A jam session is a musical act where musicians gather and play (or "jam") without extensive preparation or predefined arrangements. Allegory of Music on the Opéra Garnier Music is an art form that involves organised sounds and silence. ... Look up Act on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Act may refer to: in law, a written document that attests the legality of the transaction. ... A musician is a person who plays or composes music. ... In music, an arrangement refers either to a rewriting of a piece of existing music with additional new material or to a fleshing-out of a compositional sketch, such as a lead sheet. ...

The origin of the term jam in this context can be traced back to the 1920s. According to the Online Dictionary of Etymology, the term originally appeared ca. 1929, referring to a "short, free improvised passage performed by the whole band". The derivation of this usage is obscure, but like other novel terms that came into English through jazz music — such as the terms "hip", "hep" and "hepcat" — it is possible that it ultimately derives from the West African Wolof language. Jazz is a style of music which originated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States at around the start of the 20th century. ... Hip is a slang term, an adjective meaning fashionably current, referring to someone who is conversant with or deeply involved in a particular trend or subject. ... HEP can be: head end power a method for providing electricity to train carriages high-energy physics high explosive, plastic anti-tank ammunition, also called high explosive squash head (HESH) higher education provider a classification from the Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training [1] a housing equity partnership... Hepcat is a third-wave ska band formed in southern California in 1989. ... Wolof is a language spoken in Senegal, the Gambia, and Mauritania, and it is the native language of the ethnic group of the Wolof people. ...

The word 'jam' can be more loosely used to refer to any particularly inspired or improvisational part of a musical performance, especially in rock and jazz music. Jam sessions, however, are generally for the benefit of the performers and not part of a public performance. Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ... Jazz is a style of music which originated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States at around the start of the 20th century. ...

Jam sessions are often used to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one participant, or may be wholly improvisational. Jam sessions can range from very loose gatherings of amateurs to sophisticated improvised recording sessions intended to be edited and released to the public. A chord progression (also chord sequence and harmonic progression or sequence), as its name implies, is a series of chords played in order. ... Sheet music is written representation of music. ... Philosophically, improvisation often focuses on bringing ones personal awareness into the moment, and on developing a profound understanding for the action one is doing. ...

Jazz

The New York jazz scene during World War II was famous for its after-hours jam sessions. One of the most famous was the regular after-hours jam at Minton's Playhouse in New York City that ran in the 1940s and early 1950s. The Minton's jams were a fertile meeting place and proving ground for both established soloists like Ben Webster and Lester Young, and the younger jazz musicians who would soon become leading exponents of the bebop movement, including Thelonious Monk (Minton's house pianist), Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie. The Minton's jams were legendary for their highly competitive "cutting contests", in which soloists would try to keep up with the house band and outdo each other in improvisation skill. Jazz is a style of music which originated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States at around the start of the 20th century. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Minton’s Playhouse is a jazz club and bar located on the first floor of the Hotel Cecil at 210 West 118th Street in Harlem. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676 Government  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area... Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909–September 20, 1973) was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. ... Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed Prez, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. ... Bebop is a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos and improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody. ... Thelonious Sphere Monk (October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was a jazz pianist and composer. ... Charles Bird Parker, Jr. ... John Birks Dizzy Gillespie (October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was born in Cheraw, South Carolina. ... Cutting contests were a form of musical battles between the various stride pianoplayers of Harlem in the early 1920s. ...

Rock

As the instrumental proficiency of pop and rock musicians improved in the Sixties and early Seventies, jamming also became a regular feature of rock music; bands such as Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band would feature live pieces easily over fifteen minutes in length. Cream was a 1960s British rock band, which consisted of guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker. ... The Jimi Hendrix Experience was a highly influential, though short-lived, English/American rock band famous for the guitar work of Jimi Hendrix on songs such as Purple Haze, Foxy Lady, Fire, Hey Joe, Voodoo Child (Slight Return), All Along the Watchtower and Spanish Castle Magic. Although Hendrix was the... The Grateful Dead were an American rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. ... The original Allman Brothers Band The Allman Brothers Band is a pioneering and innovative Southern rock group from Macon, Georgia originally popular in the 1970s, described by Rolling Stones George Kimball in 1971 as the best . ...

Some notable recorded jams in the rock idiom: Rock and roll (also spelled rock n roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ...

• The bonus CD of the 25th anniversary of the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Eric Clapton's early 70s band, Derek & The Dominos includes a number of long improvised jams between members of the group and other musicians, such as The Allman Brothers Band following the historic first meeting between the two groups earlier that day. As a result of this jam, guitarist Duane Allman was invited to join the Dominos after having recorded only three songs, and he made a major contribution to the resulting LP.
• The extended track "Apple Jam", which appears on George Harrison 1970 solo album All Things Must Pass and features most of the session musicians who contributed to the LP.
• Nirvana's improvised hidden track from album In Utero (1993), and 'semi-improvised' hidden track from Nevermind (1991).

Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is a blues-rock album by Derek and the Dominos. ... The famous Clapton is God graffiti Eric Patrick Clapton CBE (born 30 March 1945), nicknamed Slowhand, is a Grammy Award winning English guitarist, singer and composer, who is one of the most successful musicians of the 20th century,[1] garnering an unprecedented three inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall... Eric Clapton CBE (born Eric Patrick Clapp on March 30, 1945 in The Green, Ripley, Surrey), is a British guitarist and composer, nicknamed slowhand. ... The Allman Brothers Band is a band from Macon, Georgia, labeled by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the principal architects of Southern rock. ... Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American lead guitarist and noted session musician. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... All Things Must Pass is a triple album by George Harrison recorded and released after the break-up of The Beatles. ... Nirvana was an American rock band originating from Aberdeen, Washington. ... Gallons Of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through The Strip is a song by the American rock band, Nirvana. ... In Utero is the third and final studio album from the American grunge band Nirvana, released in September 1993 by Geffen Records. ... Endless, Nameless is a song by the band Nirvana. ... Nevermind is the seminal second studio album from the American rock band Nirvana. ...

See also

• Jam band
• Jamming (dance)
• Free improvisation
• Freestyle rap
• Session, including Session musician and Irish traditional music session (this is the folk equivalent of a jam session)