In a world where it’s increasingly difficult to distinguish the authentic from the manufactured, we’re drawn to experiences that feel genuine, moments that allow us to slow down and fully connect.

The Tuesday night jam sessions at True Story Brewing in Birmingham, Alabama, offer such an experience. Moments in time, where the attention to detail is so meticulous, you might not even realize it’s what makes the evening feel so perfectly organic. At 7:30 p.m. on the dot, Birmingham-born trumpeter, bandleader and jam session founder José Carr and his quartet open the night, setting the tone before opening the stage to all musicians, many coming from all over the state and sometimes from across the country – eager to add their own expertise and flair to the melody.

The regular occurrence of the Tuesday night sessions is something you can rely on, and a high standard is always maintained. As a musician, unless you’ve put in the work or have spoken the language of jazz for years, you might not be motioned up to the bandstand. As Carr likes to say: “We don’t come to True Story to practice; we come to play.” All musicians are also encouraged to adhere to his dress code: “No tennis shoes or sweatpants worn on the bandstand.”

And that’s because Carr knows what he’s doing. He’s been doing it since the 1980s and is passing along his know-how to the younger musicians who look up to him. He’s particularly devoted to the careful process of passing down his wisdom, because he, too, was taught by the best of the Birmingham “bebop cats,” musicians loyal to bebop jazz, arguably one of the most difficult forms of the art: fast, complex and with a strong emphasis on improvisation. Again, you have to speak the language to play. But the exciting combination of finesse and creativity draws the audience in, allowing everyone to enjoy the music, even if they aren’t fluent.

You have to put the time in

One does not need a trained ear to realize that Carr and team’s skills are so practiced, so ingrained in memory that only a jazz expert can decipher tiny nuances. The quartet skillfully coaxes bebop melodies from their instruments – as they have hundreds of times before – beguiling the audience.

“The way I’m running my jam session is the way I was taught,” said Carr, whose high school band director played for trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong, one of the world’s most influential jazz figures. Carr’s father also owned a club in Birmingham that played jazz on Sundays, where he was influenced by some of the finest musicians who came to perform in the Magic City. Many of those artists had mastered techniques from jazz greats like John Coltrane, Art Blakey, Cannonball Adderley and Charlie Parker.

“This ain’t nothin’ new,” said the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame inductee. “Everything I’m doing, I learned from somebody. Just like they’re running a jam session in New York. You have to put that time in to play this stuff we play on Tuesday nights.

“And those guys, in that corner over there, they’ve done put some time in, and they still is,” Carr said, his gaze centered on the stage. “They playin’ real good. And so, even the young guy from Pelham – he just graduated from high school, the trombone player – he doesn’t know all the melodies. But he listens at the language. You call a tune now, the guys might look through their phone, and find the song; like back then, we had books.

“And that’s where I got it from,” Carr said.

Making a mark on the jazz landscape

Bebop veers toward a more intellectual and technical form of jazz, carving out an emotional depth that necessitates Carr’s diligence and command of the room. For instance, Tuesday nights are not for talking once the session is underway. Conversations cease, and the room is filled with the soulful sounds of the saxophone, the deep resonance of the bass, the bright and powerful piercing of the trumpet. It is a pleasure of the senses. The room can feel at once mesmerized, playful and solemn.

A recent documentary highlights José Carr and his longtime fellow musicians, like Bernard McQueen and Willie Jackson – the same piano player and bass player who’ve been playing with José for more than 40 years, since high school. There are many resources that underscore Birmingham’s significant role in the national and even global jazz landscape. Look into these stories. You may decide you’d like to play a part in the ongoing one, the future of jazz in the Magic City. Show up on Tuesday night at True Story Brewing and live inside the music for a moment. Support what is now considered a rare art, encourage the musicians, take pleasure in the beauty of the music. Even if we can’t all speak the language of jazz, the Tuesday night crowd at True Story gets to take part in their own sort of language.

José Carr’s Jazz Jam

Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m.

True Story Brewing

5510 Crestwood Blvd, Birmingham, AL 35212