World’s Longest Jam record breaking attempt set for September in Lansing
​Musicians from around the Midwest will gather in Lansing Sept. 28-30 to try to break the record for the world's longest continuous jam session.
The current record is 57 hours, set in Granada, Spain in August 2023. The World’s Longest Jam effort in Lansing, to be held at Urban Beat in Old Town Lansing, has a goal of at least 60 hours. The event will be open to the public.
"I've been fortunate enough to know thousands of musicians, and get to play – jam, really – with many of them," said Terry Terry, owner of UrbanBeat and a major figure behind many of Old Town's multi-day music festivals featuring funk, blues and jazz. "Chatting with a few friends this winter after an impromptu session, we hit on the idea of seeing if there was a world record for a jam session, and to see if we could break it."
Turns out the "record" is informal, based on internet searching. Guiness, the traditional arbiter of world records, has no jam record.
Jeff Boog, a local musician who is in several bands, took on the task of finding the longest jam record. His search took him to an article on the Granada jam.
"I talked with a participant who was excited to hear about our effort, and very supportive," said Boog.
"To make this work, we will need to incorporate all kinds of music, from gospel to jazz and bluegrass to all sorts of world music and everything in between."
The World’s Longest Jam committee has evolved a definition of a jam:
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At least three musicians on stage at all times.
Musicians will be rotated in and out at regular intervals. -
Continuous music with no breaks.
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No "songs" as generally defined, although pieces of music
in the public domain and original music are welcome. -
Music can be produced with acoustic, electronic,
or vocal instruments -
A variety of genres (minimum number of 10 genres).
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No pre-recorded music.
Terry says next steps are signing up musicians, looking for sponsors, and preparing for the event itself, which will be live streamed with an eye toward a documentary in the future.
"We just want to play music, have some fun, and who knows, maybe set a world record," Terry said.
If you want to volunteer to assist in this record-breaking effort, reach us at micharts.org/volunteer.
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For more information
David Waymire 517-290-3610
