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Eldee Young, his ace piano player Taurey Butler and Shawn Kelley on drums return for another residency at the Sheraton Grande’s Living Room as the Randy Cannon Power Quartet departs after stunning audiences in a residency which also featured the awesome Shawn Kelley on drums; Randy’s brother Steve on trumpet and Sylvain Gagnon on bass. And what a gig that was!
The jam at the Imperial Queens Park is now on Monday nights at the Sundowner’s Bar in line with the Oriental Hotel’s Bamboo Room which has a jam session Mondays too from 10 PM. The weekly jazz jam at Brown Sugar is still on Sunday nights, as is the jam session with Marty Moony and the gang at Witch’s Tavern on Soi 55, Sundays at 7-8 PM.
At the Sukothai Hotel, all live music has now officially been abandoned as of June 1! No jazz...no covers...no music...period!
The good news is that the Hotel Plaza Athenee now has full-on jazz at the Lobby Bar from June 1, while maintaining a jazz format at Relexions restaurant on the second floor. That’s a net gain of one new jazz gig and the Bar gig features the very amiable and talented Brooks Giles on sax.
The house band at Brown Sugar is still Lito on drums, Teddy on bass and Mario Trane on guitar, with a singer midweek and local jazz superstar Gail Dila on vocals Friday and Saturday. Fridays also sees ‘Professor’ Nick La Fleur conducting his mini eight-piece jazz big band comprising students from the MIFA School of Jazz where Nick is head of the Jazz Faculty. And very tight and tuneful this talented young band is too!
Witch’s Tavern still plays host Sundays to the stately jam sessions presided over by Marty Moony on sax and various sideman fronting up for a free Carlsberg or two! Then the excellent William Jazz Band and William and his boys kick off around 10:00 PM.
The Bangkok Big Band now plays every first Sunday of the month at Londoner Brew Pub on Soi 33 and still plays every third Sunday at the Sundowner’s at Imperial Queen’s Park.
And every second Friday, Dale Lee ThompsonBand.jpgand his smooth trio play the Foreign Corespondents’ Club at Maneeya Center Penthouse from 7 PM.
For reggae lovers, there is the very cool hipster bar on Soi 24/1 called ‘ROOTS’, with the focus on reggae and world music, dub dance parties and genuine African food. This is a very nicely designed shrine to reggae, hip hop and rap and a real cool bar at which to hang. Go see for yourself...
More jazz gigs to watch out for...at the Dusit Thani Hotel, you can catch the Thanapat Jazz Band later in the week at the Lobby there and at the Pathumwan Princess Hotel other nights.
And don’t forget there is jazz and funk at Saxophone Mondays thru’ Wednesdays with the Arnon Jazz band and blues a-plenty Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 9 PM until 11 PM, with Chai and his Blues Maniacs followed by the Bangkok Blues Band fronted by the very talented Gann on vocals
Meantime, Fridays and Saturdays at 10 pm, sees Doctor Blues & Stoker John and friends including LG King host the acoustic blues session at Ken’s Blues Bar on Soi 24 at Suviporn Plaza, with Ken on harp! Cool stuff, fine blues, fine food and you can still have a conversation!
Sundays we are all over at O’Reilly’s Thairish Bar on Silom Road from 5 PM until 8 PM for the Doctor Blues Jam Sessions. Then at 9 PM Sundays we take off with the LIVE! jam at Larry’s Dive on Soi 22. Real North American food and real American music! Now you know where to go for some fine blues and a good time too!
Need some more smokin’ blues to cheer you up? Your first call at the weekends has to be the Saxophone Pub at Victory Monument, a world-renowned blues venue and a great pub with blues a-plenty Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 9 PM onwards.
The amazing Chai and his Blues Maniacs open the entertainment and this band delivers classic blues, Stevie Ray Vaughan favourites, Allman Brothers delights and even fine covers from the music of the greatest American band of all time, Little Feat!
Chai and his boys are followed by the very excellent BangkBluesJunkies.jpgok Blues Band with Gann on vocals and killer harp, and if you want to hear what Janis Joplin would sound like if she was still alive, this is the gig for you!
The city’s blues fans now have two venues to visit for their Sunday jam sessions again. The music kicks off at 5 PM Sunday afternoons at O’Reilly’s Irish Pub on Silom Road first and ends at 8 PM. This is a quieter jam hosted by Doctor Blues and with some fine players dropping by to shine, and the jam gives the musicians the opportunity to get together and front their ‘own’ band. Then it’s over to Larry’s Dive on Sukhumvit Soi 22 for the final sessions with great food, cool pool and nil football! All guitar players, harp players, drummers and singers are welcome at both jams.
But wherever they play,’Mekong’ Doctor Blues and the Groove Junkies entertain with hi-octane blues. This band of seasoned blues artists led by Doctor Blues and fronted by the U.K.’s Tony Wilson, deliver a fine show with blues of the highest standard and some fine playing from an international band.
The band, led by Doctor Blues and starring “London Calling” Tony Wilson on vocals, ‘Wan the Man’ on drums and LA’s finest, ‘Stoker’ John Dooley on 5-string bass, have played Tivoli Bar, Brown Sugar on Soi Sarasin, the city’s number one jazz venue, the Living Room at Clinton Plaza, Music Station at Bang Kapi, O’Reilly’s on Silom, Shenanigans on Soi Convent, Warbler on Soi 4, Saxophone Pub and other top notch gigs, delivering classic blues to the starving masses, wherever they play!
Fridays at Royal City Avenue, there is a blues jam from 9 PM at Overtone, where a cover charge of 150 baht for two drinks applies...and THEN you can jam them blues!
Some special events are happening this month also as the Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel presents female acapella singing group, Whim’n Rhythm, from Yale University in the U.S. and the Arnoma Hotel presents local Thai singing stars Pusacha and Pun in featured concerts. Whim’n Rhythm will perform on July 1-2 in the Lobby Lounge from 7-8 PM each night with no cover charge. Both jazz standards and newer contemporary pieces are preformed by this 12-member group.
Pusacha and Pun will perform on one night only, June 16, along with The Funk Machine Band as they sing ballads and pop standards. Tickets are available in advance at Asia Books and at the hotel.