Thursday March 28th, 2024
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New Jazz, Same Jazz Club

Hoping to light a spark underneath Egypt's Jazz music scene and really get things fired up, Adham Roshdy is joining the Wave Jazz Band for one special night at CJC, this Sunday. We talk to Roshdy to find out more...

Staff Writer

Every Sunday at Cairo Jazz Club is Jazz night. It has been as such since the dawn of time. Most of the pretty little things, who go to fist pump and clap along to the House maestros at the venue during the week, were still on the swings at the nady when CJC hosted their first Jazz night, just to put things in perspective. As such, they know a thing or two about curating the best Jazz Egypt has to offer but as much as we love sitting at bar with a trilby, clicking our fingers and having a swing dance to an fiery scattershot rhythm, the idea of going out to listen to Jazz seems, in this country, reserved mainly for the enthusiasts.

A new project which kicks off on the CJC stage this Sunday is hoping to widen the scope of the audience and ensure a special twist to the genre that’ll make Cairo Jazz Club, well, a Jazz Club. The Wave Jazz Band, originally an instrumental Jazz band, who’ve been performing around town for a few years have teamed up with frontman of Rock and Funk band Spunky Dynamite, Adham Roshdy. “I've always been fascinated by such a profound genre, but it was Hany El-Azhary (Wave Jazz Band Drummer) who actually guided me into performing it. Back then, it was Hany who proposed to me the idea of performing a few Jazz tunes with a Funky/Rrock arrangement.”

The new project take well known Jazz tunes and re-arrange them, “funkify” them as Roshdy explains it, and deliver the songs with a alternate interpretation, adding some soul and, of course some spunk, “yet still preserving the elements of Jazz music like its vivid harmonies.” They’ll also be throwing in a couple of Swing tunes and some tear-jerking ballads in there too. With Roshdy on vocals, Sherif Elian on the double bass, Tarek Raouf on the trumpet, Faisal on the keyboards and Sherif Watson strumming away on guitar, they're bound to bring something quite unique. But will that revive a genuine passion for Jazz among Cairo’s fickle crowds? “I've been noticing, for the past few years, that Jazz does have a pretty good fan base in Egypt," Roshdy told us. “The thing is, Jazz is one of the elements that constitutes the underground music scene in Egypt... the more support and spotlight the underground receives, the more this will positively affect Jazz, as well."

You can book for Adham Roushdy and The Wave Jazz Band at Cairo Jazz Club on 24th of November online with Tazkarty.net here