“Thank you for coming. We are Jazz Out West. This is a wonderful start to the post-COVID look. It’s wonderful to have you folks out.”
Jim Wyse, like all musicians, has been longing for the day when piano and horn players, and drummers, and bassists, and lyricists could get back on stage and perform live.
The pandemic made that impossible for many artists, that is, until Venables Theatre in Oliver officially kicked off its Venables Live concert series last Friday evening.
Jazz Out West, which includes Wyse on piano, Bob Larratt on the stand-up bass, Bob Park on drums, Dave Esler on trumpet and singer Iris Larratt, played two live shows, one of which was sold out at a maximum of 50 tickets.
“I also want to make special mention to Leah and Aimee with Venables Theatre who made all of this happen. They’re worked very hard. And this is a start on the way back,” continued Wyse. “It’s wonderful, no question about it. It was fun to play with people. I mean, we practice by ourselves, and try to keep sharp – but it just isn’t the same unless you have a live, responding crowd or audience.”
That audience consisted of around 12 people for the first show, which was added after the initial show sold out its 50 tickets – a vast difference to the hundreds Jazz Out West might play for in normal times.
“It was still fine. We knew the story. There were people out here, and our job was to play the music,” said Wyse. “We tend to get focused on what we’re supposed to be playing, and you can’t get distracted by whether there’s an audience or not. Yes, you do respond to that somewhat, but it’s more for us to focus on the performance, so we really get locked into that.”
Jazz Out West has been playing together for more than 10 years, and has a list of 300-plus tunes.
“We do them all,” said Wyse. “It’s not like we need the practice to know what we’re supposed to do. It’s more like, it’s just fun to get out there and play and keep in your mind to listen to what the other person is doing. It’s a team game.”
While Wyse, Larratt and Park regularly perform as a trio, adding Iris Larratt whenever possible, Esler isn’t always on stage with Jazz out West.
That’s because he lives in Vancouver, where he is a medical doctor at St. Paul’s Hospital, dealing with trauma issues daily.
For Esler, playing jazz on stage is the perfect stress relief.
“Like many medical doctors, I have a passion for music. It’s very calming,” said Esler. “I’m essentially a failed musician who took a day gig as an emergency doctor. I’ve had a dual career for 35 years. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Esler actually got called to duty near the end of the second show, when Iris Larratt fainted on stage, leaving band members and the audience in a momentary state of shock, and Esler on his knees attending to the fallen singer.
“Iris is fine. She fainted, and she had trouble with her heel. She’s recuperating,” said Dr. Esler. “She feels like she kind of let down her public, because she takes performing seriously. She’s a pro right. She prepares mentally and physically for every gig.”
Larratt was fine, and Jazz Out West signed off to a standing ovation.
“This is a motivator,” summarized Wyse. “It’s so important to get people out. It’s fun for us to play.
“It’s good for performers to play, whatever their musical choice is.”
And there are plenty of musical choices coming up in the Venables Live concert series.
Click here to check out the fall line-up.
