The Art of the Jam - Transcript

Every city has its hidden treasures...like a Touch of Class. It might appear to be just your average neighborhood bar. Inside, clusters of regulars nurse a favorite drink or talk away the events of the day. These familiar patrons move about with almost a sense of ownership.

But every Friday night, this small neighborhood lounge belongs to something else.

Every Friday night, some of the city's top jazz musicians stop by "the Touch" - as they call it - for a gig all their own. Veteran jazz musicians, up and comers, and even the occasional visiting musician from out-of-town takeover this bar and give it a touch of jazz.

80-year-old Buddy Graves runs the sessions. He's been playing for about 55 years now though he never set out to be a musician.

[Buddy Graves] "One night as I was tending bar, the piano player didn't show up on the band. They had a great band there. And he said, ‘Go back and play the piano.’ I said, ‘I can't do it.’"

"And they said, ‘Come on Buddy and try it,’ so I went back there and I knew a few chords as I mentioned. That's all I know. But they were great musicians and they helped me get through and I made it through. The next night the same thing happened. And I learned a little bit each night. This went on and on and I've been playing the piano ever since."

The other musicians say what's really special about these jam sessions is Buddy.

[Forrest Wolford] "He's a real treasure. I met him when I was only 21 or 22-years-old and he was about 29. And he was a monster. One heck of a player. He's got an ear where he can hear something once and play it. One night I was playing with a group and I didn't hear the tune so I leaned into Buddy, he's playing. I said, ‘What are we playing?’ [Buddy said,] ‘Sh-h, I'm trying to learn it from the bass player.’ And of course, he did. He's forgotten more tunes than most piano players even know and on a good night nobody can touch him. "

Now while Buddy may lead these sessions, the jam itself has a life of its own.

[Graves] "Key of C."

At these informal jam sessions, there's no rehearsal; and sheet music is rare.

[Graves] "This is all -- ad lib, nothing written."

"It would be impossible for me to play exactly the same chorus twice. Because so help me I don't know what the heck I'm going to do when I start out. I have no idea what's going to happen until I start to play."

What takes place is the purest form of music. They play the songs they want to play -- the way they want to play them.

[Al Hunter] "We're all doing this because we like to. Not necessarily because we're into a contract or anything like that. This is something we do because we enjoy and we like it. "

[Wolford] "We play tunes that we wouldn't ordinarily play for a dance job or occasional gig as they call it. I've probably played "New York, New York" a thousand times but if they wanted it -- if somebody's nice and they ask for something we'll probably do it. "In the Mood" we might not play because we've played it 10,000 times. We play that for money. "

[Linda Zavodny] "I was raised on this music. I love it. "

[Jo Johnson] "I love live music. It's one of few places in Omaha you can come -- people sit down and play. I enjoy it a lot. "

On this night the jam draws musicians from every generation.

[Graves] "Some of them are very trained and educated and they got everything to go with it and it's really a pleasure to have some of the great ones come in. And they do come in once in a while -- you got some good musicians in Omaha. "

It can take years to develop the kind of ear you need to jam in this way. That's part of what draws the younger musicians.

[John Kotchian] "It's good education -- learn new tunes, working my ear out and play to a lot of people. "

[Mark Wolford] "After a while you learn the tunes -- feel confident to play with great musicians. Any chance to play any jam session I'm pretty much there. "

[Graves] "It's hard to say why they come in except that I know that when they're here they really enjoy themselves and we enjoy having them too. We've had some great cats come out here baby -- great cats. "