The Grateful Dead was the original jam band. The hallmark of a jam band is improvisation.

Virtually, all American forms of popular music are fair game for a jam band. Jam bands originated with the Grateful Dead in the 1960s and continued in the 1990s with Phish, Umphrey’s McGee, Bela Fleck, Modeski, Martin and Wood, among many others. The performances of these bands often feature extended musical improvisation (“jams”) over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns and long sets of music that cross genre boundaries. [Watch/listen to a performance by Phish.]

Jazz, particularly guitar jazz, mirrors the approach of the jam band. Long extended improvisation is the rule not the exception. Perhaps the connection between jazz and jam bands has been blurred because so much of traditional jazz has been dominated by horns and piano.

I’m constantly discussing my own belief in the jazz guitar as a musical form in and of itself; it’s more than a subset of jazz. The guitar has its own market and legion of followers who listen to all styles of music.

While the Grateful Dead were originally categorized as psychedelic rock, by the 1990s the term “jam band” was used for groups playing a variety of genres, including those outside of rock such as funk, progressive bluegrass, and jazz fusion.

What are the characteristics of jam bands?

1. Jam bands may be vocal, instrumental or a combination of both. The “jam” part is instrumental and improvisational. It is typically dominated by guitar.
2. Taping, collecting and trading was pioneered by the Grateful Dead. This culture contributed to the popularity of the Dead and led the way for the jam bands of the future. This was so encouraged that direct feeds from the sound board were provided for “tapers” who wanted to archive the shows.
3. Medleys, that is the stringing of songs together as a continuous song, was typical.
4. Song Quotation. This is the use of a small section of a famous song in the beginning, middle or end of another song.
5. Theme – Extended Improvisation. Theme is not only the format of jam bands but as I’ll point out, characteristic of all types of musical styles and contemporary performing groups.
6. Jam bands can exhibit one particular style or a fusion of different styles. This explains in part why there is such diversity among jam bands.

Each characteristic of a jam band is shared with a jazz group. Jazz itself along with Blues is the original “jam band” music. An early example was jazz saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and his “All Star Jam Band.”In a very real way, the word “jam” is a synonym for extended improvisational jazz.

What often differentiates one “jam band” style from another is the sophistication of the chord progressions, melodies and improvisational excursions used in live shows. Virtuosity of soloists is typical though not essential.

I hope that jam band followers will take a listen to guitar jazz a little closer then they would have in the past – they just might hear the same spirit of freedom that they hear and feel in the jam band.

Ed. Note: Read more posts about improvisation.

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The American jazz pianist Bill Evans is widely considered among the most influential in jazz history. Although he died in 1980, his recordings continue to inspire new generations of musicians.

Bill Evans has always been my favorite jazz musician. Despite the fact that I play guitar, there has always been something about Bill Evans the man and the artist that fascinates me. His harmonic sense was legendary. His ability to swing – unparalleled. But the depth of this jazz artist and how he thought was, to me, his most distinguishing and valuable attribute.

Here are some of my favorite Bill Evans quotes. I find them realistic and inspiring. They have been a source of comfort to me throughout the development of my career.

“In the long run, we must consider that what we do is an art.”

“I hope, through my music, to contribute to creating a better world.”

“Everybody talks about my harmonic conception. I worked very hard at that because I don’t have very good ears.”

“Now in retrospect, I think it was a good thing I didn’t have a great aptitude for mimicry though it made it very difficult for me at the time because I had to work very hard to take things apart. I had to build my whole music style. I’d abstract principles from people I dug, and I’d take their feeling or technique to apply to things the way I’d built them. But because I had to build them so meticulously, I think, worked out better in the end, because it gave me a complete understanding of everything I was doing.” 

“I think some young people want a deeper experience. Some people just wanna be hit over the head and, you know, if then they [get] hit hard enough maybe they’ll feel something. You know? But some people want to get inside of something and discover, maybe, more richness. And I think it will always be the same; they’re not going to be the great percentage of the people. A great percentage of the people don’t want a challenge. They want something to be done to them — they don’t want to participate. But there’ll always be maybe 15% maybe, 15%, that desire something more, and they’ll search it out — and maybe that’s where art is, I think.”

“To the person who uses music as a medium for the expression of ideas, feelings, images, or what have you; anything which facilitates this expression is properly his instrument.”

