Jam Sessions in USA and Greater Helsinki Area

Soup Kitchens and Jam Sessions

The above is very interesting blog post by Alexei Zoubov, now an American jazz musician. In that Alexei writes:

"Nevertheless, the image of a soup kitchen (or bread line) pops out in my mind at jams more and more often lately.
I guess that has partially to do with the present bad economic situation. There are less and less gigs, especially jazz gigs, less and less jazz clubs. And the expansion of jazz education produces more and more young players that just can’t find any spots to play jazz.
Except for jam sessions. These are the places where hungry for playing jazz musicians can get their “bowl of jazz soup” for free, or “at a reasonably low price” (see the definition of a soup kitchen above).
They sign up on a list, sometimes pay $5 or so (nothing bad about that, the money goes to the house rhythm section) and thus form a line to play a few choruses in a couple of songs."

Tuukka (gt) and Harri (t-sax) in Bar Mendocino on Nov. 12, 2008
(picture by by Bluespekko)

I go to jam sessions quite often in Helsinki area. Never happened that I have to pay to play, although in one place there is a great pressure to buy raffle tickets (5 euros each) to cover the house band. In many places the jam players get free beer or beverages.
The jam places where I played recently are:

1. Grillari in Soukka, Espoo
2. Hemingway's in Tapiola, Espoo
3. Henrik in Helsinki
   
4. Bar Mendocino in Helsinki (Blues, roots music)
   

Alexei continues:

"I strongly believe that a really enjoyable and satisfying jam session, the one that expands music ideas and creates new music should have some threshold, the minimum level of musicianship accepted.
It is practically impossible when the musicians are required to pay to participate, then everyone that pays has the right to play. There are always people that abuse this right and subject other players and the audience to extreme suffering, sometimes raising to the level of torture - you know what I mean.
I guess Russians are rude compared to Americans. At the jams back in Russia you could often see a musician being taken of the stage by the sleeve and told to go home and practice. They did that to me when I just started and it sometimes made me cry, but in the end it did me a lot of good."

I guess the Finnish jam organizers are more polite or perhaps more tolerant. In any case both players and the organizers should read the Jam Session Etiquette by Grant Koeller.

Bob's Takeaway in Henrik, January 2009