Strawberry Jam instrumentals jam at The Stafford

It's a dark, dusky bar filled with smoke from the multitude of people found in downtown Bryan's The Stafford.A girl comments on my shirt, saying it's the same as her name and ignoring the fact that it's a country. The crowd eventually moves toward the stage. While this is happening, Strawberry Jam is tuning up instruments.

I sit quietly and discuss random topics with my friends while waiting for the band to blow me away. Unfortunately, that doesn't exactly happen.

The guys start playing their respective instruments with great skill. They play in unison, but there is one problem - the singer. Not that his voice is bad, it's just the over-exaggeration he puts in his act.

This kind of showmanship would work great in a band like Aerosmith (ironically enough he has all the scarves on his stand just like Steve Tyler), but in a "jam" band, this doesn't mesh well. The term "jam" implies that no singing is involved. On top of that, if a singer is involved, you shouldn't expect him to act like Robert Plant. Some good things that did come from the Strawberry Jam lead singer were his renditions of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" and Jimi Hendrix's "Foxy Lady."

Another issue is the overuse of the echo machine. When did it sound good in the first place, especially when used through a whole song? That is the equivalent of a guitar player using a whammy bar through an entire song. The only guy who got away with that was Jimi Hendrix in his song "Burning the Midnight Lamp," and he didn't even do it throughout the song.

If you can get past that part of Strawberry Jam's shows, you will surely enjoy the actual jam aspect of the music. The most interesting part of the show must have been when the saxophone player decided to play two saxophones - at the same time.

Halfway through the show, the two drummers jammed out while the rest of the band got refreshments and mingled with the crowd. In the middle of this pure jam, the bass player came in with a funky bass line. This was the pure definition of jam band.

Of course, the other instruments were well-played, including the violin player, who played with precision without a change of expression. Overall, this band can draw a larger crowd as long as they go back to the actual jam aspect of the music.

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