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The Best Underground Club in New York
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The Best Underground Jazz Club in New York
If you’re a music lover and a jazz lover, there’s really only one club for jazz purists in the city: the Village Vanguard. Situated on Seventh Avenue South and 11th Street in the heart of the West Village, the Vanguard has been owned by Max Gordon and after his death his wife Lorraine Gordon since 1935. This underground club requires walking down about 20 steps and then you enter a world defined only by jazz.
Most jazz clubs are out to get your money. Selling overpriced food and watered-down drinks, the jazz is just a lure to nab your dollars, but not the Vanguard. The Vanguard sells no food. There is no meals, no soup, no peanuts, no potato chips—no food. The music fee is often $30 or $35 depending on the group and that includes a $10 drink ticket. The Vanguard sells basic beer and liquor (and bottled water for teetotalers) and the trusty waitresses—some of the jazz singers in their own right—are respectful of the musicians. The usual clanking of the plates and silverware do not intrude on the jazz musician’s sound at the Vanguard.
Moreover, Lorraine Gordon suffers no fools. If people are chatting, she’ll stop by the table and say, “Please respect the musicians.”
Josh Redman, the talented jazz saxophone player, launched his career here. Noted sideman Kenny Barron is one of the “house” musicians. When Cucho Valdez, the famed piano player from Havana, can gain a visa (which is not easy these days), he only plays the Vanguard. Saxophone player James Carter and pianist Bill Charlap perform here, and the walls are lined with photos of Thelonious Monk, Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins who have all played here.
One advisory: you must have reservations (212-355-4037) because the Vanguard sells out most nights. And if you’re in town on Monday’s, the well-respected Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, a big band usually with nine musicians plays, and it’s filled with some of the most talented jazzmen around town.
For purists, there’s really one jazz club in New York: the Vanguard.
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