- Most Popular Tour!
Your Harlem jazz tour guide customizes the best itinerary for each given night, based on the most talented players in Harlem’s most exciting jazz clubs.
Quick Details
Our jazz music student itineraries are flexible, we easily adjust them to your timing and budgetary needs. Big Apple Jazz, LLC has been the leader in jazz touring since 1997. Here are some ideas and associated costs for your consideration.
We can find you amazing soul food dinners that cost you $25/per person (including drink, tax, and tip). We can also find you authentic neighborhood clubs in Harlem or the Village that are able to accommodate large groups, and not charge more than $15-$30 per set. Some places even welcome a handful from your group to sit in at various times. We can arrange for a private quartet show in a prohibition era speakeasy for your whole group at $700, or we can do the same in a legendary Sugar Hill home on the corner of Count Basie Place and Paul Robeson Boulevard. Meet the musicians behind the music and learn from their success stories with a student tour with Big Apple Jazz!
Think big, because these are just suggestions, and to our way of thinking fresh ideas will make a bigger impact than a quick set at a downtown club.
Tour Prices & Options
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Take a stroll on the Blvd. of Dreams and rub the lucky Tree of Hope. This tour includes sightseeing of all historic and current jazz venues within Harlem’s famous jazz neighborhoods from Jungle Alley in Central Harlem to Duke’s Place up on Sugar Hill. See the sites of the Savoy Ballroom, Cotton Club, Small’s Paradise, Connie’s Inn, and Minton’s Playhouse. This tour can be customized to include live music, clinics, the Apollo Theater tour ($18 per ticket 20 minimum), and all meals.
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All the greats made their mark on the Big Apple Jazz scene and on this tour we’ll show you where it’s at! Tour includes sightseeing from Thelonious Sphere Monk Circle and Swing Street in Midtown, down to Charlie Parker Place in Greenwich Village and on up to Duke Ellington Blvd. and Nat King Cole Walk in Harlem. We’ll also stroll on the African American Walk of Fame and stop at plaques for Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Tito Puente and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson – the Mayor of Harlem.
This tour can be customized to include live music, clinics, the Apollo Theater tour, and all meals.
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$30 per student or $600 minimum
We specialize in bringing established working musicians of New York City together with jazz music students for informative and enjoyable learning experiences tailored to your group’s interest and level. Q and A sessions can also be added so a dialogue can take place, wherein students get advice on how to get their careers started after school.
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$30 per person or $600 minimum
This is an exciting opportunity to have your group be the exclusive guests in a neighborhood Harlem apartment, brownstone speakeasy, or members’ only club. You call the tune: This can be experienced only through Big Apple Jazz and it is available any day or night at any hour. This includes one hour of live music and a half hour of Q and A with the musicians and hosts. Meals and drinks can be arranged at your request starting at $20 per person. (For two sets of music the price is $40 per person).
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Club rate (rates vary) + 10% service fee.
New York has living legends and unsung masters of jazz performing nightly on and off the beaten path in clubs of all sizes and styles. We will help you choose the venue and performance appropriate for your group’s size, budget and musical preference from among the 300 jazz venues in the city. (Club prices range from a “two drink minimum” to over $50 per ticket – enough variety to suit any budget). Clubs include: Birdland, Village Vanguard, Blue Note, Dizzy’s, Minton’s, Smalls, Showman’s and many, many more. Meals are available at an additional fee – please ask. Meet and greets with the performers may be arranged at variable cost – please ask.
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$20 per ticket 20 guest minimum
Apollo historic tours connect the past, the present and the future of this legendary venue, revealing the significant contributions of African-Americans and Latinos to the birth of global popular culture. The tours are educational, entertaining and inspiring. Tour director Billy Mitchell discloses little-known facts about the theater and the legendary people who performed here including James Brown, Michael Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington. The tours tell the dramatic story of a proud people, an aspiring community and the rapid growth of a small idea, with something meaningful for everyone.
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$20 to $90 +10% service fee. 10 guest minimum
Breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, or late night snacks. Meal options start at $20 for a soul food buffet, which includes a multitude of savory entrees, side dishes, desserts and a soft drink (tax and tip included). Group menus are available upon request for any type of cuisine including Caribbean, New Orleans, Italian, seafood, Soul Food, BBQ, or any others you may desire. Live jazz with dinner or brunch can be offered together. Let us know your preference and budget and we’ll work out the menu and reservation.
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- Minimum fee: $400
- Guide service in English: $100 per hour, 4-hour minimum.
(Add $100 per hour for groups larger than 25 guests) - Guide service in other language: $125 per hour, 4-hour minimum
(Add $125 per hour for groups larger than 25 guests)