Jazz isn’t just for Wednesdays

Once a week, plucky rhythms drift over Argyle Street from the Basement of the Economy Shoe Shop, as the Halifax staple trades hard rock for cool jazz. Since August, Tuesday nights at the Shoe have belonged to the Leo Cox Trio — a band of local Halifax students who take the stage from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Leo Cox, the trio’s namesake, is a third-year music performance student at Dalhousie University. Playing at the Shoe is the bassist’s highlight of the week. 

“You can foster community when you have something that’s weekly,” Cox says. “There’s people who are regulars that come, and then there’s new people. It’s a cool melting pot.

“[What] I want people to take away is that, one, jazz is very much alive, and two, jazz is very much alive in Halifax.” 

Dante Kierstead, the trio’s drummer, is also a third-year music student at Dalhousie. Having new people play with the band is one of his favourite parts of performing. 

“Sometimes there could be somebody that I’ve never met before in my entire life, and [they] just come up on stage, rip, sit back down, and I’m like, ‘Oh, this is awesome,’” he says. “It’s sort of a short showcase of all that’s happening in the scene right now. It’s great, I love it,” says Kierstead. 

The musicians have only played as a trio since 2023, but they’ve been connected for much longer. The band’s guitarist, Ben Tucker, a music student at Nova Scotia Community College, described their relationship before the Leo Cox Trio as a “weird love triangle.” 

Tucker and Kierstead have known each other since their early teens. The two played together in other projects, like the pit band for a production of “High School Musical.” Cox and Tucker also played together when they were younger, but it wasn’t until the three of them ended up in the same city that they formed a trio. 

While in high school, Cox planned to study kinesiology after graduation, but broke his ankle in Grade 12. The broken bone made him question his future, ultimately deciding to take a gap year. 

Then, he joined a band.

“I played a bunch of shows around the city, and it was fun,” Cox says. “It made me realize that music was something I could actually pursue as a career.”

Tucker grew up in a musical family and never saw himself doing anything else. 

“I’m grateful for all the experience I have. Growing up, music always made me happy.”

That’s something Tucker shares with Kierstead. 

“I kind of knew, since high school, that that’s what I was going to go into,” Kierstead says. “I didn’t really have any other backup plans. Music has been just the go-to since I was like 15.”

Tuesday Jazz at the Shoe offers an alternative to the Local, where buzzy crowds flock on Wednesdays for its popular Gin and Jazz event. 

“[The Local] is a great spot. I love it,” says Kierstead. “I went to Gin and Jazz … and I got in there and I had to shuffle past people … it’s like a festival.

“Some of my friends who come here every Tuesday, they’re just like, ‘Yeah, it was getting so insane at Gin and Jazz, and I couldn’t hear anything. I couldn’t hear the music.’ So now they come here every week, and we have a mix of the people who want to just sit down and listen more.” 

The trio has forged a bond through the music.

“We’ve played together for at least two years, so we know each other’s tendencies,” says Kierstead. “It’s kind of like when you finish somebody’s sentence … but it’s music.”