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DOI :10.26650/CONS2025-1635460   IUP :10.26650/CONS2025-1635460    Full Text (PDF)

“The Jazz Gathering Where Improvised Performance is Practiced”: Historical and Theoretical Approaches to the Jam Session

Selim Tan

This paper examines the jam session as a performance model through historical and theoretical perspectives. The paper defines a jam session as a group music practice rooted in jazz and centered on improvisation, shaped by informal conventions, in which the house band allows guest musicians to participate. It also emphasizes that status differences among musicians are essential in jam sessions and that musicians may engage in a form of competition to attain rewards such as “learning,” “reputation,” and “promotion.” Accordingly, the historical section, which focuses on jazz, addresses the origins of jam sessions extending to cutting sessions, key development centers such as Kansas City, Missouri, and New York, and attempts to adapt jam sessions to concert and recording contexts. The theoretical section explores jam sessions through various lenses, including contextual parameters, habitus, participatory-presentational performance, and ritual. The first objective of this paper is to highlight the unique significance of jam sessions, often understated in jazz history narratives. Its second objective is to demonstrate the potential of ethnographic methodology in analyzing improvisation practices, frequently neglected by musicology due to its tendency to prioritize completed musical works. Finally, this paper aims to contribute to studying jam sessions, which have a limited place in Turkish literature. It also offers practical approaches to understanding musician interactions in other music genres, whether or not they involve improvisation, beyond the context of jam sessions.

Keywords: Jam session, improvisation, jazz
DOI :10.26650/CONS2025-1635460   IUP :10.26650/CONS2025-1635460    Full Text (PDF)

“İrticalî İcranın Tatbik Edildiği Caz Toplantısı”: Jam Session’a Tarihsel ve Teorik Yaklaşımlar

Selim Tan

Bu çalışma, bir performans modeli olarak jam session’ı tarihsel ve teorik boyutlarıyla incelemektedir. Çalışmada jam session, bir ev sahibi grubun konuk müzisyenlerin katılımına izin vererek informel uzlaşımlarla şekillenen, caz kökenli doğaçlama odaklı bir grup müzik pratiği olarak tanımlanır. Ayrıca jam session’larda müzisyenler arası statü farklılıklarının önemli olduğu ve müzisyenlerin “öğrenme”, “itibar”, “tanıtım” gibi ödüllere ulaşabilmek niyetiyle bir tür çekişme içinde yer alabildiği vurgulanır. Bu doğrultuda caza odaklanan tarihsel bölümde jam session’ların cutting session’lara uzanan geçmişi; Kansas City, Missouri, New York gibi gelişim merkezleri ve konser-kayıt ortamlarına taşınma girişimleri üzerinde durulur. Teorik bölümde ise jam session’ın bağlamsal parametreler, habitus, katılımcısunumsal performans, ritüel gibi birçok yaklaşım üzerinden nasıl yorumlanabileceği ele alınır. Bu çalışmanın ilk amacı, caz tarihi anlatılarında yeteri denli vurgulanmayan jam session’ın hususi önemini göstermektir. İkinci amacı ise müzikolojinin daha çok tamamlanmış eserlere yönelme eğiliminden dolayı gözden kaçırdığı doğaçlama pratiklerinde etnografik metodolojinin imkânlarına değinmektir. Son olarak Türkçe literatürde son derece sınırlı bir yere sahip jam session konusuna katkı sunulması hedeflenmektedir. Çalışmanın, jam session’ın dışında doğaçlama içeren veya içermeyen müzik türlerinde müzisyenler arası etkileşimi çözümlemede etkili yaklaşımlar sunabileceği de değerlendirilmektedir.

Keywords: Jam session, doğaçlama, caz

EXTENDED ABSTRACT


A jam session is a performance model based on group improvisation rooted in jazz. However, despite their significant role in jazz, jam sessions occupy a relatively limited space within jazz studies. Throughout jazz’s historical journey —from Storyville to concert halls, from party music to an art form, and from informality to university curricula—jam sessions have consistently remained at the core of innovation and creativity (Herzig & Baker, 2014). The first objective of this paper is to examine jam sessions from historical and theoretical perspectives and highlight their significance within jazz. In this context, the paper relies on literature from jazz studies, sociology, and (ethno)musicology. The second objective is to emphasize the importance of ethnography, the foundational methodology of ethnomusicology, in studying jam sessions. This focus arises from the dominance of the Adlerian/positivist/formalist approach in musicology (Kerman, 1985), which primarily centered on completed musical works, neglecting improvisational music. However, as Rice (2014) points out, ethnomusicology approaches music as a process aiming to understand human interactions and behaviors through ethnographic methodology. The final objective is to contribute to the limited Turkish-language literature on jam sessions. Additionally, this paper suggests that beyond jam sessions, the findings can provide valuable insights for analyzing musician interactions across various musical genres, whether or not they involve improvisation.

