While the title may suggest it, I don’t frequent this particular bar for their beverage menu. This tiny bar and restaurant called the Penn Taproom, in the heart of downtown Doylestown, is known by many locals as a place to eat outside on summer nights or grab a drink to watch a sports game. Still, these are not the attributes that welcomed me in to this place. On Sunday nights, they feature live jazz performances. A one hour set by the house band followed by two hours of jam session time. For those that may not be familiar, the house band is the group that plays for money or tips as the “hired” band. The jam session that follows is comprised of anyone that brings an instrument and wants to get up and play.

Naturally, I was extremely timid the first time I went to this jam session. I was invited by a friend and didn’t know anyone there, but I brought my horn regardless. As you may have guessed, I didn’t play. However, I had broken the boundary between myself and playing in this intimate format compared to a standard 18-person jazz band. The next week, I went again with the primary. intent of listening but I brought my saxophone anyways – just in case. Between peer pressure and a little voice inside of me, I got up to play a song near the end of the night. From my point of view, it was quite disastrous. While it may have been painful, it was the foundation that I set up to build upon for the next few years.

Fast forward a number of months after practicing, listening, and learning new songs. I would now consider myself a regular at the jam (before COVID, that is) and I have always been the youngest player there – as the only high schooler. The fear of getting up to play has mostly diminished, but there is always a nervous feeling that I’ll somehow mess up and lose my place in the song form. Here’s a video of me playing! Over the months of practice and playing at the jam, I began to meet many of the regular players, one of whom is my private saxophone teacher. The guy who runs the jam, a guitarist named Larry Tamanini, was one of my biggest supporters. He would help me navigate the experience, and would always make sure to invite me up to play if I wanted to. He wasn’t there to hold my hand. He was there to help me when I was ready. Through him, I met the Hazelrigg brothers who own an audio production business and play bass and drums on local gigs. I recorded my national jazz band audition in their basement studio and now have a few professional recordings of myself – which I am very proud of. One of these is featured in my last recording.

I drastically improved as an overall musician in this intimate, yet terrifying, format of playing. I most certainly look forward to normal times in the cramped bar where I can once again join the locals to play jazz on late Sunday nights. Attached this week is a song from Larry’s album that he recorded with the Hazelrigg brothers in their studio.