KAT Group Turns Thursday Night Into Jazz Night Again

Tejiri "T.J." Emore mid-solo with the KAT Group — living proof jazz didn't leave Fredericton, it just took a Thursday off until Sept. 17. (Jennifer William/AQ)

The KAT Group — saxophonists Kalan Ratray and Tejiri “T.J.” Emore played a free show on Sept.17, at the Wilser’s Room blending jazz with bits of house, pop and rock music. 

Even the band's name is refreshingly simple.

“We got booked to play a show and they needed an Instagram,” Emore said. “I was like, why don’t we just say our names, Kalan and T.J.? I cut it down to KAT. It's not very clever. But it's also kind of perfect, because it's KAT, like jazz cats.”

The two met in a music class at the University of New Brunswick and have played together ever since. 

Ratray, now in his fourth year of computer science, said fusion music has always borrowed from whatever’s popular at the time, something jazz has done for decades.

Kalan Ratray on soprano sax, playing under a stained-glass lamp that's somehow the second-best-lit thing in the room. (Jennifer Williams/AQ)

“It's a combination of whatever sounds good to my ears,” Ratray said. “House, pop, dance, rock, jazz … you'll hear a bit of everything.”

For Emore, a fourth-year sociology and accounting student, music started early. He picked up the saxophone at five, grew up in Nigeria, then moved to Canada. He said getting into Fredericton’s music scene mostly came down to showing up.

“Be the guy that when people see you, they’re like, ‘Oh, this guy again, he wants to play,’” he said.

Thursday’s show was also a bit of a tribute. Emore said the gig was inspired by Joel Miller, the local musician who gave him his first shot at playing jazz in town years ago.

“He was the first jazz musician I ever listened to here and the first person to give me a platform to play,” Emore said. “I thought it'd be nice to bring back Thursday night jazz as a homage to him.”

Jazz, at its core, is built on musicians reacting to each other in real time; no two shows sound quite the same. It's less about knowing the genre and more about watching people actually listen to one another on stage.

For anyone curious about getting into the music themselves, both musicians gave the same advice: just show up.

“Just play. Just put yourself out there,” Emore said. “You’re always going to find something to do.”

As for whether Thursday night jazz becomes a regular thing again, Emore isn’t counting on it.

“This was a one-time thing,” he said. “But it was fun. Just one night makes it kind of beautiful.”