Jam Band

The story so far.

Written and edited by Smokiller

Jam Band is a St. Thomas carnival band that grew out of Eddie and the Movements, a group led by Eddie Francis. The St. Croix Source lists its original members as Nick Friday, trumpeter Ambrose "Boots" Schmidt, Robert Leonard, Country Hamilton and Rick Francis on bass, and reports that the band took over the St. Thomas soca scene and won 20 consecutive Carnival Road March championships. A 2014 LargeUp feature credits Nicholas "Daddy" Friday and the band with 21 road marches and 19 albums, and says their fast tempo changed how calypso is played across the Eastern Caribbean, naming "Showtime" as a defining road march of that era. Friday died in 2005 and Schmidt in 2017. On Deezer the Jamband catalog includes Man Terrible (1995), Road Runner (1997) and We from De Vi (2004), plus live sets from Tortola, St. John and Atlanta. "Music from the VI" sits on the band's YouTube topic channel, and "Diamond" and "Lorraine" circulate in fan uploads.