New York, 1920s, was the beginning of a revolution in music, and Jazz clubs in Manhattan were beginning to spring up.
The boys were coming home from the First World War, the skyline was rising, and midtown Manhattan was quickly turning into an economic epicenter.
New York was experiencing expansion—not only in terms of buildings but also in terms of people. Farmers were coming in to experience the city life and there was a large influx of African Americans who had made their way up from the South.
Of course, jobs were an attracting factor for this manufacturing city–but there was more at stake than that. The city was offering culture of all kinds… and better yet, a merging of them.
The 1920s is popularly referred to as the ‘Jazz Age’.
During this time, radio broadcasting was becoming more popular and recording technology was advancing. The most popular type of radio shows were potter palms, broadcast from New York.
The 20s were a time when jazz venues like the Cotton Club and the Savoy Ballroom flourished.
Jazz legends like Duke Ellington and the young Ella Fitzgerald performed in those clubs. As time went on, jazz stuck around, though it was starting to be molded into other forms, and other clubs started coming to Greenwich Village.
In the 1930s, Café Society opened with Billie Holiday… the late 40s brought around the Royal Roost who introduced a new, modern version of jazz. Stars like Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman brought fame to the Five Spot at the end of the 1950s.
In the 60s, the Half Note was allowing artists to sing for as long as they wanted. 70’s jazz was harder to find, but Bradley’s existed as a sort of escape back into the past. The Knitting Factory of the 80s came to be from a young man’s romantic notions of jazz. Finally, in the 1990s, Smalls came into the city offering a music-focused club that quickly gained many fans.
This month is Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM)
The end of April is International Jazz Appreciation Day. Jazz, in its many variations, is still a popular genre found in the city today.
A few years before the Jazz era began the Washington Square Hotel added a three-story building to its makeup on the corner of Waverly and MacDougal and has housed many musicians playing at local clubs since.
Every Sunday between 12:30 pm and 2:15 pm our restaurant, North Square, hosts a relaxing jazz brunch.
Just let us know you’re attending when you call for reservations. We don’t have regular evening jazz sets in the hotel, however, we do offer a Dine ‘n’ Groove Jazz Package which includes dinner at our North Square restaurant, then we’ll see you off to one of New York’s best jazz venues, the Zinc Bar, just a couple blocks away.
In honor of this month we’ve compiled a list of jazz clubs in Lower and Mid Manhattan near the Washington Square Hotel, listing the closest ones first, below:
Zinc Bar
82 W 3rd St, New York, NY 10012
Blue Note
131 W 3rd St, New York, NY 10012
Smalls Jazz Club
183 W 10th St, New York, NY 10014
Fat Cat
75 Christopher St, New York, NY 10014
55 Bar
55 Christopher St, New York, NY 10014
Arthur’s Tavern
57 Grove St, New York, NY 10014
Birdland Jazz Club
315 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036
Village Vanguard
178 7th Ave S, New York, NY 10014
Jazz Standard
116 E 27th St, New York, NY 10016
Swing 46 Jazz And Supper Club
349 W 46th St, New York, NY 10036
The Jazz Gallery
5th, 1160 Broadway, New York, NY 10001
Iridium
1650 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
