Type II Jamming - Down the Rabbit Hole
I was watching the 4/16 SOAM from Sphere the other night and was listening as they went off the rails and thought to myself if there is any structure to this musically speaking, like what is it they’re really doing?? So, I went down the rabbit hole and wanted to share my journey into understanding this nonsensical musical space. This is what I found.
I’ve been a fan since ‘97 and heard thousands of Type II jams but never really understood what was happening under the hood. Im starting guitar lessons soon so I decided to do some research and actually find out. Turns out Phish didn’t invent Type II jamming (although the community created the term). They inherited it, synthesized it, and made it their own, which has, in a way, become its own creation.
Here’s a playlist that traces the lineage that helped me understand what I was hearing and what I explored:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4LMiJ0qRPrBVevj52auS9J?si=nV9BdGjyQemfPG0ivqq0rw&pi=fY1pkxy3QiWkh
Playlist breakdown:
Grateful Dead - Dark Star (Live in Veneta, OR 8/27/72)
Ground zero. Modal jamming with a tonal home they wander from and return to. Hearing Phil Lesh immediately reminded of Mike Gordon. Holding it up from underneath. The Dead were attempting to recreate their LSD psychedelic experiences onto a soundtrack (Normal consciousness → dissolution of ego/structure → reformation into something new). Same structure as Type II jams (beginning/tension → dissolution → resolution/return).
Grateful Dead - The Other One (Fillmore 1971) More aggressive than Dark Star. The returning riff is a direct blueprint for how Phish uses song structure as an anchor during jams. Love hearing the Phil/Mike connection in this too.
Phish - Reba (NYE 1993). Hear what happens around 9:30. They don’t return home, they find somewhere better.
Miles Davis - Pharaoh’s Dance (Bitches Brew). Where the floating unanchored groove comes from. I was surprised to hear how much silence Miles uses.
Miles Davis - Miles Runs the Voodoo Down (Bitches Brew). Around 4:20 you’ll hear Trey Anastasio. He just doesn’t know it yet.
Phish - Foam (8/7/10). More mature Phish. Hear how much space post hiatus Trey leaves compared to 93. I can really hear Miles in Trey now.
Frank Zappa - The Black Page #2. Mathematical complexity. Those precise angular passages Phish plays before jams open up? This is where that comes from.
Frank Zappa - Willie the Pimp (live). Around 3:30 you’ll think you’re listening to Tweezer. You’re not. But now I know why Tweezer sounds the way it does.
Phish - Tweezer (NYE 1993). This show was dedicated to Zappa who had died just a few weeks before on December 4th. There’s no denying the influence and I’ll be listening to a lot more Zappa now. Why wasn’t I before?? Unarguable influence.
Ornette Coleman - Lonely Woman. Free jazz entry point. Multiple voices moving independently but in relationship. Sounds familiar…
Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. The outer edge. Just survive it, it provides context for the dissociative exploration.
Phish - Split Open and Melt (4/16/26 - Sphere). Listening again with everything I’ve built. Totally different perspective.
Before, I heard robotic madness, extraterrestrial chaos. Now, I can hear Coleman’s harmolodics, Miles negative space, Zappa’s intentionality and pulse, the dissolution from the Dead, but Phish taking all of this to a whole new level, something entirely of their own.
That’s what I couldn’t explain before, but now I have the words and knowledge to describe, understand, and share and will totally be listening with a new appreciation when summer tour starts.