Seattle drummer Morgan (Mo’) Gilkeson wanted to create a genre-fusion jam like one that might occur in your basement. Mo’ Jam Mondays, as it’s now known, has become the largest indoor/outdoor, funk/jazz session in Seattle, appropriately settled in the Artists’ Republic of Fremont, at the Nectar Lounge.

Monday, May 25, Mo’ Jam’s 75th session, was marked with festivities common to this artistic jam. Mo’ Jam’s crowd and style are as assorted as the art forms in the room. Often, comedy opens the show to a featured jazz musician, who may share the spotlight with the occasional tap dancer or poet. Meanwhile, visual artists are inspired to create in parallel to the improv music jam. The last week of May, the visual art created at Mo’ Jam Mondays was displayed at the Pocket Theater, in Greenwood. The show doubled as a birthday celebration for resident Mo’ Jam painter Charles Xavier-Moss, known for his weekly canvas pieces that dawn a colorful depiction of varying Monday-night musicians.

These festivities, originating at Mo’ Jam and spiraling outward, continue well into June, as Gilkeson’s 29th birthday falls on the summer solstice. For Gilkeson’s coming birthday, Thomas Marriott features as guest-host, June 22; trombonist David Marriott features, June 1; The Teaching, June 8; saxophonist Steve Treseler, June 15. The June sessions finish dramatically – for a one-night-only event – Mo’s session and crowd embark a venue change to film with “Band in Seattle” at Victory Studios, June 29. In Mo’ Jam Mondays fashion, all are welcome to hang.

Mo’ Jam’s musical skeleton is that of a jazz jam. Based on their instrument, musicians introduce themselves to the house band, The Morganica Quartet (Gilkeson, drums; Ian Hughes, guitar; Dylan Hughes, bass; Travis Fisher, keys), and a featured guest-host musician plays each week alongside the quartet in a semi-rehearsed first set. Vocalists and horn players use the host’s sign-up sheet, which becomes splattered with signatures each session.

“It’s always a good thing when lots of people want to play,” six-time Mo’ Jam featured artist Thomas Marriott says.
Bandleader Gilkeson says her Mo’ Jam stage has seen some of the best jazz pros in Seattle. Featured artists have included director of the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra (SWOJO) Daniel Barry, bassist Evan Flory-Barnes, vibraphonist Jacques Willis, organist Kareem Kandi, and saxophonist Steve Treseler. The “groove-based” jam is additionally hosted by rotating guests, including the popular hip-hop vocalist Jamal Roc Phizzle. Lately, one of the two EntreMundos percussionists joins at Nectar, when not in rotation at Capitol Cider.

Though the jam portion is founded in jazz traits including improv, group play, and big band orchestration, it’s not a traditional jazz jam, nor just for jazz players. At Mo’ Jam, tunes aren’t commonly called nor do musicians often swing like at standard jam Owl ‘N Thistle.

“It’s not a jazz jam…It’s better the way it is,” Marriott says. The trumpeter adds that Mo’ Jam flaunts a remarkable success for Gilkeson’s rawness on the scene.

As suggested by the guest talent alone, Mo Jam’s crowd has been described as participatory and enthusiastic, with every age and color represented. For example: the oldest of loyal characters in attendance is red top-hatted regular “Dr. Wonderbread,” who religiously attends with a slew of communal percussion instruments.

“I want to play for Mo’s crowd,” expresses Marriott.

An all-welcome mentality wafts in the space, inevitably causing attendees to lose any apprehension related to some anticipated jazz vibe. And the jam gains something else entirely in the process: in losing some of the jazz jam stigma, an inclusive creativity is allowed to bleed uniqueness and virtuosity.

Josh Rawlings, keyboardist for The Teaching, the house band for erstwhile jam The Hang, notes that Mo’ Jam is servicing the jam/instrumentalist/vocal niche that The Hang used to service. Seven years after the inception of The Hang, Mo’ Jam came on the scene.

The Mo’ Jam sessions began in 2013 at The Scarlet Tree before moving to Tiny Ninja Cafe in Fremont. After a remodel uprooted Mo’ Jam from Tiny Ninja, now Stone Way Café, Gilkeson tried her hardest to keep the session in the neighborhood. She alludes that the Center of the Universe has something of a special flare to it that attracts nightlife more about a mix of community than other parts of the hill.

Nectar Lounge, though it had historically been closed on Mondays, agreed to host the sessions. Now over a year since Mo’ Jam’s first session on April 22, 2014, Nectar has increased its Monday night staffing to accommodate Gilkeson’s event.

“Mo’ Jam has been growing in notoriety over the last twelve months,” explains Jed Smithson, owner of Nectar. In addition to a second bartender and security, they have since incorporated Nectar’s PA system and an in-house engineer for each Monday night, aiming for a sound quality that pleases the crowd mostly comprised of musicians.

“The noticeable growth of this event is truly attributable to the artists that perform here every night and the passion and drive that Morgan has shown over the last twelve months,” Smithson adds.

Endorsements have started to find their way to Gilkeson’s gig. American Music, within walking distance of Nectar, contacted Mo’ Jam in September and has generously backed the event with gear and support. Perhaps the most distinctive Mo’ Jam sponsor, North Coast Brewing, allows Gilkeson to boast Thelonious Monk’s face in the visual projections haloing the Nectar stage. Their Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale is a feature.

Gilkeson’s weekly gig as the heart and soul of Mo’ Jam demands a little less than 30 hours a week of her time. Yet the jam remains cover-free, only recently with a suggested donation.

“I’m good on bread and butter,” Gilkeson assures. In the mornings, she is a barista at Greenwood’s Café Lulu. She also accompanies on percussion for the Pacific Northwest Ballet at local preschools, newly signed on for a six-month residency. “I always wanted to be a broke jazz drummer.”

After the Washington-native took to drumming for the Mountlake Terrace High School jazz band, she received a scholarship for Central Washington University’s jazz program. Gilkeson left for Harlem, growing bored of what college offered her, only to return to the West Coast for the Port Townsend Centrum Jazz Camp. She has studied under renowned drummers, including Jeff Hamilton, Jon Wikan, Matt Wilson, Garey Williams, and Gary Hobbs.

Gilkeson attributes the height of her drumming to Daniel Barry and her opportunities in the past years playing for SWOJO.

“In two years [Morgan’s] instincts have really developed,” Barry writes. “Now she always has her own party going on…Morgan has blossomed into one of SWOJO’s brightest personalities, musically and otherwise.”