The surprise of the Yamn show at Aggie Theater, Saturday night, April 24th, was its versatility. Jam bands are easy to cliché. The term refers to their freeform tendency to just play and play and play improvisationally, without distinguishable song borders or structure, and with interminable solos on the part of all the band members. Often this doesn’t appeal to music fans who are, well, sober. But one who automatically discredits a jam band without first sampling their offering risks missing a smorgasbord of musical styles.
Yamn consisted of a guitarist, drummer, bassist, keyboard player, and a miscellaneous percussionist. They call themselves a four piece “progressive-electro-trance-fusion” band. Their set was suitably varied, as per the “genre” they use to label themselves. Without stopping a song, their music lapsed from hard rock to rock ballads, to reggae, to jazz, to experimental trance rock. Perhaps the true surprise of the show wasn’t the diversity of styles they played, but the proficiency with which they did so.
The guitar styles variously mimicked Trey Anastasio of Phish, Jimi Hendrix, and even Satriani during long, epic solos. The finger picking would catch the attention of any 80’s metal enthusiast, and the power chords were deliciously hard and powerful. The saxophone playing would be the envy of a progressive jazz club in Denver, or certainly in Fort Collins if there were one. This was very well played music.
At times, Yamn played a pop style of music, with studio cleanliness suitable for the soundtrack to a new popular show on some trendy TV network. Then alternately, heavy metal sounds brought to mind arena rock greats like Blue Oyster Cult. A prominent bass guitar lent itself ideally to the reggae feel at times, and to the heavy distortion hard rock feel. Excellent quality music, backed up by an exceptional light show, made for a particularly awesome free show.
The good news about the Yamn show was that is was such a diverse and talented outlay of music by an unimpeachably cohesive and capable jam band. The bad news is that, being a jam band, the show was swamped with teenie boppers, drugs, and long, long, long songs. The balance, though was very enjoyable. The show was an all-you-can-eat buffet of a musical experience, with countless delicious styles served hot and with authority. Excellent show.
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