Gov't Mule, Xavier, YMSB, New Monsoon, dTb? Shit. I can't pick. They're all too damn good in their own ways. Fuck. This is like the most difficult poll ever, man. I'd have to say the Allman Brothers Band, because it would include the side bands and bands that have formed and shaped moreso because of them. Of course, the Grateful Dead is the same way. But I like the Allmans because they have more blues in their music, but then sometimes I like the GD more. Hell, Warren does those little rhythmic triplets as well as Jerry did, sometimes. I saw the allmans do Franklin's Tower 7/15, with Al, this year. That was fucking awesome... it was actually WDLGTBSS>Franklin's Tower... and Al came out. Oteil was on vocals... (He reminds me of Trey, only he can sing better and he's a lot less egotistical and more spiritual). But, I like the Allmans because you also have Oteil & The Peacemakers, Gov't Mule, Derek Trucks Band, Gregg & Friends (Robben Ford is damn good too), Warren Haynes as a solo artist, Frog Wings, Jaimoe's Jassss Band, Dickey Betts & Great Southern... I don't even know what to say about Keller. He's probably the most interesting/unique... as an artist and a person. I love his playing. I actually like it better than Michael Hedges.
My favorite is phish. I never really could get into the grateful dead. I feel all there jams kinda were the same and most of the time they were trippin to hard to play anything tight enough to be anything else besides those spacey james they always did.
Yeah, I like phish alot more than the dead... but as for the crowd, I think the dead crowd seems more family-like... plus you didn't have all the DMB types.
you have no idea what your talking about...have you ever even heard live dead?? the dead were rarely too fucked up to play.....the only confirmed time was at the acid tests, but everyone was fucked up beyond belief.....the dead were strict about making there shows an icon for all other live performers.....the Dead have set the bar for good live music....go listen to 5.8.77 Cornell university show, that will show just how tight andp erfect the dead can be live....
in addition to 5 8 77, listen to the 5 19 66, 4 15 70, and 5 1 70 sohws. you can find em all on archive.org. for cliched sterotypes sake... keep on truckin'
Hell yeah...but I remember a couple years ago the archive let you hit speeds as fast as you could handle them...that was heaven.
when one ponders the query 'who is the best jam band', they are (naturally) going to list their favorite as a response... so we have here a collection of eceryones favorite jam bands... bassist reid is a smart man/boy
Im a slave to The Dead. Theres just something about them.. I cant really put my finger on it. My second place is tied between ABB and Phish.
Led Zeppelin isn't a jam band. And, 15 minutes isn't extremely long...moe. and the allmans and those guys kick it out for 30 minutes alot of the time
scents, I kind of disagree. A band that can launch into freeform and keep it going for at least 20 minutes and as long as a set and do it well (as you said) is what jam genre is about. Heck that's what improv in general is about. Lunar Fire, a local band's project (oust the usual singer for the night, add a bilingual female freestyler) has NO songs per se. Some nights, they don't have much more than a key to start in. but they roll like a freight train! Jacob Fred Jazz odessey is a trio that tears it up and their "song" (point of departure really) is often only a few measures long going up and a few coming down. THe rest of teh night is out there wide open jam.
in your opinion, of course. the vocals for umphrey's are extremely annoying...they need to work on that.
