The Cape Town Jazz musicians and followers of the scene or “Jazz Cats” as they are collectively known, are serious folk. As a photographer and musician myself (I play percussion and sing) I go by the name of Paul Andrews and I smile. A lot. The other Cats – not so much, so one has to work really hard to get pictures of them smiling.
Thankfully the Jazz Jam scene in Cape Town is still fairly vibrant and alive as of Winter 2025 and the every-other-Saturday afternoon jam at the Chilli Bar in Plumstead is one that attracts a large and serious following.
To accommodate the fortnightly Jazz-cattery, the venue is generously proportioned and offers all kinds of interesting nooks and viewing angles from which to enjoy the scene.
Photographers who want to work this venue will need to be proficient with manually focusing their lenses. My photos make the place look bright but the venue is not.
Musicians who choose to jam along here need to know some jazz standards and should have some degree of competence on the instrument they bring with for playing.
Like many of the jams, this is not a karaoke jol for dronk mense. **
You’ve probably noticed them already but what I haven’t mentioned is the mirrors in the Chilli Bar. They are helpful, playful and plentiful and offer many fun reflected views to choose from.
**Except for Melvin. Sometimes he has one or two drinks too many in the taxi from Grassy Park and then he doesn’t know so lekker when it’s time for him to sit down and shoosh.
And I’m allowed to say that because I’m the larnie who drove him home to make sure him and his sax got safely home together when everything was said and done and after everyone else who knows him had already departed and left him behind.
And with that, it’s a wrap on the Chilli Bar Jazz Jam session in Plumstead, Cape Town.