What kind of jazz fan are you?
With almost every important jazz musician from around the world spending at least some portion of their career here in New York City since the 1910’s, we are blessed with a jazz tradition that is deep and varied and has only grown in stature to this day – only slightly dinged by the pandemic. I have noticed a craving for live music and am happy to report that the clubs are starting to thrive again. As someone who has been actively seeking out live jazz nightly in Manhattan for over 25 years, (with my explorations having started sporadically in 1983 when I graduated from college and moved back to NY), I can say with authority that there is something here for every type of jazz fan. You just have to know what type…
May 11, 2022
COVID Current List of Open Manhattan Jazz Clubs – OCT. 2021
The light at the end of the tunnel report – We are finding it difficult to pull together jazz tours that can get to three clubs a night within 4-5-hours as we did prior to March 2020. In March 2021 we were able to start touring again – taking guests to live jazz performances in…
October 7, 2021
Still Life: NYC Jazz Clubs – COVID – Survival Score Card
As we head into the 9th month of pandemic deprivation, we are not confident that jazz life will ever resemble pre-COVID status. All music venues struggle against all odds to remain in business during this extended lockdown. Performers and performance venues were likely hit the hardest as precautionary health…
December 29, 2020
Bill Saxton – Harlem’s Saxa Claus – Streaming Holiday Cheer
I met Bill Saxton at St. Nick’s Pub one Friday night in 1997 during one of his weekly gigs. Over the years we have remained friendly, our lives intersecting significantly in the early 2000’s when we each opened a Harlem jazz spot within a few blocks of the other. Bill’s Place, 148 West 133rd…
December 23, 2020
Harlem Beat of the Streets
As the winter of 2020 sets in, Big Apple Jazz is offering private tours during the day with a “Harlem Beat of the Streets” theme. After owning a Harlem jazz cafe, and decades of experience as a tour guide locally and internationally I am doing what feels best in the moment: a relaxed, comfortable walking…
November 16, 2020
WSJ – The Alhambra Ballroom in Harlem
If you’re a hopeless romantic pining for a sepia toned, 100 year ago version of New York City you will marvel at how well-preserved Harlem still appears to be. If coming from the laughably tall and thin sky-scraper race to the clouds on 57th Street, it’s strangely comforting to note that the buildings…
November 12, 2020
Live Jazz In Harlem Clubs during COVID-19 in Autumn 2020
Everyone is asking the same question and dealing with the same conundrum: Is indoor jazz clubbing out of the question during COVID in NYC, and if not, how does it work? New York got hit so hard at the start of Covid that the lockdown period was followed by a very prudent and organized phased…
October 26, 2020
The Jazz Streets of NYC During Lockdown 2020 – A video document
During the months following the “stay at home” orders that kept New York City quieter than it had ever been, I ventured out briefly to see for myself what was happening on 125th Street, one of the busiest boulevards in Harlem. My son, Eli, shot the video of poignantly empty sidewalks and shuttered retail shops…
October 16, 2020
Meet Gordon Polatnick, Article by Jacqueline Bischof – 2008
“Living the Jazz Life” by Jacqueline Bischof Autumn 2008 It’s 11.30 on a Friday night in early Fall, and Dennis Davis is standing outside St. Nick’s pub in Sugar Hill, one of Harlem’s oldest and most famous jazz establishments. Tall and wiry, Davis is wearing a weathered, ankle – length leather coat. Standing under the…
February 11, 2020
Resurrection of our old NYC Jazz Club Bible
Some of our long-time visitors -we’ve been around since the turn of the century- have been missing our big list of NYC jazz clubs, and the content we used to include about each club. As it turns out this information was lingering somewhere in the dark web ready to be resurrected – so here it…
December 2, 2019