Jam Cruise: Masters Camp at Sea
The Jam Cruise experience is filled to overflowing with music, food, fun, two stops, the Super Bowl, and plenty of other activities. Eight different stages will host 80 performances, not to mention the nightly jams at The Spot and sunrise sets on the Pool Garden Deck with Displace.
No enough? There is another possibility to consider for future: Masters Camp at Sea. Those who apply and are selected will have the opportunity to work throughout the cruise with great musicians helping everyone improve their craft. Many outstanding players have been part of the staff in the past, and this year’s crew is superb. And everyone is welcome to observe, especially if you might be interested in future!
This year’s camp is called Brother & Sister & Friends: Jamming on The Allman Brothers. It will be lead by Melody Trucks and Vaylor Trucks, children of the late ABB founder Butch Trucks. Butch believed strongly in music education, which is why he created Roots Rock Revival, a camp in upstate New York with the same purpose as MCAS. Melody is a superb vocalist, singer, and music educator. Vaylor is a monster guitarist and educator as well. They have performed together as Brother & Sister in addition to leading their own bands.
The staff also includes:
Berry Duane Oakley Jr. — son of original ABB bass player Berry Oakley, formerly with Allman Family Revival, he plays with Live Dead & Brothers and Berry D Oakley & Friends.
Pete Levin — revered Hammond B3 and keyboard master with a huge resume ranging from Gregg Allman, Marcus King, The Zen Tricksters, and The Highwaymen to Dolly Parton, Ringo Starr, Pharrell, Amanda Shires, and The Blind Boys of Alabama. And you may have seen him tearing it up with Trouble No More.
Cliff Porter — Reno drummer and vocalist performs with Jelly Bread and with Full Blast
Three members of excellent Florida ABB tribute band Steelin’ Peaches: Chuck Magid, guitar, vocals; Daniel Heitz, guitar, vocals; and Aaron Bucky Buckingham, drums.
There is a meet and greet at 6 p.m. the day we board. They have sessions Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Normally, their Participant Orchestra Finale Concert and MCAS Masters Finale Concert would be on the last day, but because we are at Ocean Cay Wednesday, those shows will be later Tuesday, with workshops and clinics the last day.
King of Costumes Lee “The Dancing Machine” Rissin (and distributor of lettuce on dry land) shared his experience with MCAS. Thank you, Lee! See you soon!
My first personal experience in The Masters Camp at Sea was on Jam Cruise 18, and it was quite special. Being a guitar player for many years, the first thing that grabbed me was, “Wow, you mean I may actually get to play with some of these guys… for real??” And then it actually happened on Jam Cruise 18! I was one of many Cruisers who got called up, and, sure enough, I got to play with Luther Dickinson, Eric Krasno, Garrett Sayers, and Nikki Glaspie.
My personal highlight was when Luther asked, “Anybody had a tune that they wanted to play?” And I quickly spoke up and said, “Yes, ‘Do Your Thing’ by Isaac Hayes.” Luther smiled and said, “Heck yeah, I love that song, in fact I will sing it too.” I smiled big, he cued me to start it on guitar, then we paused so he could teach it to everyone else, and piecemeal it came together real quickly. Then sure enough a handful of us campers played it with The Masters. The only thing that could have made that any cooler was having it on video. And guess what? I have that on video, forever!
Then we, The Campers, played exclusively just amongst ourselves while Luther directed us as many of us played a great version of “Use Me” by Bill Withers with some great singers as well as all of the other instrumentalists joining. I had my Jackson guitar with me, and that’s only funny because Luther came over to me and said, “Take a solo, Jackson.” And once again, thank goodness fellow cruisers and campers were quick to video all these moments.
Now aside from the jamming part, The Masters Camp at Sea program has special guest musicians who come in throughout the week and give Q & A talks, sharing their experiences, their techniques, philosophies, and just stories from over the years, all in a very cool intimate setting. Guests such as George Porter Jr., Charlie Hunter, and Corey Wong came through. All throughout the week the core Masters would walk us through how the magic all happens. The most important piece of advice that was given that I took to heart as a guitarist who primarily plays at home was from Nikki Glaspie, who directly said something along the lines of, “The most important notes you can play are the ones you don’t play… be a good listener.” That really stuck with me. I enjoyed the experience so much that I participated again the following year on Jam Cruise 19 with all new hosts and some familiar faces. We all win on Jam Cruise.
