By Don Berryman
Jazz pianist Spike Wilner has opened a new jazz club and cafe in Midtown Manhattan. The new club is located in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood near Times Square, at 349 W. 46th Street in the space that used to house Swing 46. It has both a café/bar area and a 90 seat performance studio with a stage for presenting jazz.The name of the club is Jazzcultural which is an homage to the late great Barry Harris and his legendary “Jazz Cultural Theater” in Chelsea that he ran in the 80’s and 90’s. The club is also dedicated to Barry Harris who was Spike Wilner’s teacher and whose portrait hangs prominently behind the stage.
Spike Wilner is also the owner and manager of two long-standing and well respected jazz clubs in Greenwich Village, Smalls and Mezzrow, So he knows the ins and outs about booking and running a quality jazz club. Jazzcultural opened last weekend (March 20-22) presenting the Jesse Davis Quartet featuring Lewis Nash, and the Johnny O’Neal Trio. Upcoming artists include among others George Coleman, Bobby Watson, Stacy Dillard, and Gregory Hutchinson’s Kind Of Now group (a thrilling project that I reviewed here: https://www.jazzpolice.com/archives/20312).
Jazzcultural has established a weekly music series dedicated to the memory of Hammond B3 organist and former Lou Donaldson bandmate Akiko Tsuruga who passed away last year. Wednesday is known as “Akiko’s Organ Night” and will have a different jazz organ group performing each week.
The Jazzcultural café/bar opens at 12 noon. There is no music charge to enter until concert sets begin in the Jazzcultural Studio. Concerts are at 7PM, 9PM, and a 10:30PM “late show”. At 6PM there is an imposed $25 per person music cover charge in the café/bar area. All studio seats are $40 per set. These seats can be purchased in advance on their website .https://www.jazzcultural.com/
Photos by Douglas Marriner
link to original article https://www.jazzpolice.com/archives/20324
