Manawatū Jazz Club’s Thursday-night Jazz Cafe moves to Palmerston North’s Aqaba

Easy Street Duo, vocalist Melissa Grey and guitarist Rob Bradshaw, perform at Aqaba for Jazz Cafe.

Brown cafes are traditional Dutch bars, named for the colour of their interiors.

Manawatū Jazz Club’s Thursday night Jazz Cafe is based on brown cafes and was the idea of the late GP Han Dijkstra.

Due to the closure of Viva Cafe & Bar, Jazz Cafe now meets 6pm-8pm at Aqaba in Broadway Ave.

There are eight or nine bands on the roster with a different band each week playing a variety of styles including swing, standards, mainstream and modern jazz.

Entry is free but a hat is passed around to subsidise the bands’ travel costs.

Manawatū Jazz Club president David Edge says Jazz Cafe is a way to carry on the cafe-scene element of the annual Manawatū Jazz & Blues Festival.

The club is happy with Aqaba’s ambience, acoustics, service and food.

Jazz Cafe is timed to catch people coming home from work, and began in 1993 at Lone Indian. Aqaba is the seventh venue.

People will say to Edge: “I don’t like jazz.” He will reply: “You’ve been listening to it for an hour.”

The city has an astonishing array of good musicians within a 20km radius. Young musicians coming through Manawatū high schools are “eye-wateringly good”.

Edge joined the club’s committee in 1993 and became president in 1997. He is standing down at the AGM on February 29.

Edge received a Civic Honour Award in 2017 for his services to jazz. At the time he said, “If you are interested in something, you want to give something back. You want to try and help.”

Jazz Cafe regulars the Bandwagon are made up of Ralph Sims (left, drums), Stuart Hubbard (sax), Mary Hammond (vocals), Derek Morris (bass and vocals) and James Greenblatt (guitar and vocals).

Stuart Hubbard plays sax for the Bandwagon. He says Aqaba’s layout allows musicians to create an intimate experience and the high ceiling is good acoustically.

Club days are held on the second Sunday of the month at Willow Park Tavern, 5pm-7pm.

Judith Lacy has been the editor of the Manawatū Guardian since December 2020. She graduated from journalism school in 2001, and this is her second role editing a community paper.