Quiet please, we're playing

Long ignored by most of the city’s independent mainstream venues, Bangkok’s hard bop fans now have a place to call their own at Black, a newly opened jazz bar on Sukhumvit Soi 33. Manned by veteran jazz trumpeter, Idrees, the bar is located on the second floor of Nuam Complex opposite Novotel Lotus Hotel. The dim though not smoky bar offers a simple but comfortable ambience where you can enjoy jazz without any distractions. Unlike many so-called jazz clubs that serve up pop with saxophone sounds in the background, Black is committed to bringing real American jazz to the Bangkok music scene. “It’s actually a jazz listening room,” New Yorker Idrees says. “A lot of places put a sign outside announcing they have live band, but that’s not the main reason why people will hang out there. Jazz in many places is background music. This is a space where jazz and the band are the main focus. People don’t come here to drink and party.” Indeed, partying would be out of the question, as the bar has a strict “whisper policy” during the performance with everyone requested to keep their voices down. Idreees’ dad is a trumpet player who helped form The Jazz Messengers with the legendary Art Blakey. Though the group has long been disbanded, the jazz legacy passed down to Idrees, though he took a while to realise that the sound was in his blood. “I didn’t grow up with my father and my listening background was totally rock and roll,” he says. “I even took a nine-to-five job in IT at Silicon Valley, which paid very well. Then I started to play trumpet as a hobby. You think you can work during the day and play at night and do both jobs well, but at the end of the day you need to be professional, or semi-professional. And jazz started to grow on me.” The self-taught trumpet player then quit his day job to go professional, playing in clubs and bars and making connections along the way. In 2002 he found a new home in Bangkok and has been here ever since. “For a jazz musician to have his own club is very rare. It doesn’t happen much. It’s because we tend to travel around a lot, and mainly because we can’t afford it,” he says. He’s also well aware of the challenges he faces in the city’s tough nightlife business. “I know it’s hard. There’s so much competition in Bangkok and there are already some established places where people go, but we hope to provide a different experience along with good jazz.” Jazz fans can listen to Idrees and his quartet Thursday through Sunday nights. Idrees sings and leads the band, which has a total of 15 local, independent musicians rotating. No night is ever the same. The bar offers a variety of cocktails and wine but there’s no kitchen. Punters can however order in from Basilico Pizzeria next door.