jam band

American

[yam band] / ˈjæm ˌbænd /

noun

a band whose live performances involve extended sections of improvisation and experimentation: originally the term applied to psychedelic rock bands such as The Grateful Dead, but usage has expanded to bands working in a variety of genres.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

jam bands

plural

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

jam band

Bob Weir, a founding member of psychedelic jam band the Grateful Dead, has died, his family announced in a statement Saturday.

From Barron's ● Jan. 11, 2026

Veteran jam band Phish also missed out on a place - despite winning a fan vote that counted towards this year's ceremony.

From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2025

And not just Young, but also Crazy Horse, his longtime, magnificently shambolic backing band who more or less helped invent both grunge and the modern jam band.

From New York Times ● May 17, 2024

Monday as officers were directing traffic after a concert by the jam band let out at the Kodak Center theater complex.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 2, 2024

From sine qua non of American psychedelia, to folk-rock deity, jam band progenitor, disco Dead and Top 40 sensation, there was seemingly no pivot the band couldn’t navigate in its 30 years.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2023

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023