If you prefer your music to be a soundtrack to getting shitfaced and ogling drunk backpackers, Blue Birdy nights are not for you. The regular Wednesday jazz club at the Buddha Bar provides a welcome alternative to the clubs and pubs along the main strip of Byron. It's an intimate venue where the focus is on the music - think Sydney's "The Basement" but more low key.
It's not unusual for some of the musicians to play a teaser in the courtyard of the backpacker bar outside. When I travelled Europe I was followed everywhere by Mambo No. 5. Then in South America / Asia I was hounded by The Gasolina. Any opportunity to get away from the backpacker party scene and hear something real was welcome. I noticed a lot of appreciative nodding going on in the audience as the five piece flowed through Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, and Charles Mingus. The drum solo in the finale, a rendition of a Joe Zawinaul piece, deserves special mention... as it was very long and very good. This week, The East Coast Jazz Collective featured Al Hicks (The Strides) on drums, Nick Garbett (The Strides, Watussi) on trumpet, Thierry Fossemalle on double bass, Matt Smith on guitar and Mitch Carey (Lisa Hunt) on tenor sax.
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