Schulich alumni celebrate two years of jazz nights in St. Henri
Jam sessions have long been a cornerstone of jazz communities in cities around the world. In addition to offering playing and networking opportunities for the participants, they also act as a chance for anyone who shows up to celebrate the music they love.
In Montreal, there were three main jams for many years 鈥� Monday鈥檚 session at Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill, Diese Onze on Tuesday nights, and Grumpy鈥檚 Bar on Wednesdays. These events mostly took place around downtown Montreal, so there was an opportunity for a jam to open up in another of the city鈥檚 neighbourhoods.
Upon graduating from Schulich, guitarist Sam Kirmayer (B.Mus 2016) sought to establish such a session in his neighbourhood of St. Henri. After finding a home at Pub Epoxy every Sunday night, the jam soon established a reputation as one of the city鈥檚 not-to-miss sessions, attracting a crowd of Montreal students as well as Canadian jazz icons like Kevin Dean and Christine Jensen, and international greats such as Peter Bernstein and Ben Paterson when they were passing through town.
Now entering its second consecutive year as of this Sunday, August 12, Kirmayer explained that the session has been a highly rewarding project on both personal and professional levels.
鈥淩unning the jam session at Pub Epoxy has really been a powerful experience. The bar is a few blocks from my apartment and playing there every week has given me an opportunity to get involved with my local community in a way I hadn鈥檛 anticipated. I鈥檝e met a lot of musicians through the jam, but also neighbours and residents of the area from all sorts of different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, some of whom have become good friends. There鈥檚 no cover charge at Epoxy, which has made the music accessible to an audience that would probably never make it into a jazz club. Being a musician can sometimes feel like a pretty isolated and self-centered lifestyle, so I鈥檓 really grateful that we鈥檝e been able to build such strong sense of community around the jam.鈥�
In typical jam session format, each jazz night at Epoxy begins with a set of music by the house band, which has consistently featured fellow Schulich alumni Val茅rie Lacombe on drums (B.Mus 2018) and bassist Jonathan Chapman (M.Mus 2018) over the course of the past while. However, the two-year anniversary announcement came with more exciting news that鈥檚 sure to build the jam鈥檚 momentum 鈥� Schulich jazz professor Andr茅 White will be joining the group on Epoxy鈥檚 brand-new piano each week.
With a group like this leading the proceedings and such a positive atmosphere for the development of Montreal鈥檚 jazz community, let鈥檚 hope there鈥檚 many more years of jazz in St. Henri to come.
Come celebrate Jazz Night in Saint Henri鈥檚 this Sunday, August 12 from 8:30pm onwards at Pub Epoxy (4210 Rue St. Jacques).
