As I prepare to enjoy JoeZ’s hospitality for a mid-week basement jam, I hope that “no songs” is the order of the day.  There’s a good chance this will be the case, as I know very few songs to begin with, and even fewer that JZT knows in common.  If we make a more regular thing out of this, then some composing will certainly be in order, even if just for drum-guitar or drum- bass duets.

I think there’s a lot of trepidation in jumping into an open-ended jam.  Now, I have played with Joe a handful of times, so I have some idea, some preconception about what musical approaches will work better than others.  Similarly, he already knows about how much space to give me.  But, even with that (vague) foreknowledge, I still do no know what to expect.  I think a “basement jam” should embrace the unknown.  Players should seek to destabilize each other, at least a little, in order to avoid monotony.  At the same time, there ought to be moments when the player can forget himself or herself and get lost in the emotion of VERY basic music.  The balance of these two concrete approaches/directives should make for a very enjoyable evening, and perhaps music worth revisiting, outside the ecstasies and confusion of ‘the moment.’