“Perhaps it is a peculiarity of mine that despite the fact that I am a professional performer, it is true that I have always preferred playing without an audience.”

“My creed for art in general is that it should enrich the soul; it should teach spirituality by showing a person a portion of himself that he would not discover otherwise…a part of yourself you never knew existed.”

“I believe in things that are developed through hard work. I always like people who have developed long and hard, especially through introspection and a lot of dedication. I think what they arrive at is usually a much deeper and more beautiful thing than the person who seems to have that ability and fluidity from the beginning. I say this because it’s a good message to give to young talents who feel as I used to.”

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Buy his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan!

The Gibson L5, which Wes Montgomery played, has since become the model of guitar most associated with jazz.

People sometimes ask me to describe what the jazz guitar style is. Jazz is usually (but not always) played on hollow-body electric guitars; it uses a large repertoire of chords and voicings; numerous scales and arpeggios; octaves; improvisation over complex chord progressions; the “swing” feel in rhythm; the Bossa, the Samba, the Jazz Waltz; rubato ballads. These are some signs of this style.

The following are not used in jazz guitar: power 5 chords; open chords; steady strums; static chord progressions;  bending and vibrato; and distortion.

The jazz guitar style today often blends elements of standard songs from the ’30s and ’40s, with the modal influences of Miles Davis, and the harmonic influences of classical music and the blues.

Obviously, jazz is a wide idiom ranging from the Bebop to the Atonal to the Urban to the Free to the Progressive styles. In today’s internet mentality, with its ultra niche marketing, it seems more important than ever to be able to categorize music.

I believe the jazz guitar style is an art form. Is it a commercial style? Well, that depends on how you define “commercial.” I believe it has a tremendous potential to develop a world-wide audience, so, in that sense, it could be seen as commercial as well.

Improvisation is at the heart and soul of this style of guitar. Improvisation is indeed a very complex art form in jazz. The goal, however, is to allow people to see beyond the complexity and into the beauty of the form. Yes, too often jazz guitarists substitute meaningless flash for substance. Our society is not short on this in many areas.

If you’re curious about jazz guitar, listen to several players to find who and what you like. [Note from LRG: Try Wes Montgomery; Kenny Burrell; Jim Hall; older George Benson; and of course, Chuck Anderson.]

The guitar is the most popular instrument in the world. Its sound appeals to the masses. The jazz guitar, with its unique sound and feel, is well positioned to influence the listening standards of the world!

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Buy his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan!

Jazz is an art form like classical music or dance; it deserves to be seen in a venue where the music, not food and drinks, is the main draw. Illustration: "Jazz" by Ward Jenkins.

Note from LRG: This is a condensed version of a post that first appeared in AllAboutJazz.com.

Traditionally, the smoke filled jazz club seemed part of the “charm” of the venue. I seriously doubt, however, whether that holds the same allure as it once did. I find the club/restaurant jazz scene to be extremely disruptive to the music. There are usually many patrons who are not there to hear the music.

They are there to eat, drink and talk—which is fine for a bar or restaurant but not fine for those who are there to hear the music. Between the talking, the noise from the bar and the general disinterest from too many patrons, the music suffers. And if the music suffers, the musicians suffer, as does the art of jazz itself.

I think you have to decide whether your music is a pure entertainment form or an art form. Not that these two concepts are mutually exclusive—they’re not. But the art of jazz deserves a listening environment in which the audience is there to listen. Yes and to enjoy! Using classical music as a model, it’s hard to imagine Yo Yo Ma competing with the talk, the bar, and the patrons who aren’t there for his music.

One suggestion is to turn to the venues that classical music has always enjoyed. Museums, theaters, arboretums, wineries, homes, parks, etc., for performance opportunities. We need to recognize that jazz is spoken in many dialects and therefore has to be marketed to audiences who appreciate a particular dialect or even multiple dialects. It’s also important that we expose wider audiences to the diversity that jazz has to offer.

Ultimately, it’s important to convey to the public that they don’t have to understand jazz to appreciate it. They only have to listen and decide what they like or don’t like. If you consider your music as art like Bill Evans did, then market it, present it and perform it as art.

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Buy his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan!

Sleep apnea is a serious condition. Left untreated, it can lead to high blood pressure, heart failure, stroke, increased insulin resistance, memory problems, and traffic accidents.

