Video Transcript
Marcus Powers: Funk N’ Waffles, how are we feeling out there? Cmon. Cmon.
Augie Walters: Groovy tunes. And whipped cream towered waffles. That alone has brought Bert Simpkins and his loved ones to Funk N’ Waffles for over five years now.
Bert Simpkins: Well, one thing is that it is the perfect place to come with your family and have a meal.
Augie Walters: But for Simpkins, it is also more than that. A trained audio engineer, he uses his skills to set up equipment and prepare for the performance. The behind-the-scenes work makes it easy for Josh Dekaney. The current organizer of the jazz jam and a drummer when he is on stage. He says audience participation is what makes a jam session and now leads this one in Syracuse with a specific goal in mind.
Josh Dekaney: To make this jam very inclusive, make it open and not threatening to people and welcoming beginner players, welcoming younger players, welcoming older players.
Augie Walters: A total of eight performers took the stage this particular afternoon, playing the sax, the bass, the guitar and more.
Josh Dekaney: We had today players in their 70s and had players in their 20s and everything in between.
Augie Walters: One was a familiar face. Bert, who spent the first hour watching the performance from his seat, then got a chance to head on stage. A prime example of exactly what this jazz jam preaches.
Bert Simpkins: We never know exactly who will be here, but it’s always going to be delightful.
Augie Walters: Augie Walters. NCC News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — A weekly jazz jam at Funk ’N Waffles in Armory Square has become a Sunday ritual for musicians and families who come for the music, the food and the sense of community.
For more than five years, Bert Simpkins has been one of those regulars. The whipped-cream-topped waffles are part of the draw, he said, but the atmosphere keeps him coming back.
“It is the perfect place to come with your family and have a meal,” Simpkins said.
Simpkins studied audio engineering at Columbia University and uses that background to help prepare the stage and fine-tune the sound each week.
“I know the equipment in use,” he said. “And I understand using computers and software.”
That behind-the-scenes support helps drummer and jam organizer Josh Dekaney keep the event running smoothly.
Dekaney has played in jam sessions from Toronto to Texas and said Syracuse’s scene stands out for its inclusivity.
“We want this jam to be welcoming to beginner players, younger players and older players,” he said.
On this particular Sunday, eight musicians, from their 20s to their 70s, rotated through the stage.
After spending the first hour in the audience, Simpkins eventually stepped into the spotlight himself, embodying the jam’s spirit of openness.
“We never know exactly who will be here, but it’s always going to be delightful,” he said.