I have been spending some time in Willmar lately, for work. There is a music store there -Whitney Music- that hosts jams in the cafe right next door (Java N' Jazz). In fact, the same person owns both businesses. They host a general jam in the cafe on Mondays, 6-7 pm, and then a bluegrass jam on Saturday mornings, 9-11.
I don't attend the Saturday jam because I go back home for the weekends, but the Monday jam is nice, not too large (6-7 people, mostly guitars), and they appreciate a mandolin sitting in. No financial interest on my part, BTW. I was told that the Saturday bluegrass jam gets around 15 on average.
The first time I went to the cafe for dinner, there was birthday celebration for a guy who was 96 on that day. They had his photo up on the projection screen so I looked around the room (about 50 people in attendance) to see where he was. Well, the only one who resembled him was playing jazz piano! Sure enough, the 96-year-old was leading the jazz jam session on the piano! Totally amazing. I talked to the guy afterwards, and he said to me "Well, I started playing in 1935, and I think I learned something!"
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