Lokerse Jazzklub

1965 was the time when the famous jazz festival of Comblain-la-Tour, founded by the ex-GI Joe Napoli out of gratitude for the hospitality received at the end of the war, brought young people from Lokeren and surroundings to the Walloon village in droves. At the same time, the Lodewijk de Raet Foundation had started organising jazz labs. Experienced professionals and semi-professionals were invited to take their first steps in playing a music that was still taboo in Belgian music schools and conservatories at the time.

From a kind of cross-pollination between those two activities, the "Lokerse Jazzklub" was born on 1 February 1965, and its founders - all in their twenties at the time - proclaimed with a somewhat missionary zeal that they wanted "to make jazz music known and appreciated in all its forms".

Meanwhile, the Lokerse Jazzklub has been on the road for 50 years. In the course of the years, for various reasons, the venue was changed several times. After a warming-up period as guest of the T-Club in the Prosper Thuysbaertlaan, it went to the Jazz-Zolder on the Markt and from there to the Oude Heerweg. In October 1991 the club moved into the present atmospheric old factory building in the Gasstraat in the heart of Lokeren. As of September 2017, the concerts take place in the clubhouse of the athletics association AVLO. 

Over time, a number of emphases shifted in the operation. Whereas in the early days initiation lectures, record listening and visits to concerts all over the country went hand in hand with fourteen-day own organisations, for many years now, the own concert programme has dominated with an average of one or two performances per month.

In the course of the years, veterans from New Orleans and Harlem as well as standard-bearers of modern jazz such as Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin, Art Farmer, Slide Hampton, Kai Winding, Barney Kessel, Horace Parlan, Mal Waldron, Red Mitchell, James Newton, Lew Tabackin, Randy Weston, Sam Rivers and of course - three times - our national monument Toots Thielemans, have paraded on the Lokeren jazz stage. But also countless domestic and foreign bands made their appearance at the Lokerse Jazzklub. It was always the intention to give young, starting groups a chance. An overview of the programming in recent years can be found in the section on concert reports.

Unique is probably the fact that the club has two "house orchestras": The N.O. Train Jazz Band led by Lajos Van Peteghem and the Boss Ross Quintet led by chairman Guido Ros.

The past 50 years have understandably been characterised by ups and downs. Big names naturally attracted and still attract a wide audience and sometimes in the past there was not enough response for new, somewhat lesser known groups. But you certainly won't hear the Lokerse Jazzklub complain about the last few years. A hard core of loyal fans is hardly missing at any concert and there are also a lot of interested people outside Lokeren and the Waasland region.

The ticket prices for the concerts are deliberately kept democratic, both for members and non-members. For young people (under 25), the club offers a more than attractive price.