The following is a list of notable jam bands, or bands on the jam-band circuit. Jam band performances often feature extended musical improvisation ("jams") over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns, and long sets of music that cross genre boundaries. [1]
Skerik, is an American saxophonist from Seattle, Washington. Performing on the tenor and baritone saxophone, often with electronics and loops, he is a pioneer in a playing style that has been called saxophonics.
FloydFest is a Music and arts festival held annually near Floyd, Virginia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains
The Jammy Award is an awards show for bands - referred to as jam bands - and other artists associated with live, improvisational music, created by Dean Budnick and Peter Shapiro. The Jammys are sponsored by Relix magazine, Jambands.com, and Shapiro. The Jammy Awards returned in 2008 to the WAMU Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City after taking a one-year break.
The Clifford Brown Jazz Festival is a free jazz music festival held annually in June at Rodney Square in Wilmington, Delaware, USA. The first festival was held in 1989 on the open lawn in the center of the city, and has grown into the largest free jazz festival on the East Coast. The event is held to keep alive the memory of Clifford Brown who died in a traffic accident in 1956 along with pianist Richie Powell. Pieces written by Brown and tribute pieces are often played. Some acts have been staged at the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, where a fee was charged.
Joseph Dwight Newman was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and educator, best known as a musician who worked with Count Basie during two periods.
Gathering of the Vibes was an annual four-day music, camping and arts festival that celebrated the Grateful Dead and showcased a diverse variety of music. Over the course of the event, styles would often include funk, bluegrass, rock, jam band, jazz, reggae, R&B and folk music. Beginning in 1996, GOTV brought many bands to the New England area during the summer season. There existed two main stages which would alternate bands so that festival-goers could experience music all day and into the night. A short stroll down the beach was the "Green Vibes Stage", which showcased some of the Northeast's finest talent.
Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival was a four-day music festival held annually in early June from 2004 to 2015 at Mulberry Mountain near Ozark, Arkansas. Named for the Wakarusa River, the festival was first held at Clinton State Park immediately outside of Lawrence, Kansas. It moved to its new location, just outside Fort Smith and Fayetteville, Arkansas in 2009. The festival is known for an eclectic mix of music and has featured artists like Grammy award winners the Black Keys, The Flaming Lips, Wilco, and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Activities other than music included disc golf, yoga, hiking, and swimming in the Mulberry River.
Ernest Andrew Royal was a jazz trumpeter. His older brother was clarinetist and alto saxophonist Marshal Royal, with whom he appears on the classic Ray Charles big band recording The Genius of Ray Charles (1959).
Edward Joseph Bertolatus, also known as Eddie Bert, was an American jazz trombonist.
Matthew Gee was an American bebop trombonist.
Mountain Jam was an annual music festival held in upstate New York that began in 2005. It grew to become the largest rock music and camping festival in New York. The festival was held at Hunter Mountain ski resort for fourteen years, usually in early June. In February 2019, organizers for the Festival announced that the festival was moving to the location of the original Woodstock festival, the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.
The Summer Camp Music Festival is a multi-day music festival created by Jay Goldberg Events & Entertainment and held annually on Memorial Day Weekend at Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe, Illinois. The event typically attracts around 20,000 visitors, of which between 8,000 and 10,000 arrive before gates open. In 2014, it was listed as one of the top 40 music festivals in Rolling Stone and in 2015 on Rolling Stone's 50 Must-See Music Festivals.
Electric Forest is a multi-genre music festival produced by Madison House Presents and Insomniac Events with a focus on electronic music and jam band genres.
The 2006 festival ran from June 15–18. The headliners for the 2006 festival included Radiohead, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Beck, and Phil Lesh and Friends. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band was featured in their own tent for three days and nights. The festival reportedly sold over 80,000 tickets. Radiohead's Ed O'Brien has described the band's headlining set as one of their best performances.
In the inaugural year, the Bonnaroo Music Festival was held June 21–23. The more than 70,000 tickets sold out in advance.
The sixth Langerado Festival was held March 6, 2008 through March 9, 2008, making it one day longer than the previous year. The festival took place on the Big Cypress Indian Reservation, thirty miles west of Ft. Lauderdale and featured on-site camping.
A jam band is a musical group whose concerts and live albums substantially feature improvisational "jamming." Typically, jam bands will play variations of pre-existing songs, extending them to improvise over chord patterns or rhythmic grooves. Jam bands are known for having a very fluid structure, playing long sets of music which often cross genre boundaries, varying their nightly setlists, and segueing from one song into another without a break.
The North Coast Music Festival is held annually in Chicago on Labor Day weekend. Initially featuring a diverse mix of electronic, hip hop, folk, jam band, and rock acts, and a wide variety of performance and installation artists, North Coast evolved to host primarily features EDM acts. Up through 2018, the festival was held at Union Park. In 2019, it was held at Huntington Bank Pavilion in Northerly Island. In 2020, the festival did not take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The festival has been held at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois since 2021.
Lockn' Festival, first known as Interlocken Music Festival, was an annual four-day music festival held at Oak Ridge Farm near Arrington in Nelson County, Virginia. The festival focused primarily on jam bands and other music improvisation acts. Its inaugural event took place September 5–8, 2013, drew nearly 25,000 fans and featured notable groups such as Furthur, Trey Anastasio Band, Gov't Mule, Widespread Panic featuring John Fogerty, The String Cheese Incident featuring Zac Brown, and The Black Crowes.
The Peach Music Festival is a music festival started by the Allman Brothers Band and Live Nation Entertainment that has been held annually since 2012 at the Pavilion at Montage Mountain and Montage Mountain Ski Resort in Scranton, Pennsylvania. One exception was in 2020.