles Mingus: Upright Bass and visionary. Common and Mos Def: Two great rappers.

I think this lineup would create beautiful music and be very interesting.  Certainly I left off a bunch of people.  So tell me who you think should be included.  There is one rule though.  To make it interesting if you add someone you must take somebody off the list.  Otherwise there would be like 50 people jamming together.

Finally, Phoenix is lovely this time of year so if anybody can get this group (excluding the deceased) together I will offer my house up for a jam session.  Wow I listen to a lot jazz. Nothin' wrong with that.