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Bass Jam
Popularized by: Led Zeppelin
Written by: (John Bonham/John Paul Jones/Jimmy Page/Robert Plant)
Year First Appeared: 1969
Lyrics: This is an intrumental
All Songs: View
All Pseudo Songs: View
Sort: By Performance Date
Performances in circulation: 21
Date Venue City Mode Length
Aug 18, 1969(2) The Rockpile Toronto, ON In Medley 01:00
Aug 31, 1969 Dallas International Speedway Lewisville, TX In Medley 00:25
Feb 28, 1970 K.B. Hallen Copenhagen In Medley 00:35
Mar 21, 1970 Pacific Coliseum Vancouver, BC In Medley 00:40
Aug 15, 1970 Yale Bowl New Haven, CT In Medley 00:44
Aug 17, 1970 Hampton Roads Coliseum Hampton, VA In Medley 00:50
Aug 21, 1970 Assembly Center Tulsa, OK In Medley 02:10
Sep 02, 1970 Oakland Coliseum Oakland, CA In Medley 01:00
Sep 03, 1970 Sports Arena San Diego, CA In Medley 02:00
Sep 04, 1970 The Forum Inglewood, CA In Medley 01:10
Sep 09, 1970(2) Boston Garden Boston, MA In Medley 00:30
Sep 19, 1970(1) Madison Square Garden New York, NY In Medley 00:20
Sep 19, 1970(2) Madison Square Garden New York, NY In Medley 01:00
Mar 06, 1971 The National Stadium Dublin In Medley 00:45
May 03, 1971 K.B. Hallen Copenhagen In Medley 01:15
Aug 21, 1971 The Forum Inglewood, CA In Medley 00:30
Aug 22, 1971 The Forum Inglewood, CA In Medley 01:30
Sep 03, 1971 Madison Square Garden New York, NY In Medley 01:10
Sep 04, 1971 Maple Leaf Gardens Toronto, ON In Medley 00:55
Jun 27, 1977 The Forum Inglewood, CA In Medley 00:29
Jul 17, 1977 The Kingdome Seattle, WA In Medley 01:38
Audio Samples
'Led Zeppelin' Version from 'Sep 04, 1970'
Song Notes

The Bass Jam is a Pseudo Song created to describe an instrumental section in many Communication Breakdown medlies from mid 69 up to September of 71. It was performed on and off during this period.

The golden era of the Bass Jam was September of 1970 when it sometimes led into or out of the very rare performances of Good Times Bad Times most famously at the Los Angeles Forum on September 4th 1970.

The Bass Jam is not really a Bass solo in most cases as the guitar and drums were still following along the groove. Defining the beginning and end of the performances was a judgement call, but I basically tried to map out the sections where Jones stopped playing the bassline of the song and started improvising off on his own. Basically he started to solo while the band was still playing and they would pull back and let him take the lead for a while.

The single performance of this song after September of 71 was during an off the cuff imrpovisation during the accoustic set at the Seattle Kingdome in 1977 when Plant and Jones passed the time while Jimmy changed a broken string. This particular acoustic performance of the song is completely unlike all of the other performances of the song, but it was a Bass Jam of sorts so I included it in the list.