How would you like the chance to have ...

          - A private jazz jam with a full band of like-minded people and no audience?
          - A limited number of musicians to enable you to have more playing times?
          - A small number of tunes to work on enabling proper group feedback and
            opportunity to play the material a number of times?

          - Occasional professional support and feedback?

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Marlow Jazz Club runs a regular Jazz Jam Session open to all levels of musician, and aimed at those who would like to practice and improve their jazz improvisational skills with other like-minded musicians, in a friendly and relaxed environment and without an audience.

Who’s it for?
The sessions are primarily aimed at beginners with some experience, and up to intermediate players, to learn and build up a repertoire of jazz standards. Ideally you would have practised following the forms (chord progressions) of jazz tunes, maybe on your own at home, and would like to build up your playing experience and practice performing with other musicians.

How does it work?
A number of jazz tunes or “standards” are selected in advance, before each session, to allow participants to familiarise themselves with the music before attending. This makes the whole experience a lot less daunting than just turning up at “open jam sessions” where often songs are picked ad-hoc on the night.

We aim to limit the numbers to around 10 musicians in order to keep the group to a manageable size and allow plenty of playing by everyone. There is a £10 fee to attend, which we ask to be paid in advance. This covers the cost of room hire, administration and professional tuition which we will bring in from time to time.

We aim to put together a group something like this:

          1 x drums
          1 x bass
          1 x keyboards
          2 x guitar 
          5 x frontline instruments (e.g. saxophone, trumpet, trombone, violin etc.)

The sessions involve spending about 30mins on each tune, aiming for four tunes each session. The structure and chord progression of each tune generally follows the iReal Pro App format. 

 

A link to a folder with the sheet music will be available for each session containing the lead sheets for concert pitch, Bb and Eb instruments.
 

We are planning on occasion to invite a professional jazz musician/ tutor to attend some of our sessions in the future. Watch this space!

 

 

When and where is it?
We'll be holding each session generally on the first Tuesday of every month at West Star Rehearsal Studios in High Wycombe, to run between 7pm and 10pm. This provides about 2.5 hours of playing with a half-hour break in the middle. Occasionally the day may change due to studio and/or other availability - please see below for the date of the next session.

 

How do I prepare?
Ideally you would have practised following the forms (chord progressions) of jazz tunes, maybe on your own at home, using “Real Books” or the iReal Pro App.

Look at the tunes published for the jam session you are attending and practice playing the head (especially if you are a lead instrument) and improvising over a number of choruses. Keep it simple if you are new to improvising and don’t worry about making mistakes at the session! 

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Bass players should ideally be able to play a walking bass line on swing tunes and simple bossa lines for bossa novas.

Playing the head is generally the responsibility of the frontline instruments or horn players (eg, saxophone, trumpet, trombone) and can often be shared between these players, depending on what suits the tune best. This sort of thing can be discussed and experimented with at the sessions.

Equipment
The rehearsal studio has a drum kit, PA system, bass amp+cab, guitar amp+cab.

Drummers needs to bring their own cymbals and snare drum, or can hire these from the studio for £5.

Keyboard players need to bring their own keyboard and stand (and audio leads).

Other players bring their own preferred instrument(s).

Location

The sessions are held at West Star Rehearsal Studios, 461 London Road, Unit 20, High Wycombe, HP11 1EL. Soft drinks and snacks are available to buy as well.

 

Sessions are held on the first Tuesday of each month 7.00 - 10.00pm

Tunes will sent to particpants ahead of the session.​

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To find out more details about the next session, including the date, song choices and how to book/ pay for your place, please contact Andy at mjcjazzjam@gmail.com 

 

 

Cancellation Policy

Sessions are arranged to have a particular mix of instruments, so if you cannot make it to a session then please email Andy as soon as you can so we can arrange or allow for another player to sign up. Refunds are not available, but if you can provide at least a week’s notice then it may be possible, depending on demand, to carry over the fee to a future session.