Since roaring out of the collegiate confines of Big Rapids, Mich., a mere eight years ago, Ultraviolet Hippopotamus has energized the national and international Jam community with a diverse stylistic range and a raucous and freewheeling approach to its live presentation.    

In 1997, members from two popular Notre Dame University bands explored their inner Jam children, concocting a new entity dubbed Umphrey’s McGee. Although UM quacked like a Jam duck, they incorporated more Prog, Metal and Hard Rock influences than their gentler brethren, expanding the Jam palette considerably. In recent years, UM’s Prog leanings have expanded in the studio and he band also showed it could dial things back for the acoustic quietude of 2006’s Safety in Numbers.   

Dave Matthews is understandably fond of Soldiers of Jah Army, or SOJA as they’ve been acronymed. The Arlington, Va., quintet has a similar grass roots success story, after all. SOJA has opened for M  

Officially, Philadelphia-rooted Psychedelic/Garage Rock outfit Purling Hiss consists of three members, but the brain stem of the whole affair is undoubtedly singer/guitarist Mike Polizze. The project is  the product of Polizze messing around with a grab bag of elements, from sound levels to white noise to the song structures.  

If Bluegrass comes from Kentucky and Blues is from Memphis, where does Jam Band music come from?  If you’re a Lotus fan, it comes from Indiana. Lotus formed at Goshen College in 1999 and quickly gained fans with their synth-y, electronic take on Jam.