Entertainment At Takapuna Bar

Live Jazz And Sunny Sundays Shane Cortese Takes In The Tom Dennison Quartet At The Taka Bar

Is there anything better than the North Shore in the middle of the summer? Beaches busy, water a kind of aqua green colour and the bars full of Al Fresco diners in shorts and t-shirts at lunch time!
I love sitting at a bar on an afternoon with mates chewing the fat and having one of New Zealand’s finest wines, and I especially love sitting in a bar where live music is playing during the day!

With the cost effectiveness of having one person sit at a sound deck spinning records we have, I feel, lost the passion and full sound of live music. I have noticed this is slowly turning around and bands are starting to make their way back to the watering holes on a more regular basis.

One that caught my eye (and ear) Sunday this summer was The Tom Dennison Quartet. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and I was walking down Hurstmere Road when the unmistakable sounds of Live Jazz hit me.
They were playing mid-afternoon at the Takapuna Bar. The bar outside was full with people enjoying a drink, something to eat and relaxing. The music was real summer chill out and in the hot sun created a perfect atmosphere.
Tom Dennison is the man who fronts the group, and is an incredibly talented bass player in his own right. He has dedicated himself to the bass guitar and trained for years even taking himself off to New York recently for an extended trip to train and immerse himself in the scene.
On his return he went straight into the recent Rocky Horror Show starring Richard O’Brien and was picked up by TVNZ for their televised New Years Eve event as bass for the house band.
The boys are accomplished! Just back from a very successful Nelson Jazz festival they now have impressed Takapuna Bar owner Mike Franov and his patrons so much with their Sunday afternoon sessions that they have a residency for the rest of the summer.
Get on down there, it’s a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.