This year a number of musicians have guested at our jam session.

They are part of the house band and get to play anything from 8 to 10 tunes from their own repertoire.

Are you ready for this? Would you like to be considered?

Currently we are operating a no drums policy. So the house band generally consists of Piano, Double Bass and you, the guest.

The Bay horse is a smallish pub in Totnes and we are tucked in the corner. Horns don’t need to be miked up, guitarists need to bring their own kit. We have a decent mike and Vocal pa.

Can you hold an intimate audience for an hour with just bass and piano backing? There are no rehearsals. The guest has to be experienced at working with a house band. We ask for a set list in advance and expect you to provide chord charts for bass and piano unless the tune is a well known standard. In this case tell us the key and your starting note and we can bring it up on iReal pro. We expect you to be able to count us in.

Normal jazz etiquette is followed. Play the tune with the band, take a solo, piano takes a solo and often the bass player will take a solo too. Play the tune again and out. Experienced musicians will know how to call 4’s before bringing back the head. On Slow ballads we may take shorter solos and just bring the tune back on the middle 8 .

Special note for singers: nice to have some scat choruses but maybe not on every tune.

Intros and endings: We make these up on the spot. We will probably give you blank stares if you say “can you give us the Cannonball Adderley intro from his 1956 recording………”

Better to just say ” give me the last 8″ or “vamp on the first two chords” this we understand.

If you have read to the end and pretty much understood what I was talking about, and have 8 to ten tunes you are confident leading and they generally fit into the “jazz standard” category, then you may be ready to guest with us.

Give us a call.