Jammy Awards at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Well,
"rocked out at" the Jammys is probably more appropriate
language. It was a stellar production.
A hallmark of the Jammys is the strange combo of musicians one
sees perform. The last set was delightful, and ludicrous.
It was the band Little Feat joined by Mickey Hart on percussion,
Bela Fleck on banjo, Steve Kimock and Peter Frampton on guitar,
Ky-Mani Marley on vocals, and DJ Logic on the turntables.
They played Dixie Chicken into One Love into Iko Iko. Add to
the evening a Chinese Dragon dancing to the opening band and
Manute Bol giving a World Music award and you get the sense
that this wasn't your everyday music/award show event.
I've found myself needing to explain the concept of 'jam-band'
music to more friends and acquaintances than I would have expected
over the past few days... on a highly specific level the term
'jam-band' can be traced to the likes of the Grateful Dead and
Phish, groups that incorporate an element of free form
improvisational rock into their studio recordings but moreso their
live performances (trending on the longer-side of things... not 16
or 32 measures of improvising, as found in Jazz, but upwards of 16
or 32 minutes of improvising)... but the category has also come to
embrace whatever spirit of classic rock survives in these times,
as well as genres of music that are high on musicianship and
instrumentation but do not fit in well with the commercial...
uhh... crap? that dominates the airwaves, including reggae and folk.
Another staple of these bands is that they tour a lot. Which is great,
cus its great to go hear quality music live. But with record contracts
being what they are and media conglomeration being what it is and
the racket of payola-play that leads to only commercial... crap...
going out on the airwaves as it is, bands must tour incessantly to
make a name and a living for themselves.
Other random observations from the Jammys:
>First time seeing Blues Traveler. Didn't enjoy their set until
they brought out a petite female African American blues singer
with a powerhouse voice to do the singing. Then I found the act
quite enjoyable.
>Watching Savion Glover tap-dance to Bela Fleck and the Fleck Tones
was a pleasure, but watching Glover lose about 10 liters of fluids
in the process from about 15 feet away in the GA section was not
as much of a turn on.
>First time seeing Moe. Honestly, didn't like anything they were
doing until they got real deep like into their noodle-jam. Then
I found the sound quite agreeable.
>New Groove award winner Grace Potter is the Danica Patrick of the
Jamband Circuit. She's wicked talented, and awfully cute. Not
much more one can ask for. If someone reading this has her
contact info, please send along. Just kidding.
>Dweezil Zappa appeared to be giving the Zappa cover band and
playing guitar well thing the good college try, but I would have
appreciated his choosing better known Zappa tunes to play after his
pop was given a Lifetime Achievement Award. I feel
like the joint was primed for a little "Peaches En Regalia," and
that this would have brought the house down. Instead, I'm
reading that many believe the highlight of the night was
Frampton playing "Do You Feel Like I Do" with the band Guster.
For all you folks out there (myself included) who have been on
a long car trip, and sat through that 10 minute live version
of this song recorded sometime in the latter half of the 70s
and felt uninspired throughout, you didn't miss anything here.
But I don't want to trash Frampton... he was doing a nice job
at jamming during this set and in other collaborations.
And as the lead guitarist from Guster said, "Ladies and Gentlemen,
its Peter F**King Frampton!"
And that's all I've got to say.
