Absolutely Made Up / Jack Flash / Jamettone

Jamettone make music in the moment. Completely improvised sessions which are filmed and recorded regularly. The good stuff gets released.

Contributors have played Montreux Jazz Festival, Glastonbury, Shepherds Bush Empire, Alexandra Palace & countless more. They’ve appeared on Jools Holland and Bob Harris’ shows, had their work used on national television and adverts: CBS, BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, UEFA, Sky Sports, Eurosport and had their music played on BBC radio 1, 2, 3 4 & 6. One of them even wrote the theme tune to Deal or No Deal.

The project came about in 2018 following conversations Leeds hip-hop producer/MC ExP had with various musicians around West Yorkshire regarding the need for a jam night where people of all abilities could have a place to play music with each other. The idea was that, for 3 hours, anyone would turn up to DubWhy Studios whenever and jam with whatever instruments, with whoever, and that would be that. Nothing fancier. ExP was adamant there would be no recording, let alone filming, as he knew that once he started recording it, he’d get obsessed with it, and try to create something with it. Whoops.

The first officially recorded jam was on the 19th January 2019 and during this session (as had been tradition for the jams prior to it), a panettone (brought by cellist and jam regular Nick Bennion), was shared amongst the musicians at the half-time break. A Jamettone.

The Jamettone ethos is “no f**king covers” and everything is always improvised. There are allowances for preparation in as much as musicians triggering samples etc may have a chance to gather these samples pre-jam, but otherwise the music that is made is entirely on the spot and in the moment.

Since its “free-for-all” origins, all jams are now carefully curated by ExP, (nearly) always featuring him on keys and then 3 to 5 other musicians.

With hundreds of live improvisation videos now under their belt, plus music releases and a string of live shows behind them, the plan is to release more of the music they’ve made (which exceeds 2000 individual tracks). Jamettone are not aiming to disappear into the fog anytime soon.

Featured guest at this show is world champion freestyle MC Jack Flash, known offstage as Rob Bradley, who is a versatile and much respected artist based in West Yorkshire. With a sound grounded in hip-hop, he’s evolved his craft by seamlessly blending rap with raw, stripped-back acoustic elements. He’s celebrated for his insightful storytelling, astute social observations, and the distinct razor-sharp wit characteristic of his Northern British roots. Once again, Jack Flash will be totally improvising his bars/lyrics from scratch on the night, asking for subject matter from audience members.

 

There'll be warm-up sets from Jamettone crew members ExP and DJ Hashfinger. Support comes from two stars of the Leeds hip-hop scene, MC Oliver Rees and DJ/producer Agent M. So, if you like your hip-hop blended with live music and heavy doses of soul, jazz, razor sharp bars and a touch of humour, get down to the Book Club on Easter Sunday.