See, having read those comments on the dead--particularly the bit on their jamming, I think you and I view them in two completely different ways on the basis that I am an active musician (making the art of jamming a bit more personally relevant) and to my knowledge, you are not. If you are, then... Well that sort of dislodges anything I have to say of this matter.

But to me, when two, or three, or four, of ten or whatever musicians can get together, do something that is mostly improvisational, and make it work for both an audience, and more importantly, themselves, something beautiful has happened. Actually, as much as I love a lot of the bands mentioned here, the one complaint I have to offer of many is that none of them ever really engaged in much improvisational work in their live routines. Which is a shame, it really adds dynamic and energy to the performance, and separates it from the studio recordings we can listen to again and again.

But back on track, to me, an improvisational jam can be one of the most beautiful things to occur in music. It's so emotionally truthful and sincere, that I just can't help but be overwhelmed by the idea, in a purely positive way. No two jams will ever be the same... It's hard to explain. In my band, the way we make songs is we'll all get together, and someone will either bring in a riff or make one up off the top of their head, and we all jam on it. Sometimes for five minutes, sometimes for an hour. And from there, you digress into the original riff into so many others that you'd never would have discovered if not for the combined efforts of each member of the band, in such a way that no time is allotted to tweak it or divert it from its initial sincerity unless each member of the group were to come together and meet on one emotional or spiritual plane, or whatever, and allow it to naturally digress in the next direction. It really is a spectacular notion. Then we take the bits we like of that jam, and make them into a little ditty ranging from 3 to maybe 6 minutes. Jake, our guitarist/lyricist will write some lyrics, add them, and presto, we have a conventional song.

But even when we jam live, infront of an audience, a whole new dynamic is added that is just impossible to explain... You just have to experience. Back to my original point, when a group of musicians can actually connect on that level as to make something so raw, true, and maintain something that sounds good and feels right, it's a very cosmic thing, and it's my favorite part about being a musician. Finding a group of musicians that feel as comfortable together and can connect on such improvisational patches as to reach a seemingly telepathic level of brotherhood, as have such bands as The Dead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phish, etc... It's practically like finding that one person you'd want to spend the rest of your life with.

It's just the best feeling in the world for a musician.