Jazz Society: Jam Manager

The jam is my favourite event hosted by the society. It provides a great opportunity to socialise with other members and allows players of all levels to perform together regularly in a fun and judgement-free space. I believe it holds an important place within UCL's jazz community, and as someone who has been attending regularly over the past two terms, it’s something I would love the opportunity to help with.

Aside from my experience of attending the jazz nights every week, there are several reasons why I would be a strong candidate for this role. I would work hard to ensure an inclusive and well-organised jam where everyone feels comfortable playing and everyone gets equal opportunity to play, even during the most chaotic jazz nights. I would love to work alongside another Jam Manager to ensure equipment is set up on time, make sure the jam runs smoothly, resolve any issues that arise calmly, and collaborate with the Small Bands Manager to allocate house bands for the jam. I think being Jam Manager would be a very fulfilling role for me and something I would greatly enjoy doing next year.

Hi, I’m Christine! I’m a pianist, and I’ve had a great time playing in the house band this year (somehow being allocated to Phineas jams for ALL of my house band duties - so I took that as a sign to run for Jam Manager). My favourite memory at jams is playing ballads in funk!

Despite initially feeling intimidated, I felt incredibly supported by the society when playing at jams, so I’d love to pay that forward and contribute to making jams a welcoming environment that encourages people to play, and foster a space where we can expand our repertoire and learn more about jazz through playing.

Here’s what I’d bring:

1. Essential standards list: Publicised list of suggested standards to call at a jam, plus simple guidance on how a tune typically flows (e.g. head → solos/trade → head)
2. Updated sign-up format: Sign up for specific tunes and fill instrument slots per tune. Establish clear rotation rules (e.g. max two tunes per instrument if demand is high). House band ready to step in to support beginners at jams.
3. Continue themed jams: Based on seasons (e.g. Halloween, Christmas) or genres (e.g. Blues, Latin).
4. Tech optimisation / volume control: Manage tech more actively, ensure solos don’t get cut off due to technical issues, and regularly check instrument balance / volume levels