Jazz on the menu at Supper Club
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THINK of jazz and it is the Mississippi rather than Merkinch which is most likely to spring to mind, but that could be about to change.
Merkinch Community Centre is to become home for its own regular jazz Supper Club with music from traditional to contemporary.
Its arrival will be marked with an opening weekend festival on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th November.
This will feature an all star band led by Rick Taylor, whose own career has ranged from working with American jazz greats to Skye folk fusionists the Peatbog Faeries, Scottish contemporary jazz stars the award-winning Brass Jaw, and Inverness’s own Highland Hot Club, who launch their debut album early next month.
The festival and Supper Club are being put together under the title of The Jazz Space by Ruth Fisher from Conon Bridge, the long time director of the Aberdeen Youth Festival, and Merkinch Community Centre’s Elsie Normington with the help of experienced north music promoter Rob Ellen.
"Now I’m back home for a while I thought it was my time to put something back," Fisher explained.
"Jazz is my love and our aim is to produce and promote regular events that create a space and make a place for experiencing live jazz. I’m inspired by the whole concept of ‘the third place/space’ as I want to encourage a sense of community, belonging and inclusiveness in all that I do. Jazz sometimes gets a reputation for being exclusive, pretentious and maybe even difficult to understand or listen to. I would like to show you that in fact it needn’t be any of these things — I think it’s just great music!"
Normington explained that the original concept was a spin-off from the centre’s weekly social gathering for local residents.
"A lot of older people enjoy jazz music," she said.
"There’s a gap in the market where people can come together for food, drink and music. Out of that germ of an idea came the idea of the club and we are delighted to have people like Ruth and Rob working with us to make it happen."
The Supper Club will be a monthly event, taking place on the last Saturday of each month from January.
Though the inspiration came from older people’s love of more traditional jazz, all ages will be welcomed to socialise, drink, eat, dance and listen to live music drawn from across the jazz spectrum.
In keeping with the name, a light supper will be served before the main concert takes place in Merkinch Community Centre’s purpose-built theatre space. This can accommodate up to 200 people cabaret style with space to dance as well as an open plan cafe/bar foyer area.
Each monthly concert will present a headline act and local and regional musicians.
"There are some great musicians in the area and we have asked them to come and showcase what they can do, but it also provides a service for people who want to come and dance."
There are also plans to broadcast jazz on the internet and the Supper Club already has a website at www.thejazzspace.com where Fisher pays tribute to two important figures in the promotion of jazz in the Highlands: Ken Ramage, the founder of the Nairn International Jazz Festival, who died earlier this summer, and former Inverness Courier editor Jim Love, secretary of Platform Jazz.
"We hope to honour their memories as passionate champions of jazz who shared a desire to encourage local audiences and introduce them to the very best that this musical genre has to offer," Fisher writes.
However, she is also aware that others are also working today to promote jazz in the Highlands with Highland Hot Club hosting their own regular Blue Note Nite at La Tortilla Asesina on Castle Street and the Bl’azz series of Sunday afternoon concerts at Eden Court, and has no intention of setting up in opposition to them.
"We are not about having people in their own small corner doing their own events," she said.
"What we want to do is bring people together and a community centre is ideal for doing that — that’s what community centres have always done."
November’s launch festival will give an idea of what to expect from the monthly Supper Club.
"I think it’s important that in the launch weekend we have a selection of different brands of jazz because it’s such a broad genre," Fisher said.
What’s happening at the festival weekend
The Jazz Space Launch Festival Weekend begins on Friday 11th November with supper served from 6pm and the main concert beginning at 8pm with Brass Jaw, winners of the Contemporary Band of The Year and Album of The Year titles at the 2011 Scottish Jazz Awards.
Support comes from The Highland Hot Club, who combine Latin rhythms with the harmonies of the great American Song Book and Gypsy swing, with a set taking in bossa nova, tango, country swing, rock, pop and classical.
Saturday’s musical offerings start at 3pm with an afternoon concert and workshop from The Sound Men — Highland guitar duo Isaac Sutherland and Hamish Roberts, fresh from their triumphant debut at Bute International Guitar Festival.
The Saturday evening main concert at 8pm is headlined by Rick Taylor’s six piece all star band.
Trombonist and arranger Taylor, whose credits include Mike Gibbs, John Surnam, American jazz legends Gil Evans and George Russell, Elton John, George Michael and Justin Currie, is more likely to be found these days playing with the Peatbog Faeries, The Unusual Suspects and Martin Green’s Green Machine.
The all star band he has assembled for the Merkinch launch features trombonist Michael Ouers, trumpet players Cameron Jay and Colin Steele (who leads his own quintet), guitarist Malcolm McFarlane, drummer Tom Bancroft and pianist Chick Lyall, a founder member of the acclaimed Green Room Trio.
Support comes from The Swing Cats.
A weekend pass with meal deal, providing tickets for all three concerts and supper on both nights, is available for £30 or £26 concession.
Tickets can be booked online using www.thebooth.co.uk or booked in advance from Merkinch Community Centre.
