Photo by Jenifer Samuel

This 140 seat jazz room provides an intimate setting for the music due to an expanse of wood walls and a wood floor. The walls are curved with the exception of the bandstand wall which features a floor to ceiling window overlooking Central Park and the lights of Fifth Avenue in the distance. On a moonlit, New York City night the view is breathtaking. The bandstand is equipped with a Steinway and can comfortably fit a quintet if necessary. The bar is located on the back wall along with counterspace and stools along the rest of the wood walls. Tables fill the rest of the room. There is no bad sight line in the room and the acoustics are superb.

The club has a no smoking policy and serves beverages and food on a seven day a week basis. The club has a full menu with some interestingly named dishes that reflect the diversity of jazz and a connection with places that were touched by Dizzy’s music.

The music is diversified, contemporary jazz. Instrumental duos, trios, quartets and quintets perform, as well as vocalists. The month of September 2005 featured a special Women In Jazz event for twenty-five nights. Some of the best known female jazz instrumentalists and vocalists performed. The event was well received and there is the possibility of WOMEN IN JAZZ becoming an annual feature.

There are two sets per night (7:30 PM and 9:30 PM) with additional late sets on Friday and Saturday (11:30 PM). Late night sets, called After Hours, occur nightly at 11 PM (12:30 AM on Fridays and Saturdays). The program on Mondays is called UPSTARTS! and features younger student jazz musicians from area college/university programs playing with well known rhythm sections.

There is a $30 cover charge for music from Tuesday through Sunday. On Mondays, there is a $15 music charge for UPSTARTS!. The AFTER HOURS set cover is $10. There is no additional music charge for patrons who stay after the last artist set. Students with valid IDs pay $15 for the 9:30 PM set on Sunday, $10 for Monday’s 7:30 PM and 9:30 PM sets, $15 for Tuesday and Wednesday 9:30 PM, and $5 for the AFTER HOURS set.

There is a standard food and beverage minimum of $10 at the tables and a $5 minimum at the bar. Food and beverage minimum applies to student rates.

This “new kid on the block” is a very classy addition to the list of New York’s famous jazz clubs. According to the club’s manager, Roland Chassange, “I can tell you an overwhelming number of artists who performed here have marveled about the acoustics. So much so, many of the artists return time and again to hear other performers because they like the natural acoustics of the room. The audience is also blown away, not only by the sound of the room, but the whole experience. We have great music, great food and the best view of any jazz club in the city. Very few clubs have achieved this trifecta.”

Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola is fast becoming the place to hang out and hear good jazz in a relaxed but elegant environment.