Steyning Jazz Club enjoying happy days
Club spokesman Colin Jilks talks about the club's success
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Greek Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers, lovely to
00:06start in the name, to speak to Colin Joggs. Now, goodness, you have had a great run of
00:11success with Stenning Jazz Club, which in recent times, you have to get people to book
00:17in advance, which says it all, you're doing well as a club.
00:21We are the envy of the South Coast, Stenning Jazz Club. We do now, we have to start turning
00:29people away at the door.
00:30So how do you explain that? How come you've done so well?
00:34Because our seating capacity is 150 in the Stenning Centre, and more people were coming
00:40than we could seat, and people were very disappointed. So now people have to book online at wegottickets.com.
00:48Fantastic. But tell me, how do you explain your success? Why are you doing so well?
00:54We have a very good venue, the Stenning Centre's a wonderful centre. We have a Steinway Grand
00:59that all the jazz people love to play. We have a variety of bands. We try not to stick
01:06to New Orleans or too modern. We have a wide range of musicians, but top quality musicians.
01:14We have, in particular, we have Adrian Cox coming in January. He always comes to see
01:20us. He's an old friend of the club and his father. So he will be coming in January, our
01:24first meeting on the 3rd of January.
01:26So the point is, you have the contacts, don't you?
01:30We have the contacts, and we have a team that run the club. I'm only the chap that just
01:35stands out at the front and talks to people, and everybody comes to thank me afterwards,
01:39thinking I've done all the work, but I haven't. We have a team, a good set of people.
01:44Just take the thanks.
01:47And she does all the booking, and we have other people that are putting together loudspeaker
01:52things and microphones. But I'm the one that does a bit of writing, and we try to put in
01:58more newspapers every month.
02:01But the club really does stand out, doesn't it? Let's say post-pandemic, there are lots
02:06of clubs that we can think of that have disappeared, yet you are on the up.
02:11Well, we're going up. We have to be grateful for the chap who founded the club 30 years
02:18ago now, Dennis Cummings, who's retired from the club and moved along the coast. He comes
02:22along sometimes. But he put the club on a good footing, which meant we had money in
02:28the bank. So through COVID, we managed to keep going. We didn't run out of cash, and
02:33we could run at a loss for those first couple of years with COVID.
02:37So now that kept us going. And now we are making profits. We don't try not to make
02:42profits, but it keeps the club on an even footing. And so people can come along, they
02:50can book, and they know that they're always going to get good musicians. We have top-quality
02:54musicians, which we're so pleased to have. And they enjoy coming to Standing Room.
03:01It's one of the differences, possibly, with other clubs is that we're a listening club.
03:05So when musicians are playing, people can listen. They'll be tapping their feet and
03:10enjoying the music, but they won't be chatting at the bar. And if anybody starts to do that,
03:16we'll get some stern looks from people. So there we are. We come along and enjoy the
03:20music.
03:21That's proper appreciation. Fantastic. Well, long may that success continue. Really good
03:26speech, Colin. Thank you.
03:28We meet every Friday, every first Friday of the month. So wherever that falls, do come
03:35along to Sydney.
03:36Perfect. Thank you.