Hot Nights, Cool Jazz – Chiang Mai, Thailand

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…I don’t know what happened, OK? I got up, and took the mic, and after about a dozen notes I realised I was… just a tad… off-key. Maybe I was too sober..?
There is nothing quite as traumatic as being given a pitying glance by good musicians when you are a tad off-key…

In one week I’ve been to six different awesome live music venues. Chiang Mai’s live scene is busy.
Standouts of the week’s music binge were Northgate Jazz Co-op, Riva Bar, and Boy Blues Bar (where I disgraced myself by playing off-key in the jam session).

(Top pic: Anna at Riva Bar. Anna has the enviable ability to stay in tune at all times.)

Monday is jam night at Boy Blues Bar. The house band – including Boy, the owner of the joint – take to the stage and anyone who is game can jump up and join them.
I don’t know what happened, OK? I got up, and took the mic, and, usually at that point, I switch the mic off and just play a couple of bars, to make sure I’ve got the right harp. But for some reason, on Monday night, I just jumped right in, and after about a dozen notes I realised I was… just a tad… off-key. Maybe I was too sober? Whatever. The thing is the players at Boy Blues Bar jam night are good. There is nothing quite as traumatic as being given a pitying glance by good musicians when you are a tad off-key. In my haste to leave the stage I managed to knock someones beer on the floor. I’m not very safe around low tables.
The parts of the night when I was sitting down were extremely entertaining, and the place was packed. Mix of farang and local players. Boy himself, the eponymous owner, plays like Bruce Lee and Jimi Hendrix’s love child.

(Below: Boy, the eponymous owner of Boy Blues Bar, playing like a mutant.)

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(Above: the house band blowing out some smokey blues at Boy Blues Bar’s jam night.)
(Below: brassy jazz at Northgate Jazz Co-op.)

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If you like your music loud, if you like brass, if you get misty panted when you hear a sax riff, then you will love Northgate Jazz Co-op.
“The Northgate” has an almost legendary status amongst the people of Chiang Mai, locals and farang alike. If you know that “The Northgate” is a Jazz Bar, as well as a bridge, then you have taken a baby step towards being hip in this burg. I went back twice, and both nights the place was packed to the rafters, and had punters sitting on scooters outside, even in the rain, to hear the bands. It’s a tiny shop-front with a tiny bar, but the music is huge. Drums, bongos, two bass, two sax, two guitars, clarinet… It’s an embossed velvet papered, wall of jazz.
Drinks are cheap, and the crowd is beautiful. Some of Chiang Mai’s most glamorous and celebrated citizenry hang here on jam night.

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(Above: the Northgate attracts a chic crowd…)
(Below: …and lots of ’em.)

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(Below: Anna doing Amy Winehouse at Riva.)

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I walk into Riva Bar to get a hamburger. The burgers at Riva have a well deserved reputation. Rare, fresh, tasty.
There’s a pair of guitarists playing classic rock and ballads. They’re good. When they take a break, I say “hi” and ask if I can play a song with them. We play most of the next bracket together and it’s great fun. After, we have a beer together. They invite me to come back and play with them again the next night.

I arrive at Riva a bit early, cause I don’t know exactly when they start.
The boys are at the bar, chatting with a pretty girl.
“This is Anna” they inform me. “She plays her set early. She just finished.”
I shake Anna’s hand. We all chat about music and travel for a bit. I tell them about my writing.
The boys go onstage, and Anna collects her things to go.
“Why don’t you come jam with me tomorrow night?” she asks me.
“I’d love to!” I say.
The lads and I have a great session. They do a lot of music I love, like Dylan, Springsteen, Stones, Beatles. Great fun. Awesome harmonica music.

Thursday, I arrive at Riva about half way through Anna’s set. She and her guitarist are having a cigarette on the grass median strip beside the old moat. It’s a warm, humid, Chiang Mai night. The sky is full of stars, and the temple spires are lit up gold on the horizon.
Anna is wearing a simple black dress, which sets off her twenties style haircut. She asks me what I want to play.
“I’ll just jam along with whatever you do” I tell her. “Just let me know the key of the song, if you can. That will make my life easier.”

We play a good hour together. It’s excellent. Anna is an intensely good singer. She improvises and riffs with me. She and her guitarist are both very accomplished musicians, and playing with them is both challenging and also reassuring. I can feel them listening, and it really sharpens my own ears.
Anna has a repertoire that includes Amy Winehouse, Dusty Springfield, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. We play a lot of slow burn songs, and I have to work hard and focus my playing.
I make a few mistakes, but I can tell the other two enjoy the jam anyway. Afterwards, a few of the punters come over to the stage to congratulate Anna. A couple of them even give me compliments.

When the set is over and we are saying goodbyes, I give Anna my number.
“If you want to get together and jam just for fun, give me a buzz”.
“Well, you can always find me here” she says, smiling.

This morning, three days after I jammed with Anna, I get a call from an unknown number.
“Hi. It’s Anna. From Riva” she says in her clear, slightly British sounding, English.
“Hi! How you going?”
“Good, thank you. You?”
“Yeah. I’m good. Been doing a lot of writing.”
“Your book?”
“Yes. And the blog also.”
“That’s wonderful” she says, and I can hear the smile in her voice.
“Yeah. It’s good. I’m getting stuff done.”
“After work tonight, I’m going to a jam session at a friend’s gallery. Would you like to come and play with us?”
“Yes! Absolutely. Sounds awesome.”
“OK. I’ll pick you up after I finish work. Unless you want to come play with me again at Riva tonight?”
“Of course. I’d like that a lot. Thanks. See you tonight then.”
“Yay. See you tonight.”

OK! I guess I passed the audition.
Another baby step toward Chiang Mai hip-ness.

(Below: This photo hangs above the stage at The Northgate Jazz Co-op. Yep. That’s the King of Thailand playing the horn. The King was known to be a keen musician and photographer in his youth. He probably took the picture himself with a timer. So, that would make this a royal selfie.)

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>> Next post: Arty Jam. Anna and I have a play date at the gallery.
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Turning Forty
Arty Jam - Chiang Mai, Thailand