Now in it’s third year, the Jazz Jam is one of the top dates in the diary of Alexander’s Jazz Theatre in Rufus Court, Chester.
Held on the last Wednesday in the month it has become a focal point for not only local musicians, but also many in adjacent counties.
Its success is mainly due to the fact that unless you are already in a band, then there is nowhere else to develop and practice the skill of playing with others in a live environment. We offer that facility and the rhythm section of So What Now supplies the support for the player wanting to sharpen his skills.
Generally, the regular players are amateurs or semi-pro’s but professionals often call in for a blow and this can really add to the proceedings. In fact, the policy is now that every other month we will bring in a full time pro’ as a special guest. They play a short set of their own and then jam alongside the regulars who get a huge lift from this.The pro’s seem to enjoy it just as much and are quick to praise our efforts in providing this playing opportunity.
From at least the 1940’s and probably earlier the jam session was a major factor in jazz, particularly in America. It seems that jamming was the thing to do after the night’s work was over and sometimes occupied more of a player’s time than did the actual gigs. Sadly, that facet of jazz has reduced over the years, especially in our area.

So how did our session come to be…
Prior to So What Now , Louis ran a band called So What which stopped playing three years ago and rather than start again, he thought it would be fun to get around jam sessions in the neighbouring towns but this idea soon collapsed when he discovered that there were none, with the exception of a couple in Manchester which were not to his liking.
The only solution was to start his own and with the cooperation of Alexander’s embarked on what is today, a terrific success story. Fairly quickly, the line-up evolved into a really nice section and the idea was born to re-launch a full band and So What Now is the result.
We are blessed with the support of regular players which on some nights swells to almost unmanageable proportions, despite this everyone gets a blow – no one goes home disappointed. The only exception sometimes is Louis, often too busy to play himself ! These sessions are not just for players though and we are fortunate to attract good audiences who enjoy a standard of playing not bettered on any other night of the month.