SPREAD THE JAM

A Book, a Workshop, and a Mission — All Built Around One Idea:
Get Out There and Play.


 

Spread the Jam is a self-published instructional book written by Joe Kennedy in 2022. It was born from a simple observation: in clubs and venues everywhere, musicians are getting together with no rehearsal and making memorable music on the fly. How do they do it? They communicate, listen, and exchange musical ideas through verbal and nonverbal cues. There's a communal energy. They're all working together for the music.

Spread the Jam demystifies that process — for the aspiring player who wants to jump on stage, the student who's been practicing at home and wants to venture out, and the working musician looking to sharpen their ensemble instincts.

The book covers improvisation techniques, musical forms and styles, aural detection skills, stage communication including hand signals, listening strategies, and how to call a tune and run a jam session. Each concept is supported by recorded audio illustrations.

  • Available as an eBook (PDF with linked audio examples) — $7.99
  • Available in paperback on Amazon
  • Volumes 1, 2, and 3 of recorded accompaniment examples available to stream and download
In ‘Spread the Jam,’ Joe Kennedy isn’t merely imparting knowledge; he’s conducting an orchestra of enlightenment, inviting readers to join the symphony of spontaneous creation. Through eloquent prose and expert guidance, Kennedy’s opus is a love letter to the transformative power of music—a masterpiece that not only educates but also inspires, leaving an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of musicians, both seasoned and aspiring.” - Rick Jamm

JamSphere; The Independent Music Magazine

THE WORKSHOP AND MASTERCLASS

The Spread the Jam workshop and masterclass is a hands-on educational program built directly from the book and led by Joe Kennedy — a Louisiana state-licensed K-12 Instrumental Music educator. It's designed for high school and college-level musicians who are ready to move beyond the rehearsal room and into the experience of real ensemble performance.

Students don't just watch — they get on stage with professional musicians, call tunes, trade solos, and navigate the nonverbal communication that defines live jazz performance. The workshop is structured around the "I do, We do, You do" instructional model and aligned with NAfME National Standards for Music Education.

What students experience:

  • Hands-on improvisation and ensemble performance with professional musicians
  • Real-time coaching on stage communication, musical forms, and soloing
  • Exposure to jazz, blues, and New Orleans traditional repertoire
  • The experience of calling a tune and leading a band — skills rarely taught in a classroom

FOR BAND DIRECTORS

The book is a standalone resource your students can use independently. Subscribe to receive a copy of the eBook and accompanying recordings. You can also integrate the song list, downloadable sheet music, writing prompts, and NAfME alignment documents available on this page into your existing curriculum.

To bring the workshop to your school or community, visit spreadthejamfoundation.org

NAfME Standards NAfME Standards met by this workshop 2.61 MB

Tunes for workshop

Download parts for your students to learn before the workshop:

We can also play standards such as: All Of Me, All Blues, All The Things You Are, Back Home Again In Indiana, Blue Monk, Blue Skies, Bye Bye Blackbird, C Jam Blues, Caravan, Doxy, Fly Me To The Moon, In A Mellow Tone (Rose Room), Mack The Knife, My Little Suede Shoes, Oleo, Satin Doll, So What, Solar, St. Thomas, Straight No Chaser, Struttin' With Some BBQ, Summertime, Take The A Train, Tenor Madness, and more. 

St. James Infirmary 8 bar blues 120 KB
Shake That Thing 12 bar blues 150 KB
Tin Roof Blues 12 bar blues 215 KB
St. Louis Blues 12 bar blues w/ an 8 bar minor section 332 KB
Down By The Riverside AB form 194 KB
Careless Love AB form 127 KB
Hindustan AB form 164 KB
Farewell Blues AB form 151 KB
Margie AB form 180 KB
Wabash Blues AB form 165 KB
Ja-Da AB with a tag 141 KB
Avalon AABA form 173 KB
Five Foot Two AABA form 186 KB
Oh, Lady Be Good AABA form 200 KB

THE FOUNDATION

In 2025, Joe Kennedy established Spread The Jam Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, as the organizational vehicle to bring the workshop and masterclass program to schools and communities at scale — especially those in underserved areas where access to professional jazz mentorship is limited.

