Sun sets on Pune Jazz Club but jazz will live on

While shutters on the 11-year-old Pune Jazz Club (PJC) were downed recently, former members of the club have decided to continue the tradition.

Known to be a hotspot for the expressive music style, the Jazz Club was run successfully by Ahmed Ebrahim. Escalating costs and unavailability of space forced him to call it quits.

Sudhir Patwardhan, who was part of the erstwhile club, says, "Around seven-eight former members of the club, including me, came together recently to form the Pune Jazz and Blues Club (PJBC). We felt that while the time for Ebrahim to hang up his boots had come, he had created something wonderful for everyone interested in Jazz. We have decided to take the same ideology forward with a little change. We will be taking Jazz to people more aggressively. Over the years we have realised that when people are exposed to the music form, they liked it a lot. We will do just that this time around."

The PJC earlier used to meet once a month at Max Mueller Bhavan (MMB) in the city. Their meeting had live performances as well as presentations on jazz artistes and styles. Patwardhan says that while the MMB never charged them money for space they used, they had to pay overtime charges. "Now they require the premises for their own activities. Also, it was not easy for Ahmed (Ebrahim) to sustain the entire thing by himself. The PJBC doesn't have any structural organisation. It is just a few people who are still enthusiastic of the art form and want to promote it," he adds.

The first meeting of PJBC will be held at Shisha Cafe on Sunday.

Patwardhan says they will meet once a month on a Sunday and will continue the same old tradition.

... contd.

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