Longest jam

Hi,

Too long, is a bit scary in the way you describe it, because if the supporting band/musicians are capable of carrying it, instead of dropping the soloist off the cliff, then it is fine.

I think that we are considering these "solos" because we do not have the underlying material under it to define it better. I would almost say, for example, that calling a lot of Jon McGlothlin ... just "solo" pretty much suggests the rest of the band is worthless, and this is not the case. Same for Miles, although Miles is much tougher because no one, including his musicians, would know where he is going, and you have to stay with him in one way or another. And telling Miles he can not do this for ten minutes, he would probably kick your buckets and throw you out of the concert hall! And he would promptly do a 20 minute solo.

The problem with "solo" is that the rest of the band is being ignored, and that's not fair. A "jam" is not about a solo, it's about a band getting it on ... and us degenerating this thread to "solo" are hurting the subject. A lot of the psychedelic stuff out of SF (for example) was not designed, or defined as a solo at all ... it was all a part of the whole "trip" and seeing the members of JA saying that he went left, she went right, he went up and he went in another direction ... and it sounded far out ... that you can call a "jam", but defining a jam by the solo ... that's going in the wrong direction. 

BTW, it also show a lack of appreciation for a lot of European guitarists that did long things that can not exactly be considered a "solo" ... these would include Michael Karoli (Can) and John Weinzierl (AD2) and Manuel Gottsching (Ash Ra Tempel/Ashra) and Ax Gernrich (Guru Guru) in the early days, and they were not exactly the only ones. And they were not set to simplistic rock music at all ... although we might think of Manuel as a bit more "mechanical" which started with Ash Ra Tempel 6 (guitar on guitar on guitar and there was no solo since one of them could easily be the support for the other) and he went on his own since then. Even then, by this time RF was doing stuff that ended up thought of as ambient, starting with his first Eno work, while Richard Pinhas was doing the same ... it was about the music and its strength and totality, not about the solo, and I am not sure that RF would consider a lot of things he does a "solo" since they are another element within the piece of music, as if it was a symphony! 

We just don't seem to handle well anything that does not sound like rock'n'roll, and in Europe a lot of the early stuff from the 70's was not exactly rock'n'roll ... go listen to Mother Sky ... that is not a solo! I might even think that Damo's part is a solo, but that really destroys the totality of the piece!