The Foundation facilitates the full residency experience: a daytime student masterclass paired with an evening public concert, contracted through a single nonprofit entity. This structure allows presenting organizations — performing arts centers, schools, universities, and community venues — to access both education and entertainment programming through one booking, often drawing from separate budget lines.

Learn more about the Foundation and how to book a residency at spreadthejamfoundation.org

Presenting organizations: download our residency program one-sheet for booking and program details.

Spread the jam at the East Bank Regional Library was held monthly in 2023 & 2024

Come Spread The Jam with us at the Jefferson Parish East Bank Regional Library! Joe is hosting a monthly jam session for players that want to play with others. Have you been playing your instrument for a while and want to jam with other players? Do you want to learn how to call a tune, trade solos, and communicate on stage? Join us on a Sunday afternoon every month in the Napoleon Room! 

This jam is geared towards high school music students and young adult intermediate musicians who want to play with others, learn the tips and tricks of the trade, share the stage with experienced pros, and spread the jam! 

NAfME Standards

How does this workshop align with the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Standards? 

MU:Cr1.1.E/MU:Cr1.1.H Generate musical ideas for various purposes and contexts. 

~ The students will be generating melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic ideas for improvisation. 

MU:Cr2.1.E/MU:Cr2.1.H Select and develop musical ideas for defined purposes and contexts. 

~ The students will be developing draft melodies, improvisations, and accompaniment for the pieces performed in the workshop, displaying an understanding of musical characteristics from historical periods of music development. The students are also free to use mp3 recorders or their phones/devices to record and preserve the improvisations. 

MU:Cr3.1.E/MU:Cr3.1.H Evaluate and refine their work through openness to new ideas, persistence, and the application of appropriate criteria. 

~The students will be evaluating and refining improvisations based on established criteria, and developing their own criteria to further refine their improvisations to develop their own voice. Some questions that could lead the evaluating and refining process could be: Did you follow the chord changes? Were you in time with the rest of the group? Did you rush or drag specific parts or sections? 

MU:Pr5.3.E/MU:Pr5.1H Evaluate and refine personal and ensemble performances, individually or in collaboration with others. 

~ The students will be evaluating their own personal performances individually. The ensemble performance can be used as an indication of how the person calling the tune relayed the information to the rest of the group. Did the group play the introduction or opening as specified? Was there confusion around who was going to solo when? Did everyone know where the top of the form was when the melody or vocal line came back in? We communicate these things with other players verbally after a song or after a set, depending on how brief and convenient it is to share it. It can be a quick question and answer; “Hey, you missed the entrance to the melody after solos?” A response could be; “I didn't know if you were going to sing it again or wanted us to play the melody.” Both players have now shared their interpretation of the event, and can reflect on the experience of the other in refining their next time on stage. 

MU:Pr6.1.E/MU:Pr6.1.H Perform expressively, with appropriate interpretation and technical accuracy, and in a manner appropriate to the audience and context. 

~The experienced musicians will be modeling the appropriate interpretation for the learner in a manner appropriate to the audience and context. By the student joining the professional on stage they will be engaged in experiential learning, and receiving critical instruction and guidance through verbal and nonverbal communications utilized by working professionals in the field. The student will be able to view the professionals modeling the skills and behaviors, the “I do” portion from an instructors point of view. The student will be able to practice the skills in real time with the professionals, the “We do” portion from an instructors point of view. The students will then take their new knowledge and try calling a tune on their own to have the band play, the “You do” portion of “I do, We do, You do” instruction technique. 

MU:Cr3.2.E/MU:Cr3.2.H Share/Perform final versions of improvisations and compositions, demonstrating technical skills in applying principles of composition/improvisation and originality in developing and organizing musical ideas. 

~The students will be sharing improvisations individually, and creating spontanious complimentary melodies in an ensemble setting that address the indentified purpose of developing their skill set in the area of commercial music performance. The students will be applying principles of composition and improvisation to generate organized musical ideas and participating in procedural learning and experiential learning. 

