This is the second edition of the The Barn's These Are My Jams series. To see what this is all about, check out Volume One.
1. The further and further I get from my youth, the less and less inclined I feel to want to hang out with the people that make the music that I enjoy. Exception: Tedeschi Trucks Band. They just give off a vibe via their music that is so warm, welcoming and --I guess-- familial (no surprise since a super-talented husband and wife tandem front the band). "Everybody's Talking" is just infused with that spirit.
2. You know a band is funky when the URL for their website is the band name followed by F-U-N-K. Check out Lettuce at http://www.lettucefunk.com and get into the deep, spacy funk of this track "Fly". Wish these guys would make it to Chicago.
3. Just what the hell is a Snarky Puppy anyway? The minute I heard these guys I knew there was something special here. It's jazz but not like any jazz you've heard. Hell, it's not even like what I've heard folks call post-jazz. Is this post-post-jazz? It is "Thing Of Gold".
4. This was my jam during the Days Between, the celebratory, melancholy period in August between Jerry Garcia's Birthday and the anniversary of his death. In my opinion, THE under-rated JGB jam. A sweet cover of the Motown non-hit "Shining Star" hits big with the both Jerry's tenderness and his technique.
5. I first heard Bright Light Social Hour when it was announced that they'd open a string of dates for Umphrey's McGee this fall. This tune "Detroit" was an immediate ear worm, kind of a new-school blues/soul hyrbrid.
6. By the end of August, I was gearing up for Jimmy Herring Band's appearance in Chicago. I had decided to write a rare album review for the site for his latest release Subject To Change Without Notice, meaning I'd listened to it many many times. This is the track that I felt was the album's centerpiece, and thus it became on of my final jams of the summer. I give you "Miss Poopie".