In the mid 1970′s, I formed the Chuck Anderson Trio with Al Stauffer and Ray Deeley. The East Coast jazz group focused primarily on my original writing but also included unique interpretations of jazz classics. We gave concerts and recorded our first critically acclaimed album called “Mirror Within a Mirror.” My reputation as a rising young jazz guitarist was well on its way.

In the early 80′s, the group disbanded as we all pursued different musical directions. I continued working in the industry dividing my time between teaching, writing, researching and playing.

In 1984, I began to develop a problem with sleep apnea. I had never heard of this sleep disorder and didn’t recognize it as such. It went undiagnosed for many years. I assumed that I was tired, very tired - but nothing beyond that. My wife, Coreen was the first to suspect that a serious problem was developing. My oxygen level had dropped seriously low, debilitating my energy and will to perform. Since the oxygen level affected my metabolism, I gained a huge amount of weight further complicating the energy issues. There was barely enough energy to teach, let alone enough to give concerts.

In 2008, I was finally diagnosed with sleep apnea. The test results showed that I had a condition called severe obstructive sleep apnea. Two measurements of the severity of this disorder are the number of times you wake up per hour and the number of times you stop breathing per hour. The report showed that I woke up 108 times per hour and stopped breathing 106 times per hour. I had the answer to my long struggle!

I began sleep therapy immediately using a BiPap breathing machine at night while I slept. For the first time in many, many years, I was actually sleeping through the night.

The next issue was the weight. I modified my diet severely and began to exercise regularly. With the help and support of my wife, I turned the condition totally around, lost 110 pounds and began to feel like the young 24-year-old jazz guitarist who had formed the original Chuck Anderson Trio.

Today, at age 62, I have begun to rebuild my career. My energy and work ethic are at an all time high. The new trio with Eric Schreiber on Bass and Ed Rick on Drums has just released a new CD called “Freefall” on the Dreambox Media label. We are performing in concerts, doing television shows, giving interviews and generally gearing up for a major round of musical activities.

I’m looking forward to making significant contributions to the world community of jazz guitarists while showing that age is no barrier to following your dream!

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Take a look at his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan!

In Aesop's fable, the Tortoise and the Hare, the tortoise wins a race by plodding along while the faster, more confident hare takes a nap.

It’s obvious to everyone that versatility is an advantage. You’re in line for more work and more variety of work. Certainly, versatility is better than limitation. Versatility also allows you to move in and out of areas if you get tired of one. Generally, this is a good thing.

On the flip side of this, there is another issue to consider. Using my career as an example, I was highly reputed in the show side of music and worked in that field for many years. I then got tired of it and went hard in the direction of jazz concerts.

From there, I returned to show playing and studio work. In time, I switched my focus to composing, working in corporate, radio and television advertising. Next was an eight-year period of Neo Classical guitar with concerts, recordings, radio and television appearances.

From that endeavor, I began writing instruction books on music. And through it all, I continued to teach and consult. The only activity that has been constant in my career has been teaching.

So where’s the problem? Recently, I made a hard shift back to jazz concert work. But in my absence, everyone forgot who I was. It’s like starting over. The same is true of all my contacts in each other field.

If you leave a field behind and don’t go back to it, no problem. But all in all, it’s good to have consistent activity in the areas that most interest you.

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Take a look at his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan!

Pianist Ramsey Lewis shared his thoughts on composing and performing at a master class last week at the University of Pennsylvania.

The wonderful thing about playing music is that – as you get older – you often get better. Although playing music is physical, the greatest demands are mental: your patience, endurance, creativity, and emotions are constantly challenged.

At 74, Ramsey Lewis is one of those artists that was not only great way back when, but he keeps getting better. I was fortunate enough to attend a master class/concert last Friday that was given by this living legend. Lewis was an artist in residence for three days at the University of Pennsylvania and gave three free master classes to anyone in the community who wanted to attend. Penn’s Center for Africana Studies organized this incredible event.

Lewis, who has 80 albums, 3 Grammys, and 5 gold records to his credit, shared his thoughts on composition, jazz, classical music, the ‘smooth jazz’ radio format (and why it’s largely disappeared), and why we as listeners or musicians need to open our ears to all forms of music.

