| Hotels | | Thai links | | Search | | Advertise with us | | Contact us |
| |
|
Fabb Jazz Peggy Lee died last week. I know most of you heathens are saying Peggy who? I just mentioned that because a few days after her death I was reminded of her. I finally got to the Fabb Fashion Café on Saturday evening. Every time I take a cab down Phloenchit Road I see Fabb, on the corner of Soi Langsuan, complete with a sign that says live jazz and Italian food. Both I like, so a visit was a must. It was just a case of finding the moment. Fabb is in an expensive block and everything suggests this is not a place to go if the plastic is weak, or the wedge inadequate. When I wandered in, I was immediately impressed with the sounds from the stage, where a quartet backed a husky voiced jazz singer. The style was swing. This was a classy act and Lee and Shearing immediately sprung to my mind. In fact I could not quite lose the idea all evening. The band was piano, bass, drums and a versatile guy who played clarinet, sax and xylophone. The talented front line player, as opposed to the piano player, wore the dark glasses. It was a subtle sound, backing a good voice at a decibel count that allowed conversation. Fabb’s décor is clean and modern with a hint of art deco in the high ceiling and the round cornice over the stage. The walls were un-cluttered and tables well spaced and suitably smart. The next bit of good news was the food. I had pan fried foie grass, followed by an amazingly tender pork escalope with capers, in effect meuniere. My companion had calamari, fresh with crispy breadcrumbs, and duck breast with a delicious onion pie. The hiccup came with my pud. The apple strudel was wonderfully light and full of apples and raisins, a blob of ice cream was complimentary. So why cover the whole lot in chocolate sauce? I raised the issue with the Maitre d’ simply because everything had been so spot on. My companion and I drunk two bottles of wine so the final bill of 5,384 Baht was seemingly very reasonable. The place was by no means full, so I hope enough people go along to keep this first rate operation alive and thriving. I shall return. After this I grabbed a cab to the Monument and the Saxophone Jazz club. The place was nicely full and a band that seemed to be more rock than jazz wound up just after we arrived. The Bangkok Blues Band replaced them. The singer for the opening two numbers was a tiny girl called Gann. She fairly belted out the songs. As I was having an evening of comparing new with old I decided Gann got the Janis Joplin sound a like accolade. After two songs she reverted to bongos and backing vocals and a Rastafarian looking egotist took over. I was unimpressed with both him, and the band, which now seemed un-enthused and under arranged. A move was in order and I headed for unbridled enthusiasm. The Soi Dogs were packing them in at the Living Room (Clinton Plaza, Sukhumvit Road). There has been a personnel change in the Dogs with the two Americans going their separate ways. That is a pity because it has removed versatility, from the vocals in particular. However Jeff was in fine form and the Dogs howled out of their set with the raw brutality of hounds approaching the kill. On Sunday I headed for Rileys on Silom road, just down from Patpong on the corner of Soi Thanya. A jazz jam session was promised from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. This was also an opportunity to look at Silom Road as a walking street. There was a band making a horrible noise outside Macdonald’s. The noise echoed up and down the street wiping out the attempts of various buskers. This racket was still ringing in my ears as I wandered into Rileys, a good fifty yards away. Rileys was a haven of peace. The jam session was severely delayed by the non-arrival of the drummer. Les, formerly of the Soi Dogs, was present, as was Dr. Jazz. Eventually the drummer arrived, with the bass player, and proceedings got under way. Glen Terry, who actually makes his livelihood from the blues in Japan and Oz, showed us all why by performing a couple of numbers. Once it started it was a very pleasant jazz/blues session, that finished too early at the scheduled 8 p.m. Quite few people turned up to see the show and many hung around until it ended. With a one for two happy hour until 7 p.m., this is not a bad spot to while away a Sunday afternoon and listen to a little jazz……providing, of course, the band turns up at the right time! Mind you their enthusiasm could be assured by a little more funding from Riley’s management!
 To the Archive
Baronbonk.com - http://www.baronbonk.com (c) 2006 Baronbonk.com, Copyright notice
|
HOT ARTICLES
|
