Jazz in the Air | Chapter 11 @Cafe de Paris

(photos by Lina Ejeilat)

Reflections on Chapter 11′s latest Jazz gig
I was privileged to have attended Chapter 11’s latest Jazz gig at Café de Paris with the company of all the good friends.
I have been receiving Yacoub’s invitations for quite a while but I was deterred by life’s off-beats from retreating into its grooves. But the recorded sounds of Jazz that I listen to daily strive to break from monotonous repetition, from continuing to be what it once has been.

Jazz calls for a narrator, an interpreter as it is a novel built in sound; so I headed to Café de Paris last Friday to capture the sound, built into stories by five wonderful musicians.
The first notes struggled to depart from the passive aura of the city, crowdedness and dissimulated noise. They picked up the sounds, played chords and then jumped into modes, built up a melody and suddenly it’s Stan Getz’ Girl from Ipanema! The music pulled the people slowly into its domain, harmony was sensed in the air ruptured with few missed notes every now and then.
The music was soothing, yet doubtful – each had expectations, musicians and audience. Even alcohol had to anticipate the buzzing mood!
The break after first session was a gap for tidying up, it was as if everyone recaptured the moment, revised what has been played and re accumulated their senses and the rest was something else!

My friend asked them to play Cantaloupe Island, a Jazz standard by Herbie Hancock- and there it was breaking from and building back into melody, and at each time it broke to free-formed solos it picked layers of energy, passion and collective vibes lifting it at every verse to a complex state of musical ecstasy!

All I could say is that there was Jazz in the air!
Thanks to Chapter 11 for taking us there- Yacoub, Aram, Shadi, David and Tareq; all the energy, groove and good vibes sent your way!

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