Duende Jazz Bar in Thessaloniki

(Report by Neil Chalmers).

I have just returned from Thessaloniki in Greece and had the privilege to spend a couple of nights at the Duende Jazz Bar on Kalapothaki Street just up from the promenade. It is an excellent little club and the music was first class provided on the first night by the house band so to speak, the Duende Jazz Orchestra, a very tight 5 piece with an absolutely first-rate Piano player.

The whole place was really appreciative of the numbers the guys played and no more so than the man tending bar and the young lady who seemed to be hosting the evening.

Her English was far superior to the odd words of Greek I had acquired and we had a nice chat after the band had finished. She was asking my wife and myself what started our interest in jazz, which in essence came from hearing old recordings my parents played when I was at an early age.

My wife's father was a true music aficionado and developed my appreciation of all things jazz from the day I married his daughter. 

The lady was clearly a lover of jazz and we chatted for some time. I mentioned attending the Jazz Café in Newcastle's Pink Lane with a shout out for the eccentric and sorely missed Keith Crombie and how he had kept interest in jazz going for a number of years at "The Caff".

After the band had packed up, the club continued to play a mix of new songs and standards into the wee small hours.

The lady kept popping back to talk to us, I guess English fans are a rarity in the club, most people land at Thessaloniki airport and head for Khalkidhiki. She asked me the age-old fundamentally difficult question of if I had a choice of a song that could be played in the club what would it be?

I could have picked any number of artists and songs but opted for perhaps the strange choice of Louis Jordan.

Within 5 minutes, the PA was blaring out Let the Good Times Roll!

Unfortunately it didn't stop there as track after track from his greatest hits boomed out. Clearly, for the majority of people in there, this was not the acceptable face of jazz and sadly it was not long until my wife and I plus the staff were the only people in the place. To be fair the band had concluded their set and people were wending their way home for a few hours of sleep before work, well that's my interpretation.

The main purpose of writing was to ask you to perhaps give a shout out for this cracking little club and their house band in the perhaps slim chance that some of your followers might visit Thessaloniki and go along for a really great night out.

The club has a Facebook page and there are videos of the band on there as a little taster. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you in advance for reading my meandering thoughts and for perhaps offering a little publicity to this little gem of a club.

Neil Chalmers.