"Multiple Signatures" at the Mainstay
Drake Jazz Brings New Atmosphere, Audience to the Coffee Shop
Des Moines, Iowa (Jan. 31, 1997)-- The mood is reminiscent of a "beat cafe." The lights are low and the coffee is abundant. The tables are filled with "lost souls" trying to make it through the night. But, instead of Jack Kerouac, it's a college freshman sitting in the corner, desperately trying to finish tomorrow's poetry assignment. And rather than Mezz Mezzrow, it's Multiple Signatures, a jazz combo comprised of Drake students, jamming in the background.
Welcome to Jazz Night at the Mainstay. A weekly event at the campus coffee shop, Jazz Night offers students an alternative to the bar scene, a good time to do homework or just a temporary escape from reality, free of charge.
Jazz Night began when Chad Trierweiler, Multiple Signatures' pianist, approached Shelly Knepper, Mainstay manager about performing.
"Multiple Signatures would get together and practice, but not be able to perform for an audience. Because there aren't many places for college students to play in Des Moines, we thought the Mainstay, was a good alternative," Trierweiler said.
Bass player Andy Rader agreed that performing at the Mainstay was an important move for Multiple Signatures.
"We really needed a steady place to keep up on our jazz skills. The Mainstay offered a good forum," he said.
It did not take long for Knepper to make a decision.
"I knew the quality of their work was high, and I thought it would add diversity to the Mainstay's services," she said.
Diversity seems to be Jazz Night's motif.
"This is something you don't normally see. It makes Drake a more interesting place and gets away from the same thing every night," Colin Robbins, Mainstay employee, said.
Besides bringing in music, Jazz Night has brought the Mainstay a more diverse clientelle.
"We've brought in people who don't normally go to the Mainstay. A lot of people don't know what the Mainstay is all about, and this gives them an excuse to check it out," Trierweiler said.
Robbins agreed that Jazz Night has increased the number of Mainstay customers.
"Sometimes the people who hang out here have an exclusionary atmosphere. Now the number of 'non-regulars' has really increased," he said.
The question is whether or not Drake students and staff will accept jazz as a weeknight alternative.
"Although the people who do come really seem to enjoy it, jazz music is not something a lot of people at Drake are into. It is not a typical 'Drake event,'" Rader said.
However, Knepper disagreed.
"Jazz music is a common ground. Every once and a while there is a song everyone knows. And, there are traces of jazz in all music," she said.
Rader hopes to appeal to even those patrons who normally don't listen to jazz. "Hopefully we'll bring a sense of enlightenment, an awareness of different kinds of music to Drake," he said.
"This is exposing people to different music," Trierweiler said. "Not only that, but it lets people listen to live music, which is really nice."
Although Jazz Night is still young, the results have been positive.
"Jazz Night has been more organized and better advertised than other 'theme nights,' like Dance Party Night, so it's been working out," Robbins said.
"Theme nights are something that can really work, especially since the Mainstay's trying something that's new and different," she said.
Jazz Night takes place every Sunday at 10:30 pm and should be a popular event. After all, according to Knepper, "Coffee houses and jazz just naturally go hand in hand."
© 1997 CyberPress Communications, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Drake University 50311.
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