MU:Cn10.0.H Demonstrate how interests, knowledge and skills relate to personal choices and intent when creating, performing, and responding to music. 

~The musicians performing the workshop will share personal experiences and how they respond to music. We also can discuss how to create a set list to further explain and demonstrate the rise and fall of intensity or change in moods and emotions through the selections played and how that can curate an engaged audience. 

MU:Pr5.1.C Evaluate and refine personal and ensemble performances, individually or in collaboration with others. 

~The students will create individual rehearsal plans for the pieces they enjoy playing and develop their expressive and technical performance skills, and identify ways musical performances convey their emotions and intent to the audience.

Master classes represent an opportunity for initiation into the music profession, providing insights...into the thinking of a professional musician...[Master classes] enhance goal-related learning strategies by raising intrinsic motivation, providing performance and self-appraisal opportunities through comparison with peers. 

- Marion Long, Susan Hallam, Andrea Creech, Helena Gaunt and Linnhe Robertson, "Do Prior Experience, Gender, or Level of Study Influence Music Students' Perspectives on Master Classes?"

Perhaps one of the most fascinating aspects of witnessing or taking part in a master class is the idea that the performance heard at the beginning of the session is not a finished product but a starting point.

- Angela Taylor, “Participation in a Master Class: Experiences of Older Amateur Pianists,” Music Education Research 12, no. 2 (June 2010) 199.

Recordings

Spread The Jam Volume 1

BIG JOE KENNEDY

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Recorded examples to accompany the Illustrations in my book, Spread the Jam. Big Joe on piano, Ted Long on bass, Mark Weliky on guitar, Mike Fulton on trumpet and Bryan Besse on drums.

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Spread The Jam Volume 2

BIG JOE KENNEDY

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Spread The Jam Volume 2

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Big Joe on piano, Mike Fulton on trumpet, Catie Rodgers on trumpet, Mark Weliky on guitar, Ted Long on bass, Simon Lott on drums, and Bryan Besse on drums.

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Spread the Jam Volume 3

BIG JOE KENNEDY

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Vol. 3 of the series Spread the Jam. Big Joe on piano/vocals, Simon Lott on drums, Jory Dexter Woodis on clarinet/alto, JD Haenni on bass.

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    Hindustan

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    Indiana (Back Home Again In)

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    I Ain't Give Nobody None O' This Jelly Roll

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    Rose Room

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    Avalon

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VIDEOS

Here we have That Da Da Strain. In the first video you can see us talk through the piece and how we are going to play it. We quickly sort out if we will be playing the verse and when we will be playing it. There is some back and forth as we figure out if we want to go back to the verse after solos or just stay on the chorus. 

The second video is us playing the piece and following the format we discussed. Verse, chorus, verse, chorus (solos), stay on chorus after solos until the end. Another thing to note is that just before the end Mike gave the signal for "4" telling us all that he wanted to tag the last 4 measures. 

The next video is Margie. An important thing to watch for is near the end Catie holds up 4 fingers meaning she wants to tag the last 4 measures but the rest of us missed it. We ended cleanly at the end of the form. Sometimes these things happen. 

A unique opportunity is available Sunday, August 18th at the Jefferson Parish East Bank Regional Library, from 2-4 pm. A New Orleans Jazz jam session will be held, where students will be invited to join the professional musicians on stage. This program is geared to teach students how to improvise and communicate on stage with fellow musicians playing jazz in a professional environment. It's a great opportunity for younger musicians to learn and understand the style of traditional jazz, and be introduced to some of the New Orleans Jazz standards that have been played for over 100 years. The jam session is run by educator and pianist, Joe Kennedy, and is open to all musicians of all skill levels, even beginning students. The public is also invited to come and hear some fine New Orleans Jazz, and the event is completely free. The library is located at 4747 West Napoleon Avenue.” - James Syoen

WDSU

My first reactions to your book were a mix of emotions that reflect my own musical journey. . . To be able to talk with those men and women and gain insight and instruction from them. That early interaction is so valuable.” - Chuck Lambert

Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Foundation