If You Could Jam With ANY Musician (Living or Dead) Who Would It Be?

[hubcapsc]

... and the other people I used to jam with before cooties
took over the world...

[memphis1]

Originally Posted by min7b5

Amy Winehouse, and there's no close second. I'd give anything to make a duo album of funky bluesy jazz tune for just voice and acoustic guitar. To me she was a true monster talent, right up there with any musical legend. And like so many, taken way too soon.

And I would LOVE to have heard that album! The thought of you two together is mind-blowing. We’re so blessed to have the amazing catalog of fine music through the ages and across the many cultures....but conversations like these do make me wonder what we could’ve heard, but never will based on life’s many turns.

[raysachs]

I'd have to say Peter Green and/or BB King. That spare, no extra notes but digging every bit of emotion and feeling out of each phrase, sort of blues is what I do best and what I aspire to do better.

Closer to earth, there was a guy I used to jam with a lot when I lived in Telluride in the early 80's - I remember his first name but no memory of his last name, if I even knew it at the time. He was a much better player than I was or am (he had an extensive repertoire of Jorma-style fingerpicking pieces down), but we had great chemistry when we played together. We jammed a lot and I was in a couple of short term bands with him, just sort of pulled together for specific events. And I sat in with a band he was in from time to time. I was only in Telluride for a couple of years - I have no idea how long he stayed around there, could still be there for all I know. Those were my transient years in my early 20's, just before I met the woman I've been with ever since and settled down. I quickly lost touch with everyone I knew from there. But if that guy's still playing somewhere, I'd love to get together with him for a couple more jam sessions.

-Ray

[Mdinterman]

Pete Huttlinger. Great player, better person.

[folkmusikfan]

Glen Campbell would be one choice for me. An amazing guitarist in so many ways. Watched him recently on reruns of the Johnny Cash show. Guy Clark would be right up there also.

[Social Exodus]

For me, and this may seem an odd choice, I'd love to sit down and play, talk and enjoy a great German beer with Ritchie Blackmore.

His collaboration with his wife Candace Night in Blackmore's Night these last 20+ years flies largely under the radar, but his playing of acoustic instruments (many of them period styled instruments from the Renaissance era) is simply astounding. My wife and I have seen them twice now and their shoes are always great.

And then there is his work with Deep Purple and (especially) Rainbow which is a while other Keele of cool.

Yep, I'd easily choose Ritchie.


https://youtu.be/frv93sVjn1U

[KevWind]

Darrel Scott

[Bob Womack]

There are so many. But for a fun night it was probably be Joe Walsh. It would be even greater if he brought along drummer Joe Vitale and bassist Kenny Passerelli.

Bob

[fenderball]

Duane Allman....with Jerry Garcia...the three of us playing acoustic guitars together

[Dronfield]

Originally Posted by Rockysdad

Mark Knopfler would be my choice along with David Gilmor, and just absorb whatever I could from them.

Agree 100% - i'd also add, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Ry Cooder. All great musicians.

[Scott of the Sa]

Tommy Emmanuel

[TheJackal]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

I have had the opportunity to play/jam with some significant names.

I spent one beery night playing guitar and dobro seated next to a modest chap with short hair playing an old Gibson F5 mandolin. We played, I sung a bit, banjo players all over probably about ten of us coming and going.

It was a blue grass summer school, and we met and studied with a lot of greats there.

Later I asked who that mandolin player was - I was told it was John Paul Jones.
somewhere I've got a poor recording of me singing one of my originals backed by Darrell Scott.

My singer-songwriter hero is the late great Guy Clark. Apparently, he was known to invite young singer-songwriters over to his modest house in East Nashville, and ask them to sing some of their own songs then - "what else you got?" looking for incomplete ideas they had.

Then he'd work with them to finish one or more of the visitors pieces and one or two of his own songs with them, and then record it part crediting the new chap, and help get them into "the business".

He did that with Shawn Camp.

I'd love that opportunity although the cigarette smoke would make me very ill.

Andy, I had the privilege of catching Guy doing a house concert in Mount Pleasant, TX (I saw him several other times as well.) After the house concert a handful of people, myself included, hung around the porch and a few of us ended sitting around a table. I was next to Guy. I didn't have a guitar with me but when I mentioned that my band played a bluesy version of Folsom Prison Blues, he said he'd like to hear that as he handed me his Heiden guitar. I fumbled through a rough version of it and handed his guitar back to him. As I recall, he offered no comment, good or bad. Having been around him a few other times, I took that as a positive outcome. He was never one to mince words when something struck him as bad.

You mentioned Darrell Scott. I was fortunate to do a songwriting session with him in Colorado. At the time, I was only aware of him as having toured with Guy Clark and for having written the Dixie Chick's hit, Long Time Gone. I asked him, "aside from the obvious money chi-ching, what did you think when you first heard their version of your song."
His response was about what I expected, "I was driving in my truck with my son and the song came on the radio. I was happy that they captured the sense of the song as I wrote it." After that experience, I realized what an incredible talent Darrell is as a player, writer, performer. He is as good as I've heard.

[Woolbury]

Clapton, acoustic. Just doing some straight ahead blues shuffle like Ramblin or Before you accuse me would be so awesome. Maybe I could show him a few licks...

[FrankHudson]

Given time and your indulgence I could easily get into the hundreds of answers, and I can't weigh them against each other to choose. Part of the difficulty is that there are different criteria to consider.

One is historical/biographical interest. I loved the "King David" answer upthread. I wouldn't care if he was actually a hack on harp*, and I'm no master of any instrument I play, folks show parts of their personality and soul when they play, even at lower levels.

For historical interest there's so many musicians. Charlie Patton or Robert Johnson. Memphis Minnie. My rhythm chops aren't up to comp for Buddy Bolden alas. Charles Ives. John Dowland. Don't get me started.

Then there's practical reasons, like the Buddy Bolden one above, and the same for Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, or John Coltrane. In those cases I'd have to comp at a decent level. I spent about 90 minutes with Zappa in a hotel room once.** Changed my life. He and I share certain musical concepts, but I don't think he was a strong chord man and I'm weak there too, though maybe I could get a one or two chord vamp going (the sort of thing he loved to play over, as do I). Playing in one of his bands with him, sure, that'd be a dream even if I'm not a strong player. But the two of us, might not have enough structure to get much going.

In the end I'm going to go historical today. My current project involves creating music largely for other people's words. Emily Dickinson played parlor piano at a level others enjoyed. 8th Century Chinese poetic master Li Bai (Li Po is another western spelling) composed and played. Carl Sandburg of course was a guitarist (took a lesson from Segovia I've read) and had an important part of creating an American folk music canon. Now I've set several of each of those poets works with music, so I want to hear what they thought or would improve about that.

Weird choice, but there's mine. Or three of them.





*"OK, which one of you wants to tell the king he's out of tune"

**I should make this clear, this was before I played guitar. I was with a group of about four or five and we talked.

[Roksbug]

John Denver. His was the first music I tried to play. Years later I got to meet him though a friend of mine. Funny thing was we would talk about music but he didn't seem to care, or even know much about much about the guitars he was using. He would much rather talk about other things.
I read years after that to him guitars were mainly tools.
Many times he used soft leather cases for guitars he was carrying with him. While on tour many guitars were in anvil, or similar, cases but the one he carried with him was in a soft case. The Yamaha L53 which even back then was very expensive guitar was kinda just thrown around or set on the ground when he wasn't using it.
This thread is bringing back alot of memories.