My parents’ cable plan recently added BET Jazz to their lineup and I have been watching it a lot lately when I’m at home. One of the coolest things they’ve aired is a program called “Studio Jams.” The BET site describes it like this:

Studio Jams is an inside look at making music and many of the players are working with each other for the first time. Each 60 minute episode features a diverse group of accomplished jazz and blues musicians gathered together in a recording studio for the sole purpose of creating fresh, new music. Artists include: Tuck Andress & Joey DeFrancesco, Bela Fleck & Pat Martino, The Yellowjackets, Stanley Jordan and more.

The episode that I caught featured an unbelievably cool lineup of artists.

They just started jamming and working on different songs including Butter Biscuit, Dahlia, and Red Baron. The show includes lots of interviews with the musicians and they do a fantastic job of enlightening viewers about the creative process, their techniques, etc. According to the Studio Jams episode list, this was the seventh group of musicians that they brought together and there are 13 total episodes. I will definitely try to check this out whenever possible and would recommend every music lover do the same.