Bob Rogers of Salmon Arm brought his quartet to the April edition of the Jazz Jam at The Effie. The accomplished trombonist, Rogers, brought guitarist Jordan Dick and bassist Jake McIntyre-Paul along with him. He picked up Kamloops drummer Jared Wilman to round out the quartet.

The band opened the evening with their performance. They played a mix of original compositions from the Bob Rogers catalogue and a selection of standards.

Rogers had stories to go with many of his compositions. One particular story revealed that one of his tunes was loosely based on the theme to the Canadian television series Hinterland Who’s Who. This was a series about Canadian fauna. The very talented band members had plenty of solos. They also played a few standards such as “Emily,” “Star Eyes,” and “I Could Write a Book.”

After a short break, other musicians who came to The Effie to take part in the jam portion of the evening showed off their talents. Rogers stayed for the entire evening and did plenty of jamming. Two high school students got to play with the pros. One played trumpet and the other guitar. They showed that they are going in the right direction with their music studies.

Many local musicians hung out and played a set or two. A really nice moment was when fellow trombonist Ken McClelland played a tune with Rogers. They had a little-big band scenario going on and did a wonderful job on the Ellington big band classic “In a Mellow Tone.”

McClelland, has been a fixture on the Kamloops music scene for many years. He is the leader of the local band, Beyond Brass. A variety of other musicians joined in and some of the other highlights were “April in Paris” and “On Green Dolphin Street,”

This concert series has been a nice addition to the Kamloops music scene. Educator and horn player, Nick Dyson of Bastion Education Productions and Arron and Kayly of The Effie have done great work in getting these shows together.