One of the flurry of new venues appearing at the commencement of high season 2025 is House of Jazz and More, on St 450 in Tuol Tom Pong. LengPleng went boldly forth to investigate, and chat with the owner, Chef Jay.
One comes off the quiet street into an entrance space with abstract paintings hung to the left and a music-themed mural-in-progress on the right; one then walks into the bar itself, a cozy little barroom that seats only 24, with interior walls covered in vintage LP covers that immediately set a jazz club tone. The low stage is fully set up for a small band, with a drum kit, amps and a keyboard.
LP: Welcome to Phnom Penh. Tell us about the House of Jazz and More.
Jay: I’ve been living in Bangkok, where I found the music scene a little bit overcrowded. Here in Phnom Penh I wanted to set up a place focusing on American and Latin jazz, particularly Cuban, and blues. Originally I was thinking of a 60-70 square foot facility, but I ended up getting a shophouse because that’s what was available.
LP: Still, the room itself is quite intimate.
Jay: I like small places where the focus is on the musician. I want the room to be really authentic, a place for music. We’re not stranding musicians in the middle of a resort or a noisy restaurant: the music is central. You can see with all the artists on the wall, many different genres from different parts of the world. When a musician comes here, when the audience comes in, there is a shared an appreciation of the space.
LP: That’s the jazz. Tell me about the “and more”.
Jay: It’s a larger space than I was initially looking for. For a start I had these blank white walls in the entrance, and I thought it would be great to have an art gallery here, so I put feelers out for artists with pieces to display. And then David Richards stopped by to buy a ticket for a show and he got the idea to do a mural, which you can see is now underway. Downstairs is dedicated to live music, then on the second floor we have a multi-purpose room that can be an art gallery, dance studio, English teaching classroom, even a conference room.
LP: On what nights are you putting on music?
Jay: After a month of trying out different nights I’m now cutting back to four a week: Thursday to Sunday. My background is as a chef, and I’m not used to this kind of work, there’s a lot of learning curves. I was retired but now I’m fully back at work again, and I need to get back to being semi-retired. For Sundays I want to set up a regular jazz afternoon with George Hess. And also a poetry event on the third Sunday of each month before the jazz.
LP: For players who want to come and play, how should they contact you?
Jay: I don’t rather not make deals over the phone. Come in and see the space, let’s talk. It’s the same thing for me as a chef – if I go for a job, after the interview goes well I want to see the kitchen before I make a decision, because that’s the work space.
This Friday at the House of Jazz and More find the fusion trio JAG – James Atkinson, Andrey Meshcheryakov and Gaby Courroux.
