How is Apollo’s? Finally back for jazz at the ex-Tangent
It’s back at the establishment 2 nights a week now and has survived some musicians’ grumbling
The last time I walked out of 2095 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, it was called Daybreakers. The menu had changed from Malaysian fusion to German and brunch, the exterior turned purple, and the soul of our scene had left the building.
As David Blake told us in the summer of 2023, an exit of sympathetic owners meant that suddenly the place was all but dead to us:
Will Chernoff
En route to that ignominious end of an era, I became the first bandleader to play the venue under its new ownership; I did it on May 3, 2023. (I didn’t know that when I booked the gig.) The turnout was low; many of us fans were cautious about the space’s future. The last time I walked out of there ended up being July 6th.
But the venue has changed names again: now it’s called Apollo’s, and jazz has been back in a big way there for some time now. Mackenzie Tran, a recent CapU and UBC graduate, has taken the lead in presenting. I’m curious to speak to her more and find out how it came together, with John Korsrud and perhaps Diane Kadota supporting the effort too.
The first show of this new era at Apollo’s was on July 6, 2024 with Tran's own vocal trio, featuring pianist Josh Krushel and bassist Bella Fedrigo. They played three shorter sets – now consolidated to two. The series has leaned into the month of October, adding a second weekly night: Thursdays, the same one on which I had drank the biggest percentage of my wallet in Fat Tugs and heard my friends play over those years.
It’s on one of these Thursdays – last night – that I finally decided to re-enter the place.
