Tuesday, November 21, 2023
Finding Jazz in Bangkok

After a long day in the bright and hot sun and humid air, I realized I made a mistake for which I shall pay. Not a large mistake, but a stupid mistake. I forgot to take my hat with me. I have it, the same hat I used every day walking across Spain. My forehead and the top of my head are now quite burnt in places. Henceforth, I shall not forget my hat. Being that Thailand is closer to the equator, the sun is more direct, so using a hat is a good idea, especially for those of us with fair skin.

Now on my agenda is dinner and finding jazz in Bangkok. My two candidates are returning to the Crimson Room which I found last year, and finding the Saxophone Pub. The selection was easy. The Crimson Room serves drinks, but no food. The Saxophone Pub is a restaurant, so I chose the Saxophone Pub for my first stop since I am, after all, a saxophone “guy.”

The Saxophone Pub

I took the BTS Skytrain 5 stops north on the Sukhumvit line to the Victory Monument stop. The Saxophone Pub was just around the corner from one of the BTS exits.

Inside, this is mostly a restaurant with an area in the middle of the main floor set aside for musicians. I was seated at a low bar along the band / musician area. Here is the view from my seat:

This is a restaurant, so I ordered dinner, a Thai style pepper beef stir-fry dish. I was there at 7, and the first performance of the night was not to start until 7:30. Just after my food arrived, the first musician sat down behind the microphone with an acoustic guitar which she plugged into the amplifier. It turns out I was there on “folk music night,” so no jazz here tonight. She was singing music of or in the style of Joan Baez from the 1970s, with a little of Joni Mitchell’s style interjected. She was indeed a good singer and guitarist, but I was hoping for jazz tonight. After finishing my fairly mediocre meal, I left the Saxophone Pub, with The Crimson Room in my sights having not seen or heard one saxophone at the Saxophone Pub.

The Crimson Room

It is about a 20-minute walk to the Crimson Room from my hotel. I took a slightly less direct route to walk down Witthayu Road instead of Soi Ton Son to pass by the Embassy of The United States just for fun. I passed a few other embassies and ambassador residences, including the residence of the ambassador of The United States. I noticed that as I passed the U.S. Embassy, the guards definitely checked me out. And there were (of course) cameras, some relatively obvious, and probably others not visible. It was dark, so no American flag was flying. I always get a twinge of pride when I walk across a bridge in Chiang Mai where in the distance I can see the American flag at the U.S. Consulate there.

The Crimson Room is in a very upscale-looking shopping area and not at all easy to find. I met an American man there last year who told me he had been coming to the Crimson Room for ten years whenever his business took him to Bangkok. I mentioned to him that it was a little difficult to find to which he replied, “yes, but when you know … you know.”

I saw a sign near the street that suggested I was indeed in the right place, notice the block in the lower left:

It has been a year, and I did not find it at first, so I asked a security guard, and he directed me. As I walked where he pointed, I recognized the area and came to a door with the somewhat subtle sign:

This is a venue acoustically designed specifically for music presentation. As I may have mentioned a year ago when I first found the Crimson Room, the jazz group playing (singer, tenor sax, drums, bass, piano) was not amplified except for the singer. Tonight featured a lady singer with a pianist (both Thai). I think the pianist is Sunny Rattana, but I did not get the singer’s name.

The passion for the music came through her voice and the piano with every song. They performed many jazz standards, and performed them very well. For me, this was a complete turnaround from earlier – I had a great time, enhanced by the conversation between sets with a Korean lady and German man sitting by me. As is often said, a good time was had by all. Definitely a very good ending to my one full day in Bangkok.

Next: Returning to Chiang Mai