Big Apple Jazz Blog

  NAMA – New Amsterdam Musical Association – photo by Gordon Polatnick   Exclusive Big Apple Jazz’s Insider’s Guide to Harlem Jazz by Gordon Polatnick The longest standing jazz venues in Harlem are at the opposite ends of the neighborhood and two right in the middle. Parlor Entertainment is up at 160th Street and Minton’s…

Who doesn’t love jazz music? Jazz is a genre that originated in the early 20th century in New Orleans.  Today, NYC is a popular place that is home to world-famous jazz clubs, including a few hidden nightclubs! A reliable jazz tour operator can cut down your efforts in looking around for “jazz clubs near me”…

  The Big Apple is rightly referred to as the World Capital of Jazz, with its numerous jazz clubs and jazz bars. The city is also one of the biggest multicultural cities in the world.  Therefore, if you are searching for “jazz bar near me,” New York is where you need to be. With a…

Do you love jazz and are searching for “jazz clubs near me?” If so, then a jazz tour in New York City is exactly what you need.  The Big Apple is known for having the highest number of top jazz clubs across the city! It’s the best place to visit to go on a jazz…

Midtown Manhattan is a popular neighborhood in New York City as the city’s primary and largest central business district.  The business epicenter has the headquarters of major companies of all industries, including Bloomberg LP, Colgate-Palmolive, Barnes & Noble, Citigroup, and many more. When you are in this borough of NYC, you can plan to do…

Just like every part of New York City, Lower Manhattan is full of history and various cultures. It’s a popular borough of New York City and is a must-visit for any tourist.  From museums to parks and eateries, the area offers so much to do. It’s one of the most popular boroughs in NYC and…

Do you love jazz music? If so, the Big Apple is where you need to visit for your next trip. The city is filled with world-famous jazz clubs and is alive with jazz music. Not to mention, the cultural diversity in New York is something you should experience at least once in your lifetime.  Any music lover will love the jazz genre. This music is so good that even people who are not really into music will love jazz tours for the mere experience itself.  3 Great Jazz Tours to Explore in the Big Apple Harlem Juke Joint Tour The Harlem juke jazz tour from Big Apple Jazz Tours starts at 6 p.m. from a cafe in Harlem and ends at 10 p.m. Like any other tour offered by this special tour operator, this jazz tour is anything but basic….

Are you looking at doing something different to do in New York? If so, then booking a group jazz tour is exactly what you should do! Whether you are a musician yourself or someone who loves music, jazz is a great genre to listen to. Jazz tours give you a deep dive into the world-famous…

Big Apple Jazz Tours takes visitors to see where the Tree of Hope stump was placed and explains what happened to it.  Visit the jazz tour pages and select the Harlem Juke Joint Tour.   Happy 90th Anniversary wishes are due Harlem’s Tree of Hope stump which was relocated to the southern spot on the…

Marcus Persiani, Avi Cohen, Patience Higgins, Wayne Escoffery – St. Nick’s Pub jam session Having just discovered this vintage blog post from the “smoking-in-clubs-days” on an old hard drive, I rush now to chuck it up here to give New York city’s live jazz fans, a chance to feel nostalgic and maybe a little old….

by Gordon Polatnick   Happy Autumn Friends: The Good News First: This has been a bounce-back year in the storied Harlem jazz club world, (which we’ve been tracking since 1997). The pandemic and resulting inflationary economy has done a number on the scene.  Minton’s Playhouse, which had a strong weekly schedule of excellent musicians, (and…

I was wondering if ChatGPT, the latest Artificial Intelligence phenomenon, would be a useful tool for blogging about jazz subjects that I’m interested in, so I started a chat about Billie Holiday and I found out that it was an unreliable source of accurate information.  I would ask it a question like, are there any…