Volume 27 Issue 1 - September / October 2021

JAZZ IN THE CLUBS
For the clubs it’s
not a moment
too soon
COLIN STORY
ORI DAGAN
Ah, September. Across the country – as books are cracked
open, backpacks are zipped up, and “”back to school”
carries a whole different set of connotations: a pervasive
sense of COVID-related anxiety weighing heavy on the collective
national consciousness. It still doesn’t quite feel as though things
are getting back to normal. It does, however, feel as though we’re
gradually heading in the right direction, further potential lockdowns
notwithstanding. Let’s hope so: for the venues I cover here, it’s a
knife-edge situation still.
As I have documented in multiple pieces over the last year, the
pandemic has been exceptionally difficult for Toronto’s club scene,
not least, as I outlined in a recent article, the exorbitant insurance
premiums that venues have been asked to pay this year. For many
venues, this development intensified existing financial hardship,
introducing yet another element of precariousness to the Sisyphean
task of hosting live music.
The changing season, however, brings with it a kernel of hope.
Though jazz venues don’t follow the same seasonal cycle as classical
institutions, the relatively recent date – July 16 – of the return of live
music means that this fall represents a potential turning point for
clubs. Having had the summer to hire/re-hire staff, implement new
safety protocols, make changes in payment policies, and attend to the
myriad other demands of the reopening process, clubs are as ready as
they’ll ever be to get back to business, whatever that may look like as
the fall progresses into winter.
Makeover for The Rex
In the immediate future, however, things are looking good, at least
where live shows are concerned. At The Rex – which has implemented
a new stage-centred layout (with an accompanying tieredseating/pricing
system, in which seats at the rear of the venue have
a lower cover charge than those adjacent to the stage – a new series
has emerged. The Rex JUNO Artist Appreciation Series, as it’s called,
is funded by FACTOR Canada, and entails a new kind of booking for
The Rex: a four-night engagement, from Wednesday to Saturday at
8:30pm every week. This format, of course, has a rich history, and a
multi-night booking was once the standard for many clubs. (It still
is, in a few notable venues, including the Blue Note, in Manhattan.)
In Toronto, there are a number of clubs that have had the occasional
multi-night booking, but these have typically been limited to three
consecutive evenings, usually reserved for high-profile visiting artists;
and it will likely be some time until we see regular visits from international
artists.
For The Rex, the JUNO Series is a smart move, for multiple reasons.
The first: the JUNO name is a great way to apply a bit of brand recognition
to their bookings, providing audiences new and old with
an easy entry point (though, of course, it is not hard to hear JUNO
WELCOME TO
THE FAMILY
&
We are delighted to
welcome the world’s most
recognised and respected
piano makers back home to
Remenyi House of Music
thewholenote.com September and October 2021 | 21