It turns out I love jazz. Sure, I’ve picked up Billie Holiday, Chet Baker, and Miles Davis and loved their catalogues, but there’s *nothing* like sitting 10 feet from a trio of crazy-talented musicians in a joint as cool as The Jazz Room.
After connecting with Stephen Preece and other peeps in the Grand River Jazz Society earlier this year, I started a happy journey following their progress as they did the very hard thing of creating a not-for-profit that brings massive value to the community. Well, tonight, they’ve come a long way from setting the stage and re-animating the piano. The limited-audience sneak peek Thursday night offered a promising glimpse of what is bound to be one of Waterloo’s new hot spots.
The first thing you should know is…
it took a lot of sweat, stress, and creativity by a whack of people to get this far. Stephen, Valerie Beyer, Jason White, Phil Bast, Tom Nagy, and dozens of other were packing…
the venue…
tonight.
Based on all the smiles…
it looks like…
a dynamite hit.
There were a couple tables still open when we rolled in at 8, but by 9…
it was standing-room only.
This piano looks a lot different than when I last saw it being rebuilt. I’ll bet there’s a story about getting this 7-foot grand piano into the building and up on stage. It sounds amazing!
Interesting phenomenon of my camera lens (I guess): the tri-colour spot appears projected out a few feet from the housing. In mid-air.
It’s possible I have a cymbal fetish.
This ground-floor space in the Huether has so much built-in history, it’s already…
a joint.
Case in point: the notorious Matan brothers.
Great mix of different players throughout the night.
My experiments shooting moving objects in very low light with no flash or tripod continue. Happy accident here with overexposure.
From the bar side of the joint.
Phantom Hilary also shootin’ pics.
Can hardly wait to go back.
Happy (music) making,
DW
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Darin,
Thanks for the great post and shout-out to the amazing group that made last night’s “Pre-Opening Sneak Peek” a reality.
So glad you and Lisa could join us! Glad you enjoyed yourselves — we had a blast and were so excited to see everyone fill up the joint! The music… what can I say… it was AWESOME!!! Maybe I’m biased but I think not 😉 Everyone can expect more fabulous music like this every Friday and Saturday night beginning in September.
Can’t wait to see people out regularly at The Jazz Room. Just a reminder, tickets are going fast for the opening performances on Sept 9 Larry Larson + The Jazz Guys and Sept 10 Mike Murley Septet. Tickets can be purchased in advance (only $20!) at Words Worth Books in Uptown Waterloo.
The full line-up of acts and artists can be found at The Jazz Room website: http://www.KWJazzRoom.com
Thanks again Darin — looking forward to seeing you guys out again at The Jazz Room very soon!
Congratulations – looks like you are all off to a fabulous start! Bet all the hard work was well worth it. Will look forward to hearing more as the months go by – maybe even a video clip or two.
Cheers,
Margaret
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