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Jazz at The Ellington, Perth, Western Australia

Bestselling novelist Sara Foster recommends The Ellington – an homage to New York jazz bars.

As soon as the heavy black door opened, the music hit you. Pure, vibrant jazz. Tables were crammed into the space beyond the stage, a sultry low-lit cavern, and waiters held platters high above their heads as they shimmied between chairs. Tucked away on an inconspicuous Perth street, we’d heard the venue was a classy secret, a homage to the finest New York jazz bars, attracting the crème de la crème of national and international acts. We’d prebooked our table, knowing that on many nights you were lucky to get a seat. When we came in mid-set, a trio were playing beneath the mellow lights of the stage, and we watched as they swayed to the syncopated rhythm of their piano, double bass and drums.  A hostess showed us to our places, at Parisian-style round wooden tables with high-backed chairs. There were more people packed into leather booths along the walls, while others had taken up standing space at the back, or congregated around the busy bar. The close proximity of strangers might have been claustrophobic, but the music was too good for that, and the mood was cheerfully intimate.

The menus lay waiting, proffering a small selection of antipasto and pizzas, and a much larger choice of drinks. We ordered cheese boards and Turkish bread, then debated cocktails – from the spiced-up Manhattan known as ‘New Old Spice’, full of chai and heat, to the mix of pimms, scotch, fruit and ginger in a ‘Pimms Ginger High’. The drinks arrived swiftly, the food soon after. All of it was immaculately presented, and delicious. We drank, we dined, and we listened intently, until the musicians reached the end of their set. In the break between shows, animated voices and laughter took over to become the melody of the room. Once we’d finished our food, we decided to make our way upstairs to sample the cocktail lounge, where we settled back on comfy sofas and enjoying the chilled-out change of scene for a little while.

Outside, the night was growing darker, the street quieter. Inside, things were just getting going. We returned to our table for the main act. The waiter arrived immediately and took our order for pink champagne, as the musicians strolled on stage. An expectant hush fell over the crowd, while the pianist’s fingers hovered over the resident Steinway grand. Then, on a count of four, Elle Deslandes’ smoky voice rippled through the room, delivering songs from Julie London to Amy Winehouse, fusing indulgence and restraint into each line, as all the best jazz singers do. The double bass player closed his eyes in concentration. The guitarist’s fingers flew over the strings. The drummer played with a permanent smile.  They looked like they were having fun. They looked like there was nowhere else they would rather be. And for the time we watched them, I knew exactly how they felt.

The Ellington is open 7 nights a week, until 1 am on weeknights and 3 am on weekends.

Visit www.ellingtonjazz.com.au

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