We’ve discussed it numerous times on this website (and our social media accounts) — through event listings, event coverage and even tweets, we have given plenty of attention to our friends at Lincoln Center. The funny part about the venue is that it’s not at Lincoln Center but the next best place – Columbus Circle.
The venue we’re setting up to hype is Jazz at Lincoln Center — Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. Think Jazz Club in 2015. Obviously not a smoke filled basement with poor sound quality. While we’re suckers for tradition and keeping things how they belong, Dizzy’s managed to make the new style jazz club a desirable place to listen to music while still capturing the jazz club feel that you definitely will find downtown. Oh and by the way, you’re sitting on TOP Of Central Park. So, if you don’t like jazz, go for the view.
Lincoln Center managed to keep the class without the bougieness you’ll find at other establishments in the Time Warner Center. And now, the best part – Late Night Sessions! Every Tuesday-Saturday, Late Night Session features some of jazz’s most talented up-and-comers. Late Night Session curator and vocalist Michael Mwenso hosts special sets on Thursday and Saturday nights showcasing select invited guests. This past Friday, we had a chance to check out Evan Sherman and the Jazz Party that he hosted. If you don’t know Mr. Sherman, you should. He is up and coming into the jazz scene and has his own style of MC-ing a night. We were particularly interested because this past July, the Evan Sherman Big Band was created, with 17 of the most talented up-and-coming jazz musicians alongside veterans of the industry, including Cyrus Chestnut, Johnny O’Neal, Lew Soloff, and a host of others.
The band performs monthly at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s increasingly-popular “Dizzy’s Dance Party”, where people of all ages and cultures congregate, dance and socialize into the wee small hours. The band was created as an opportunity for the new wave of jazz musicians to play jazz’s orchestral music and focus on dance music; studying the masters like Duke Ellington, Don Redman, and Fletcher Henderson. Playing for dancers is an invaluable experience that educates and enlightens most musicians, in addition to being engaging for the audience.
We say go see Evan and his friends but we also say go see the venue — again and again and again!
A New York GEM and you wouldn’t even know it!
@newyorkeventsco