Yesterday was Wilhelm Friedmann Bach's (the eldest son of the famous Johann Sebastian Bach) birthday. He is regarded a genius at the organ, playing, improvising and composing. (I know this is true because I read it on Wikipedia.) That, however is not the point of this post. That is just the engine. Let's get to the caboose.
What was "improvising" on an organ in the early- to mid-1700s? Did he riff off the main theme of a hymn in the middle of Mass? Did he get together with a few violinists and a French horn player and have jam sessions? If he did, did they call them "jam sessions"?
Turns out the only question I can definitively answer is the last: No.
Which brings us to the caboose: the term 'jam session' originates in America in 1933 in reference to jazz.
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