A weekly jam in Lansdale gives area musicians a chance to test out their jazz chops.
By Jack Firneno
Wire Staff Writer
Last October, the Round Guys Brewery decided to shake things up by adding a little swing to their Wednesday nights.
This month marks the one-year anniversary of the Jazz Jam at the bar and microbrewery in Lansdale. Each week, bassist Mike Mahomet leads a quartet with drummer Alex Maio and Erik Loken on vibes, saxophone and flute, and alternately with Thomas Razler on saxophone or keyboardist Patrick Fink. The house band invites any other players who’d like to join in a spot in the lineup for a few songs.
“There’s a lot of pop and rock in Lansdale, but not too much jazz,” said Mahomet. “Round Guys had been putting on acts a few nights a week and wanted to try something different.”
The band sticks mostly to selections from The Real Book, the definitive list of jazz standards that most, if not all, jazz musicians know well enough to play even with people they’ve never met before. Accordingly, the night attracts friends of the house band and both music students and their teachers eager to try out their skills in a live, full band setting.
“There are many players that don’t really get a chance to play in groups because they don’t have those connections around here,” explained Mahomet. “We’ve even had some pro players come in to visit from places like Boston or Washington, D.C. to see what it’s about.”
For Mahomet, who also performs in Code Redd, a pop and rock cover band, the weekly Jazz Jam lets him explore a different facet of music. “I love my cover band, but this is totally different. It’s very refreshing and very unstructured,” he said. ”Jazz itself really allows you to express yourself in ways other music doesn’t. We play some of the same songs every week but they’re totally different each time. They change with the audience, the people playing that night, takes the music in different, always unexpected directions.”
Like most of his band and some of the regulars on Wednesday nights, Mahomet started learning the style six years ago thanks to an ongoing workshop that Montgomery County Community College was holding at the time.
“I always loved jazz but never really had an opportunity to play it,” explained Mahomet, who performed in blues and rock bands for decades. “The workshop gave me a kick start. Friends of mine were all rock and pop musicians. So that was the first chance I had to network with people who were not necessarily jazz players but wanted to learn.”
And, the player’s love of jazz seems to extend to patrons. “It’s been a hit,” said Round Guy Brewery owner Scott Riddich. “People are always excited that we have a jazz jam. They always bring the vibes, which is not something you see anymore that interests people.”
Attracting newcomers has been a satisfying part of the night for Mahomet as well. “We’ve had people walking down the street and see the vibes. They’ll walk in, hear the music and stay for a couple drinks,” he said. “You really don’t see that happening anywhere else in town.”
In fact, he said, you don’t see that in nearby towns like Ambler or even Doylestown, which allows the weekly jams to draw in people from those areas, too. “We’ve all made some new friends, some very good friends, through these jams,” said Mahomet proudly. Not only does the band never know what they’ll play, but, he added, “We never know who we’ll meet, either.”
