The opening festivities for Whanganui’s International Jazz Day celebrations have featured jam sessions @ Porridge Watson for the past two years. These proved so entertaining that owner Tony Sundeman decided to feature them regularly on the third Sunday of the month.
Piano wizard Chris Dann, of Palmerston North, leads the house band with Berndt Reiss on bass and Michael Franklin-Browne on drums. Local musicians are invited to come to the club and “jam with the band”.
Trumpeter Richard Singleton and saxophonist Hadleigh Shaw, both members of the Whanganui Jazz Orchestra, have featured in recent sessions. Tenor sax student Joe Kennedy, 20, drove from Taihape to play last month. Vocalists Dan Fearn and Annie Keating have participated as well as guitarist Chris Salmon.
Jam sessions became “a thing’”in urban centres in America in the early/mid-20th century, when many clubs featured live music every night. Musicians would meet after their performances to keep the music flowing all night. The sessions came to prominence when jazz musicians playing in dance bands took the opportunity to get together and concentrate on improvised music. In Whanganui, 100 years later, and 15,000 kilometres away, enthusiasts take inspiration from these pioneers and do it their way.
The next session will be Sunday, October 15. The band kicks off at 6.30. There is no cover charge. Porridge Watson has a great menu and an excellent bar. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly, and the music is adventurous. Come on down and check it out. You never know who will appear on the stage to contribute to what is always an exciting performance by the Chris Dann Trio.