If you’re not familiar with Lewis, he is the absolute embodiment of music. Trained in classical music, gospel, and jazz, he has composed for the Joffrey Ballet (to hear clips, go to Lewis’ site  and click “audio” at the bottom); he collaborated with Earth, Wind & Fire on Sun Goddess (now you know who he is!), and hosted the popular Legends of Jazz radio and TV series.

On composing and playing Lewis says: “Don’t close out music. Don’t say this music is ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ Let it influence you. The music that is not you will ‘edit’ itself out [in your own music]. You may not know how much you like a certain type of music until you allow yourself to experience it.”

At one point in the evening, the conversation turned to smooth jazz, always a touchy subject in the jazz world (ie, is it or isn’t it jazz?). In addition to hosting Legends of Jazz, Lewis was also a morning radio host in Chicago (his hometown) for a smooth jazz format. Lewis introduced his audience to a variety of artists, while keeping the ‘smooth’ format intact. But ultimately, ‘Madison Avenue’ took over, says Lewis, and the powers that be decided that ‘smooth jazz’ was not actually music but a ‘lifestyle.’ Music would simply be background as a way to sell certain cars, vacations, and other elements of this marketing-concocted ‘smooth jazz’  lifestyle.

Ramsey warned his bosses that people would quickly become bored with such an obvious marketing-driven ploy. The audience, as expected, did become bored. The smooth jazz format didn’t ultimately work, and it was dropped from numerous stations around the country.

I occasionally listened to Lewis’ ‘smooth jazz’ show when it was syndicated in Philadelphia, and I admired Lewis for his ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’ attitude. He peppered the smooth format with classic jazz that helped the audience learn where some of the music originated. I think it’s safe to say that many people explored jazz more fully after hearing the  smooth, soulful sound of Grover Washington, Jr., in the 1970s.

Lewis’s latest album, Songs from the Heart, consists of all originals. It was funny to hear this master musician and composer tell the audience: “Only recently did I allow the title ‘composer’ to be attached to my name.” Lewis has written perhaps 250 songs, but they were ‘accumulated’ over time, he says; he would write two or three per album, he said, because the labels asked him to.

Now, in his 70s, he is composing music because he wants to. Among his greatest influences, he says, was pianist John Lewis, the former music director of the Modern Jazz Quartet, because Lewis was both a scholar of European classical music and the blues.

Lewis closed the evening playing his “Clouds of Reverie,” a heart-stopping classical piece, for which he got a standing ovation. To hear a portion of the piece, visit Ramsey Lewis’ site and click audio.

All types of jazz have one element in common: improvisation. Illustration by Jon Orque.

I am sometimes asked: What exactly is jazz? How do I know if certain music is jazz or not? 

 Jazz is an American born improvisational form of music. Its characteristics are the sophisticated use of chords and chord progressions; more scales and different types of scales compared to Rock, Blues and Country; the influence of modality; and the use of Latin styles and Blues.

The typical format in a jazz piece is: Intro, Theme – played once or twice (section A is played twice, then section B, and then back to A; or AAB); extended improvisation traded between members of a group; the restatement of the Theme and the Ending.

The improvisation is often based on the chords that support the melody. But there are other ways to structure improvisation – like modality, 12-bar blues format, vamps, and new progressions, etc.

There are many kinds of Jazz – Dixieland, Smooth Jazz, Bebop, Big Band, Progressive, Cool, Avante Garde, etc. Each type has something that differentiates it from the others but they all share the common denominator of improvisation.

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Take a look at his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan!

Facebook is just one way musicians can communicate with their fans.

From LRG: This is a condensed version of a post that first appeared in AllAboutJazz.com. Chuck Anderson interviewed Eric Hebert, CEO of Evolvor Media, about marketing music through – what else – the internet! Chuck hired Eric to re-design his website, and to add various social media tools that Chuck had not previously used. Take a look below at what Eric Hebert advises for Chuck, and for you, too…

Chuck Anderson: Is having a well-designed website enough for a jazz musician?

Eric Hebert: Well, that depends on what you mean by well designed. One of the first missteps that I find musicians taking is worrying about their site’s design —most are only thinking in terms of graphic design. They think their site should be “flashy” and stand out. While having nice graphics is a part of a well designed site, it’s just a portion. A well-designed site should focus on giving the visitor access to as much content as they want to read or check out. It needs to be easy to navigate. It must be search engine friendly. It must provide calls-to-action to entice the casual visitor to sign up to your email list to download a track.

