Jambands: The Complete Guide to the Players, Music & Scene.(Book Review)

Jambands: The Complete Guide to the Players, Music & Scene. Dean Budnick. San Francisco: Backbeat, 2003.

Dean Budnick, the cultural historian, magazine editor, and radio DJ responsible for creating the Web site http://www.jambands.com and the Jammy Awards, knows whereof he writes when it comes to his favorite rock genre. He coined the terms "jam band"--and later, "jamband"--to describe an eclectic mix of artists united in their devotion to unscripted, improvisational passages.

The latter strategy, in the hands of the least-inspired musicians laying claim to this classification, has turned into a convention bordering on cliche. As a result, few groups willingly accept the label "jamband," as Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks points out in the book's introduction. Trucks declares, "What these bands share is: an ability to play and a seriousness about their music that maximizes musicianship and minimizes showmanship" (xii). Budnick, for his part, views "musical variegation" as the genre's core and defining value.

This encyclopedic volume--with more than 170 alphabetically arranged entries, each packed with astute analysis of an act's history, achievements, and place within the genre, and an annotated discography--is required reading for devotees. The text is an essential first-stop reference for research in the subject. There is immediate gratification because the author turns in vivid evocations of particular songs, albums, and concerts. He recalls that Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir's band Ratdog "took the stage on the evening of Garcia's death on August 9, 1995, for a cathartic, affirming performance in Hampton Beach, NY" (176). Budnick, not coincidentally, demonstrates the extent to which jamband music and methodologies have penetrated popular culture. The now-disbanded Phish, for instance, taking cues from the Grateful Dead, helped realize the potential of Internet marketing for musicians, from the Vermont band's Usenet newsgroup to its http://www.Phish.net Web site (a portal for ordering CDs and purchasing show tickets). In 2003, Phish innovated ...