I left the apartment this evening on my way to a folk jam session, and came back with $10.65. Tell me more, you might ask...
So much of my time in these early days (maybe weeks, months, or years) of my time trying to make it as a professional musician in Chicago has been spent perusing online lists of music venues and more specifically: when the jam sessions are. For those of you not as into the whole jazz or music culture, most jazz clubs and many music venues have a specific time or two during the week or month when musicians are encouraged to bring their instruments and jam with strangers. Sometimes this is with a house band where people come up one at a time, and sometimes it's just a loose jam with everyone and anyone playing all together (less common).
The jam I was headed to tonight was at the Old Town School of Folk Music, a well-known institution that offers lots of classes on folk music, dancing, and you name it. I noticed on their website that on Thursdays they have a "Folk, Rock, and Roots Jam." This sounded intriguing to me, as I love to break out of the typical jazz mold whenever I can, and maybe I could meet some cool electric guitarists, bass players, drummers, etc. After all, it does have the word "Rock" in the name of the jam. I knew a saxophone player might not be the most common person to show up, but I could fit in. Hmmm... Famous last words...
So I bike about a mile to one of the campus buildings and ask someone where the jam is and ask if it's cool for a sax player to show up. They point me in a direction and add, "I've never seen a sax player at the jam, but that's cool." Uh-oh. That's code for me that this is probably not an actual "Rock" jam, but a bunch of acoustic guitars and fiddles.
But I was wrong. It was ALL acoustic guitars (plus one fiddle and one auto-harp). Hmmm, again....
Now if I was living my normal life, I definitely would have turned right around and biked back home, but I'm in Chicago, the "City of Dreams" (ok, I just made up that name). I've decided from the get-go, that I'm going to take risks and try new things! I can't back down yet! Yes We Can!!!
So I quietly sit in the corner and listen until...
Two African-American guys with congas show up... at a folk guitar jam... Hooray! It's not just me that was confused about this jam!
So after a minute or two, one of the guys sees my sax case, sits by me, leans over and says, "Forget this stuff. Let's get the heck out of here and play out on the street." (Note: I've slightly edited some of the original vocabulary)
My thought process: Uh, I don't know you. Where would we play? We don't have busking licenses. What would we play? Wait, hold on Derek. You said you were going to take chances.
"Ok, let's do it. Why not?" So we head outside, set up our congas and sax, and proceed to do our own jam on the sidewalk for the next hour and a half. It was actually a lot of fun, and I'm really glad we did it. In fact we're going to meet up again on Saturday to do it again, maybe at a busier street.
So I barely know the guy (and his brother), but maybe we've got a little thing happening here. Or maybe not. But hey, I'll try anything at least once...
So much of my time in these early days (maybe weeks, months, or years) of my time trying to make it as a professional musician in Chicago has been spent perusing online lists of music venues and more specifically: when the jam sessions are. For those of you not as into the whole jazz or music culture, most jazz clubs and many music venues have a specific time or two during the week or month when musicians are encouraged to bring their instruments and jam with strangers. Sometimes this is with a house band where people come up one at a time, and sometimes it's just a loose jam with everyone and anyone playing all together (less common).
The jam I was headed to tonight was at the Old Town School of Folk Music, a well-known institution that offers lots of classes on folk music, dancing, and you name it. I noticed on their website that on Thursdays they have a "Folk, Rock, and Roots Jam." This sounded intriguing to me, as I love to break out of the typical jazz mold whenever I can, and maybe I could meet some cool electric guitarists, bass players, drummers, etc. After all, it does have the word "Rock" in the name of the jam. I knew a saxophone player might not be the most common person to show up, but I could fit in. Hmmm... Famous last words...
So I bike about a mile to one of the campus buildings and ask someone where the jam is and ask if it's cool for a sax player to show up. They point me in a direction and add, "I've never seen a sax player at the jam, but that's cool." Uh-oh. That's code for me that this is probably not an actual "Rock" jam, but a bunch of acoustic guitars and fiddles.
But I was wrong. It was ALL acoustic guitars (plus one fiddle and one auto-harp). Hmmm, again....
Now if I was living my normal life, I definitely would have turned right around and biked back home, but I'm in Chicago, the "City of Dreams" (ok, I just made up that name). I've decided from the get-go, that I'm going to take risks and try new things! I can't back down yet! Yes We Can!!!
So I quietly sit in the corner and listen until...
Two African-American guys with congas show up... at a folk guitar jam... Hooray! It's not just me that was confused about this jam!
So after a minute or two, one of the guys sees my sax case, sits by me, leans over and says, "Forget this stuff. Let's get the heck out of here and play out on the street." (Note: I've slightly edited some of the original vocabulary)
My thought process: Uh, I don't know you. Where would we play? We don't have busking licenses. What would we play? Wait, hold on Derek. You said you were going to take chances.
"Ok, let's do it. Why not?" So we head outside, set up our congas and sax, and proceed to do our own jam on the sidewalk for the next hour and a half. It was actually a lot of fun, and I'm really glad we did it. In fact we're going to meet up again on Saturday to do it again, maybe at a busier street.
So I barely know the guy (and his brother), but maybe we've got a little thing happening here. Or maybe not. But hey, I'll try anything at least once...