By Brian M. Rafferty
Starting with a simple duet blending old and new generations of musicians and finishing in a finale featuring a Who’s Who of the jam band world, Jammys 2002 was a spectacle to behold last Wednesday night.
Sponsored by TDK, Relix Magazine and Jambands.com, the Jammys is an annual awards festival that pays tribute to jam bands, the bands that emulate the improvisational concert style popularized by the Grateful Dead.
As the lights at the Roseland Ballroom were dimmed, the crowd surged toward the stage to cheer for Rob Wasserman and DJ Logic. Wasserman plays bass for Bob Weir’s Ratdog and has been playing without the band, touring as a duet with Weir, for decades.
Logic, whose turntable mastery is loved by jam fans everywhere, has mixed beats and lead grooves while taking time from his own band, Project Logic.
After a jam that took two turntables and a stand-up bass to points unimaginable, the show was underway.
The theme of the night, as happens any time you get great bands together, was surprises, and there were plenty in store.
Among the acts to share the stage were the wicked pedal steel guitar work of Robert Randolph and the Family Band with the southern gospel sound of Blind Boys of Alabama; intense newcomers Particle, who made a big splash at the Bonnarroo Festival in Tennessee this summer, coupled with Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson of the B-52s, who joined the band for a Particle jam and then “Your Own Private Idaho” and “Love Shack;” moe. and Blue Öyster Cult members Eric Bloom, Allen Lanier and Buck Dharma played a rowdy version of the Queens-area band’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper;” and Warren Haynes’ Government Mule turned into a souped-up Allman Brothers Band when keyboardist and singer Gregg Allman joined to play along with the 23-year-old music veteran Derek Trucks (who was jamming with Buddy Guy and Bob Dylan by age 12) and guitar master Trey Anastasio of the band Phish for the Allman classic “Soulshine.”
But the night was not just about the music. It was an opportunity for fans to thank the artists with whom they travel state-to-state, year after year, tour after tour.
Fans voted in Relix Magazine and on jambands.com for, among several others, Tour of the Year, which went to Anastasio and the 10-member band he put together while Phish has been on hiatus.
Other awards and their winners are:
TDK Live Performance of the Year
moe., Bonnaroo Music Festival, June 23, 2002 – Speaking with several people who attended the three-day festival and caught moe.’s six-hour, midnight to 1 a.m. show there is no doubt the honor was well deserved.
Tour of the Year
Trey Anastasio, Summer 2002 – What can you say about an evil genius whose belief in the interconnectedness of all aspects of the world through a universal string theory has turned into a means of making music. Give the guy some horns and let him compose. The tour was phenomenal, with some of the best playing Anastasio has done in years.
Studio Album of the Year
Trey Anastasio, Trey Anastasio – The album was released for listening on the Web site before it even hit the stores.
Live Album of the Year
Widespread Panic’s Live in the Classic City
Archival Album
Phish, Live Phish 11: Nov. 17, 1997,
McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, CO
Song of the Year
Gov’t Mule’s “Soulshine”
New Groove of the Year
Robert Randolph & The Family Band
Fan Website of the Year
Philzone.com
Mimi Fishman Community Service Award
Joshua Stack, Panic Fans For Food
Grahamy Jammy
(industry award for support of the scene)
Annabel Lukins
Lifetime Achievement Award
The Grateful Dead – Presented by essay contest winner Bill Stites, the induction was a bit long, but quite well written by somebody whose love for the Grateful Dead showed through in every word.
Weir was on hand to accept the award on behalf of the Grateful Dead, whose surviving members are going back out on tour this year as the Other Ones (tickets go on sale Saturday).
Weir has a rambling way when he talks sometimes, and that came through, but things turned sour when he started to get heckled. He was explaining how it feels to be appreciated for the music the Dead had made over the years, and the very fans he was thanking were growing restless, wanting the music to continue.
Weir quickly wrapped up and left the stage, taking a 15-minute pause before coming back out with Ratdog for the finale.
After a brief jam, he ripped into a set of old Grateful Dead standards with a light “Sugar Magnolia” followed by “Help on the Way,” “Slipknot,” “Ashes and Glass,” back into “Slipknot” and into “Franklin’s Tower.”
But that was just the beginning.
Ratdog was joined on stage by Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon of Phish, Warren Haynes, Al Schnier of moe., John Popper of Blues Traveler, Matt Abts of Government Mule, DJ Logic, Robert Randolph, sax player Skerik of Les Claypool’s Frog Brigade, guitarist Fuzz and sax player Hope Clayburn of Deep Banana Blackout, sax player Jessica Lurie of the Living Daylights, singers Mystic Bowie and Victoria Clamp of the Tom Tom Club, and “Flute Girl.”
Though the after party was a temptation for sure, with house bands Particle and moe. jamming with all sorts of guests throughout the night at the B.B. King Blues Club, the Jammys didn’t wrap up until 2:30 a.m. – late enough for this fan.
With memories of Mike Gordon and Leo Kottke sitting on stage, playing the second of the evening’s quiet duets as a preview to their new tour, I made my way home from the Jammys thinking about what an improvement it had been over last year’s production. And then I remembered how good last year’s was, and was even more impressed by what I had just seen.
To learn more, check out www.jambands.com.