The section “‘Roots and Development’: Historical Dimension” first discusses the cutting session, a performance model that differs from the jam session by placing competition at its core. Dating back to the early 1900s in New Orleans, cutting sessions occurred at inter-group and individual levels, characterized by marching bands and solo pianists. The elements of competition and rewards (“learning,” “financial gain,” and “self-promotion”) found in cutting sessions have also endured within jam sessions. While jam sessions in the 1920s were often seen as after-hours gatherings for jazz musicians in major United States cities, those that had a lasting impact on jazz history emerged during the bebop era of the 1940s, particularly in Kansas City, Missouri, and New York. In this highly competitive period, leading musicians implemented measures and strategies to prevent  inexperienced performers from disrupting the overall quality of performances. Although jam sessions originated in jazz clubs, efforts were made to adapt them into concert and recording contexts. However, the commercialization of jam sessions raised concerns about authenticity, as some argued that adapting them for concerts and recordings compromised their original essence. Despite their decline in significance after 1950, a survey conducted by Herzig and Baker (2014) among jazz musicians in the United States indicates that jam sessions have retained their importance, even if not exclusively within jazz clubs (e.g., in rehearsal spaces and private homes).

The section “‘Sociomusical Construction’: Theoretical Dimension” explores how jam sessions, as a process, are socially and musically constructed through various conceptual frameworks. An early study on jam sessions by Cameron (1954) suggests that jam sessions function as structured oral traditions rather than entirely unarranged and sponta neous. Gooley (2011) describes the coordination of individual and collective expression, the relaxation of dogmatic constraints, the need to listen to others, and the impulse to respond within jam sessions as resembling the ideal communicative economy of a democratic society. Adopting a symbolic interactionist perspective, Dempsey (2008) examines how musicians’ performances and backgrounds shape contextual parameters (e.g., age/education, status, stylistic preferences) that influence jam sessions. Tan (2021), using Bourdieu’s concepts of capital, habitus, and field, investigates power dynamics among musicians in jam sessions. Pedro (2014), based on Turino (2008), describes jam sessions as a blend of participatory and presentational performances, framing them within a music scene as a space for sharing musical experiences and enabling social interaction. Similarly, Pinheiro (2013) and Lebert (2019) analyze jam sessions as rituals, focusing on structured activities involving gestures, words, and objects.

In conclusion, this paper synthesizes the historical and theoretical discussions to provide a comprehensive, liter ature-based definition of the jam session. The jam session is a group, improvisation-centered performance model rooted in jazz, in which a house band allows guest musicians to participate in a musical practice within a specific time and space. This practice unfolds through informal musical and non-musical conventions, which guest musicians are expected to follow. Thus, musicians engage in the form of competition to attain rewards such as “learning,” “reputation,” and “self-promotion.” Following this definition, the paper highlights the central role of ethnographic methodology—such as observation, participant observation, and interviews—in grasping the structure and dynamics of jam sessions.


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Tan, S. (2019). “The Jazz Gathering Where Improvised Performance is Practiced”: Historical and Theoretical Approaches to the Jam Session. Conservatorium, 0(0), -. https://doi.org/10.26650/CONS2025-1635460


AMA

Tan S. “The Jazz Gathering Where Improvised Performance is Practiced”: Historical and Theoretical Approaches to the Jam Session. Conservatorium. 2019;0(0):-. https://doi.org/10.26650/CONS2025-1635460


ABNT

Tan, S. “The Jazz Gathering Where Improvised Performance is Practiced”: Historical and Theoretical Approaches to the Jam Session. Conservatorium, [Publisher Location], v. 0, n. 0, p. -, 2019.


Chicago: Author-Date Style

Tan, Selim,. 2019. ““The Jazz Gathering Where Improvised Performance is Practiced”: Historical and Theoretical Approaches to the Jam Session.” Conservatorium 0, no. 0: -. https://doi.org/10.26650/CONS2025-1635460


Chicago: Humanities Style

Tan, Selim,. ““The Jazz Gathering Where Improvised Performance is Practiced”: Historical and Theoretical Approaches to the Jam Session.” Conservatorium 0, no. 0 (Apr. 2025): -. https://doi.org/10.26650/CONS2025-1635460


Harvard: Australian Style

Tan, S 2019, '“The Jazz Gathering Where Improvised Performance is Practiced”: Historical and Theoretical Approaches to the Jam Session', Conservatorium, vol. 0, no. 0, pp. -, viewed 30 Apr. 2025, https://doi.org/10.26650/CONS2025-1635460


Harvard: Author-Date Style

Tan, S. (2019) ‘“The Jazz Gathering Where Improvised Performance is Practiced”: Historical and Theoretical Approaches to the Jam Session’, Conservatorium, 0(0), pp. -. https://doi.org/10.26650/CONS2025-1635460 (30 Apr. 2025).


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Tan, Selim,. ““The Jazz Gathering Where Improvised Performance is Practiced”: Historical and Theoretical Approaches to the Jam Session.” Conservatorium, vol. 0, no. 0, 2019, pp. -. [Database Container], https://doi.org/10.26650/CONS2025-1635460


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Tan S. “The Jazz Gathering Where Improvised Performance is Practiced”: Historical and Theoretical Approaches to the Jam Session. Conservatorium [Internet]. 30 Apr. 2025 [cited 30 Apr. 2025];0(0):-. Available from: https://doi.org/10.26650/CONS2025-1635460 doi: 10.26650/CONS2025-1635460


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Tan, Selim. ““The Jazz Gathering Where Improvised Performance is Practiced”: Historical and Theoretical Approaches to the Jam Session”. Conservatorium 0/0 (Apr. 2025): -. https://doi.org/10.26650/CONS2025-1635460



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Submitted07.02.2025
Accepted10.04.2025
Published Online25.04.2025

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