A well-designed site these days is also more than just a billboard for your music. It should be built with WordPress (a content management system) so the artist can easily add content like blog posts and allow the visitor to comment, etc.I wouldn’t say that’s it’s enough for the musician to just have a well designed site, but if used properly, it sure can play a major role in how you market yourself as well as how you plan on generating revenue.

CA: How has the internet changed how music is marketed?

EH: I think in the past, musicians mostly relied on record labels to do their marketing for them. While this still works, it requires a ton of money. The thing the web has done is enabled all of us to build our own communities through things like Facebook, Twitter, and blogging about the experiences of being a musician. This interaction is actually the marketing for your music.

CA: What do musicians not understand about the internet?

EH: I don’t think musicians, or anyone for that matter, really understands marketing or branding—that’s the problem. Building a brand these days is all about building communities or “tribes” and connecting with them by providing them with information. This can easily be done via the web because it’s so easy to set up blogs and social networking tools.

Think about how you found out about me and your perception of my brand. Most find me via Google search about music marketing information. They then learn something by reading my blog content. This content backs up the brand and the services I offer. Then the visitor can connect with me via email or Twitter or what have you, and I then get a new “fan” and possible client.

The same approach can be had for a band or musician. Build your tribe, constantly interact with them in a way that makes them fall in love with your music, and learn how to sell products to them over the web. I think that last point needs to be addressed as well about musicians “not understanding the Internet.” There is a market for selling digital memberships to fans if you can create compelling content that they just need to have.

CA: Explain search optimization.

EH: That’s a tough one to answer quickly without putting you to sleep. Many people think they understand SEO, few actually do. SEO is two things—how your website is constructed and how much attention you get from other websites (and that’s the most important part). You have to make sure that Google can read all the content on your website, and you then have to make sure you get other websites to hyperlink to that content.

CA: What is the role of digital content in today’s music industry?

EH: I think it’s the main format if you’re looking to really interact with your fans. This is of course all outside of making a living as a touring musician, which really should be the number one revenue generator for musicians. However, if you can create really compelling digital content, whether that’s recorded music, behind the scenes videos, training materials, films—all these things can be sold in different formats via the web, and offers you a different business model than the traditional music industry is used to.

CA: Should your website be the hub of all your activities and content?

EH: I think so. If done properly, you can maximize your efforts by making your website the center of everything, and use tools like RSS to syndicate your content to things like MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook, and try to convert those fans into email fans. The email list is your most important asset and you need to create a fan funnel where you bring them in and get them to sign up to that list.

CA: How do you organize your work on behalf of the client?

EH: Another big part of working on the web is just knowing how to organize yourself and use tools to make communicating easier, especially when the client is 1,000 miles away in a different country. I think using project management tools like Basecamp is really important—I get to have all my project files and correspondence with the client stored in a nice location on the web that I can access at any time.

The other really useful tool is Gmail. I love it when a client I have uses Gmail, can access Gchat, and share documents using Google docs. All this is so much easier for collaboration then the old “send me the file” routine. And the new Google Wave product is sure to make this process that much better for real-time collaboration on documents.

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Take a look at his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan!

Comping never uses a consistent, regular rhythm, but is made up of syncopated, varied beats.

I was recently asked to define the term “comping.” If you listen to or play jazz, you are likely familiar with this term; it is short for accompaniment. So, a guitar or piano player can “comp” any song in any style by providing accompaniment.

In the commonly accepted use of the word “comping,” it is generally understood to mean a jazz accompaniment style on piano or guitar. Its characteristics are a syncopated, irregular rhythm pattern while executing chords. It is not a steady strum and is usually characterized by short choppy strikes contrasted by sustains. Down beat and up beat attacks are constantly varied.

The swing style of jazz most often uses a comping style. Typical rhythms used in comping patterns can be heard in the snare hand of a jazz drummer and in the stabbing syncopations of a horn section in a jazz band.

Virtually all jazz guitarists and jazz pianists are skilled at comping. If you want to familiarize yourself with comping on the guitar, my new CD “Freefall” has examples of comping during during bass solos.